Local History News: June 7, 2023

Field Note

Saturday, June 3, 2023, staff from Heritage Preservation, Planning, and Outreach was out staffing the Minnesota Historical Society booth in Pine City, MN at the East Central Minnesota Pride Festival which shared the space with Pine City Area Historical Association. We were greeted with a warm beautiful day, festive rainbows, nice people, and great conversations on Minnesota's LGBTQI+ history.

Heritage Preservation Grants

Grants Office Webinar: Getting Ready for the Large Round with Manual Changes and Application Challenges
June 15 @ 2 - 3 pm (CT) - Online: The Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants program large round grant deadline is approaching quickly. If you are planning to apply, it is important to be aware of the recent updates to the Legacy manual, changes to the application, and some of the areas that can present challenges to applicants. This webinar will cover all of that--we want to help you apply to this competitive round. Presented by Carolyn Veeser-Egbide, Grants Manager, and John Fulton, Grants Specialist. 
Join online: meet.google.com/zwx-krei-com
Join by phone: ‪(US) +1 386-361-3086‬ PIN: ‪420 891 978‬#

Large Grant Deadline
Pre-applications for the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants large grant round (requests over $10,000) will be due Friday, July 21, 2023. This is a required part of the large grant application process. Contact the Grants Office with questions.

Small Grant Deadline
The next small grant deadline (requests of $10,000 or less) for the MHCHG program is Friday, July 14, 2023.

From the Blog

This week's blog post is from Nicollet County Historical Society. Have a blog? Let us know!

Baseball in Nicollet County

This is truly a transcendent sport.
~Senator John McCain, 2005

While Senator McCain spoke nationally, those of us in Nicollet County should realize that the statement has also held true throughout the area’s history. For example, over a century ago, Hinckley, MN, was devastated by a fire that still ranks as one of the worst in U.S. history. In an attempt to help, St. Peter community leaders organized a charity baseball game and donated the proceeds to the relief efforts. Decades later, during the Great Depression, residents of Nicollet County rallied around the success of the area’s amateur teams. Continue Reading »

More MN Blog posts

• Bringing Vintage Lumberjack Sports to Life - Beltrami County Historical Society
• MDL publishes "War Stories" online exhibit series - Minnesota Digital Library
• BORDERTOWNS: Chapter 22 - St. Vincent Memories
• Pope County Photographers: Isabel Mathews - Pope County Historical Society
• Graeser Park News - Robbinsdale Historical Society
• Kraus-Anderson Brings Television to Minnesota - Kraus-Anderson
• "...for Cokato, Anderson and Calgren. Play Ball!" - Cokato Historical Society
• Meet the Tretter Collection’s newest oral historian - U of MN Libraries

From the Tube

This week's post is from Wadena County Historical Society. Have a video channel or podcast? Let us know!

BookEnds Online Edition: Nicole Kronzer
Nicole Kronzer is a former professional actor. She is also a high school English teacher. She loves to knit and run (usually not at the same time). She lives with her family in Minneapolis.

The Roof Over Our Heads is a charming Young Adult novel about a family who puts on an immersive, interactive play to save their historical home.  Watch Video »

More MN Tube posts

• Dining-Out on Spooner’s Row - Council for Minnesota Archaeology
• Secret Archeologists at ACHS - Anoka County Historical Society
• How to Identify Historic Artifact Hacks: Historic Glass Bottles - Nienow Cultural Consultants
• Jesus Balderrama: Immigrant Stories - Immigration History Research Center, U of MN
• Sawyers, Planters, and Preachers Watching Out for River Snags - CGEE Hamline
• Women of the Fur Trade - Minneculture
• Channel 9 GoodDay: International Museum Day Segment - American Swedish Institute
• Mobilizing to Build a World-Class Museum - Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum
• History by the Highway is broadcasting from Erhard Town Hall - Otter Tail County Historical Society

Job Opportunities

Minnesota Historical Society's Job Announcement, Internship,  Fellowship, and Volunteer Opportunity pages.

