Minnesota Historical Society

The Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849 and is named in the Minnesota Constitution.

The society owns and operates 29 museums and historic sites, some within the Minnesota state parks.^[1][2] It currently holds a collection of nearly 550,000 books, 37,000 maps, 250,000 photographs, 165,000 historical artifacts, 800,000 archaeological items, 38,000 cubic feet (1100 m³) of manuscripts, 45,000 cubic feet (1300 m³) of government records, 5,500 paintings, prints and drawings, and 1,300 moving image items. These are stored in the $76.4 million History Center located in Minnesota's capital, Saint Paul.

State Historic Sites

Site Name	Image	Location	Era of features	Year added to MHS	Remarks
Birch Coulee Battlefield		Morton	September 2, 1862		website, interprets the deadliest battle for U.S. troops in the Dakota War of 1862
Comstock House		Moorhead	1882		website, restored home of Congressman and businessman Solomon Comstock with its original furnishings
Folsom House		Taylors Falls	1854-1968	1968	website, restored home of businessman, politician, and historian