LOCAL

• Site Manager, Warden’s House Museum - Washington County Historical Society, Stillwater, MN
• Collection Care Specialist - Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
• Student & Teacher Programs Specialist - Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN

REGIONAL

• Chief Development Officer - Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, Crazy Horse, SD
• Collections Care Associate - Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, Crazy Horse, SD
• Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site Interpreter - Historical Society of North Dakota, Cooperstown, ND
• Stutsman County Courthouse State Historic Site Interpreter - Historical Society of North Dakota, Jamestown, ND
• Development and Membership Director - Jewish Museum Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
• Bilingual (Spanish) Early Childhood Museum Educator - Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, WI
• Museum Education Coordinator - Union Pacific Rail Road Museum, Council Bluffs, IA
• Assistant Curator - Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

• College Archivist and Curator of Special Collections, Illinois College, Routt Catholic High School, Jacksonville, IL
• Executive Director - Aurora Downtown,  Aurora, IL
• Illinois Historic Sites Project Designer - Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Springfield, IL
• Associate Director of Exhibits - Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL    
• Assistant Curator of Collections - Midway Village Museum, Rockford, IL
• Museum Administrator - McHenry County Historical Society, Union, IL
• Historical Farming Program Assistant - Kline Creek Farm, West Chicago, IL
• Coordinator, Volunteer Services and Human Resources - Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, IN
• Community Preservation Specialist - Indiana Landmarks, Richmond, IN
• Director of Development - The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art & Technology, Newark, OH
• DDA Executive Director - City of Ferndale, Ferndale, MI 
• Photograph Conservator - Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, Philadelphia, PA
• Cultural Resource Member - Homestead National Historical Park, National Park Service,  Beatrice, NE
• Textile Conservator - Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, CO
• Curator of Indigenous Ceramics - Gardiner Museum, Toronto, ON
• Auto Body Technician - Reynolds Museum, Wetaskiwin, AB

INTERNSHIPS/VOLUNTEERS/FELLOWSHIPS

• Summer Program Internship - Muscatine Art Center, Muscatine, IA
• Museum Collections Internship - Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Easton, PA
• Agora Project Fellow - Museum Association of New York, NYC, NY

Additional Job Postings in the Field »

Do History Here

Image used with permission. From the collections of the Montgomery Minnesota Historical Society.

Submit your history organization's news and events to localhistorynews@mnhs.org.

Exhibit: Connecting Threads: Textiles, Trade, and Attire in the Premodern World
Now through August 31 - Minneapolis: Elmer L. Andersen Library, Wallin Center, Bell Gallery - This exhibit showcases the tactile culture of the premodern world — its textiles, fibers, and fashion, its economy and trade markets — and asks what our clothes say about the modern era. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Exhibit: Ukraine: War and Resistance
Now through August 16 - Minneapolis: Elmer L. Andersen Library - This exhibit showcases photographs documenting the realities of contemporary life in Ukraine. Cost: Free. Learn more » 

Tour: A Raucous Ramble Around Minnehaha Falls
June 7 @ 6 to 7:30 pm and June 10 @ 1 to 2:30 pm - Minneapolis: Join in for a fascinating look back to the time when dance halls, secret saloons, wild behavior, and whiskey ruled the Falls. Cost: $10 members/$14 nonmembers. Learn more »

Event: Judy Garland Festival
June 8 through 11 - Grand Rapids: Judy Garland and Children's Discovery Museum - Join other Judy Garland fans from all over the world during this annual festival. Learn more »

Tour: History Cruise - A Beginner's Tour of Lake Minnetonka
June 12 @ 6 to 8 pm - Excelsior: Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Historical Society - Historian Paul Maravelas will touch on the highlights of the Lake Minnetonka area history while cruising the lower lake. The tour will include the historic landscape, Native American residents, the pioneer period, and the Golden Age. The first of a series of four history cruises aboard the "Lady of the Lake." Cost: $22.50 members/$37.50 nonmembers. Learn more »

Author Reading: The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself
June 13 @ 7 pm - St. Paul & Online: East Side Freedom Library - Twin Cities author David Mura will discuss his newest book The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives. Mura unmasks how white stories about race attempt to erase the brutality of the past and underpin systemic racism in the present. Masks are required in the library. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Presentation: Bring Back 6th Avenue North
June 13 @ 6:30 pm - Minneapolis: Hennepin History Museum - Olson Memorial Highway, or Highway 55, is an urban highway running through North Minneapolis. Our Streets Minneapolis and Mapping Prejudice present on the history of Olson Memorial Highway and how racist housing policies, along with transportation and urban development, demonstrate an urgency to transform the highway into a boulevard as a means to restore safety and accessibility back into the communities it divides. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Repairing and Restoring Old Windows
June 14 @ 6:30 to 8:30 pm (CT) - Online: Rethos - Ready to practice window repair skills? Join window restorer Joe Hayes for a hands-on workshop all about windows. Joe will explain common window issues and demonstrate basic repairs. This class will focus specifically on re-roping double hung windows, glazing, paint prep, and painting. Participants will have their own station at which to practice these skills. You are invited to bring a window from home. Location: Hayes Window Restoration. Cost: Sliding scale. Learn more »

Event: Celebration & Plaque Unveiling: Honoring WWII Codebreakers and the Founding of Engineering Research Associates 
June 15 @ 3:30 to 5:30 pm - St. Paul: Ramsey County Historical Society - In a salute to a remarkably powerful era of entrepreneurism, the Ramsey County Historical Society (RCHS) is celebrating the enduring economic and technological activity unleashed in the Twin Cities by Engineering Research Associates (ERA) more than 75 years ago. A commemorative plaque will be installed at the company’s original site. Location: 1902 Minnehaha Avenue West. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Event: Million Artist Movement Quilting Event to Celebrate Juneteenth
June 17 @ 1 to 3 pm - Minneapolis: Hennepin History Museum - Million Artist Movement is hosting a quilting session on HHM’s lawn to celebrate Juneteenth. Make a quilt square to send a message of power, love, and support to the community. All materials and art supplies are provided. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Presentation: Breaking Barriers: Harvesting LGBTQ Stories from the Northern Plains
June 17 @ 1 to 2 pm - Fergus Falls: Fergus Falls Public Library - Hear stories from LGBTQ elders in the region of the challenges and triumphs of this pioneer generation. The three featured interviews were collected as part of the Red River Rainbow Seniors’ ongoing oral history project. Presented by Larry Peterson. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Author Presentation: The Butcher, The Embezzler, and The Fall Guy
June 22 @ 12 to 1:30 pm - Austin: Mower County Historical Society - Author Gretchen Cherington attempts to unravel the mystery of her grandfather’s potential involvement in a corporate scandal involving three powerful men and what would become the $10 billion food conglomerate Hormel Foods. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Continuing Education

Highlighted Museum: Minnesota State Public School Orphanage Museum, Owatonna, MN.
Photograph by McGhiever, distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 license.

Introduction to Zotero
June 8 @ 3 to 4 pm (CT) - Online: U of MN Libraries - Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research. Learn how to use Zotero to create your own database of citations, PDFs, images, webpages, video and audio files and more. Zotero can then be used to create citations in a large number of citation styles (e.g. APA, MLA, etc.) which can be added to Google Docs, Microsoft Word and Libre Office. Non-students welcome. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Introduction to EndNote and EndNote Online
June 13 @ 12 to 1 pm (CT) - Online: U of MN Libraries - EndNote is a commercial reference management software package, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays, reports, and articles. Learn about using EndNote to import citations, customize your account, and format your bibliographies and in-text citations. They'll also discuss using EndNote in conjunction with EndNote Online, a web-based version of EndNote. Non-students welcome. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Museums for All Informational Webinar
June 15 @ 1 to 2 pm (CT) – Online: IMLS - Learn about Museums for All, an initiative dedicated to expanding community access for underserved audiences. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Federal Historic Preservation Advocacy—Ask the Experts
June 15 @ 2 pm (CT) - Online: National Trust for Historic Preservation - Open Q&A session where they serve as your resource for your advocacy meetings with congressional members and staff, and to help you fine tune your advocacy message during Federal Historic Preservation Advocacy—Ask the Experts. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Digital Preservation Storage 101
June 18 @ 11:30 am to 12:30 pm (CT) - Online: Northeast Document Conservation Center - This webinar will help you improve storage at your institution. The instructor will cover requirements for storage environments as well as several affordable and scalable options to meet small and mid-size organizations' needs for storage. Cost: $45. Learn more »

Discovering Our Ancestors and Preserving Historic Gravesites: Beginning to Care for a Gravesite
June 21 @ 2 pm (CT) - Online: National Trust for Historic Preservation & National Park Service - Sourcing funding and building public investment are often critical towards preserving historic cemeteries. This webinar will review strategies for fundraising, carrying out basic preservation work, recruiting volunteers, and public interpretation and engagement. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Picking Favorites: Strategies for Determining Salvage Priorities
June 22 @ 11 am (CT) - Online: Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts - This webinar will explore those questions by presenting different strategies for determining salvage priorities both before and after an emergency: who should be involved, what questions need to be answered, and how priorities should be documented and presented. Cost: Free. Learn more »

Foundations of Community Engagement
July 3 - Online Course: MuseumStudy - Do you have good relationships with all the groups you serve in your community? This course is designed to prompt thinking about why community engagement is important and to begin to develop a practical understanding of how to engage with people and communities in ethical, meaningful, and empowering ways. It draws from leading thought in community-engaged practice to provide the necessary concepts, information, and practical tools to begin developing an approach to effective and meaningful community engagement. Cost: $400. Learn more »

TIPS & TOOLS

• American Historical Association Statement Opposing Exclusion of LGBTQ+ History in Florida
• American Institute for Conservation (AIC) Accessibility Tips for Microsoft Word, Google Docs, PDFs, and Google Slide Documents

Additional Educational Opportunities »

Funding & Awards

Digital Humanities Advancement Grants
June 15 - (deadline): National Endowment for the Humanities - Funding supports innovative, experimental, and/or computationally challenging digital projects, and/or research that examines the history, criticism, ethics, and philosophy of digital culture or technology and its impact on society. Learn more »

Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative
June 30 - (deadline): Library of Congress - These grants support the design and implementation of digitally enabled educational products in which music or creative arts-focused primary sources and other online materials from the Library of Congress are central to teaching and learning. Learn more »

Accessible Arts
June 30 - (deadline): Minnesota State Arts Board - This pilot program will offer project grants to increase the capacity of the arts sector to make arts experiences more accessible. Funds will be used for investments that will have a longer-term impact on the applicant, such as professional development related to accessibility (i.e., staff or volunteer training, etc.), hiring accessibility consultants to conduct accessibility audits and/or develop accessibility plans, etc. Funds may also be used for small physical or equipment investments (costing less than $5,000) that will make programming more accessible (i.e. assisted listening, captioning equipment, grab bars, etc.). Learn more »

Our Town Grants
August 3 - (deadline): National Endowment for the Arts - This program supports creative placemaking projects that help to transform communities through strategies that incorporate arts, culture, and/or design. Learn more »

General Operating Grants Available for Native-Led Groups
July 7 - (deadline): Common Counsel Foundation and Native Americans in Philanthropy - Native Voices Rising provides general operating support grants intended to strengthen Native-led groups throughout the United States that have a membership base in the community, work to develop leadership, and take collective action to win progressive social change. Learn more »

Grants for Arts Projects
July 6 - (preapplication-deadline) | July 11 - (deadline): This program provides comprehensive and expansive funding opportunities for communities. Designated local arts agencies eligible to subgrant may request from $30,000 to $150,000 for subgranting programs in the Local Arts Agencies discipline. A minimum cost share/match equal to the grant amount is required. Learn more »

News

Four History Organizations To Consolidate To Form New "Lake Minnetonka Historical Society"
The members of the Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Historical Society, Museum of Lake Minnetonka (Steamboat Minnehaha), Wayzata Historical Society, and Westonka Historical Society have voted to approve a Plan of Consolidation which will allow these four nonprofits to join together to form a new historical organization - the “Lake Minnetonka Historical Society” (LMHS). The consolidation will become effective on October 1, 2023, at which time the four historical societies will dissolve and the newly formed Lake Minnetonka Historical Society will carry forward their shared mission of telling the story of Lake Minnetonka by collecting, preserving, and sharing its history. Continue reading »

What's New in the MNHS Archives?
This month we completed processing and cataloging records of the Land Stewardship Project, a Minnesota-based grassroots organization that works with farmers to promote an ethic of stewardship of the land (care of farmland, with a long-term view) and organizing for more sustainable farms and rural communities, especially in southern and western Minnesota.

Based largely on the principles of the new movement known as Regenerative Agriculture, the organization works to promote soil health and to keep rivers and watersheds free from farm waste. It advocates for the humane treatment of farm animals, works to help new farmers get started in the business, and advocates for the preservation of the Family Farm in the face of corporate agriculture and large-scale Factory Farms.

The collection sheds light on issues and problems facing traditional, small-scale farmers in an often-difficult economy, soil health, water pollution, the threat of urban sprawl, and farm and rural sustainability. Continue reading »

Restored Phelps Mill reopens in Otter Tail County
KVRR — The Phelps Mill is finally back open, and just in time for the upcoming festival. This mill was closed while they worked to restore the foundation, which had been eroded over the years. Continue reading »

Historical society to seek Sourcewell grant to repurpose hospital building
Wadena Pioneer Journal  — The Wadena County Historical Society is hoping Christmas will come a little earlier this year in the form of a Sourcewell grant.

The nonprofit society will make a pitch to the Staples-based service cooperative and other local nonprofits on Wednesday, June 14, in an effort to secure a $75,000 grant. Continue reading »

Featured Book Dearest Anna: A Love Story, by Carol J Allis	Featured Article Minnesota History "To Stand Alone in the Wilderness" Edmund F. Ely Missionary Volume 49, Issue 7, 1985	Featured Article MNopedia Ronning Ensilage Harvester Featured MNopedia Article
Minnesota History Organizations Directory  • County, Chapters, and Local • Statewide/Topical Historical • Regional History Coalitions • Professional Organizations	Minnesota Main Streets Reinvigorate your community's commercial district.	Preservation Specialists Directory Look up products or services.

From the Heritage Preservation Department
Reminder: Due to COVID-19 all Heritage Preservation Department staff (Grants Office and Local History Services) are working remotely until further notice. If you need to connect with a specific staff member, please email them directly.

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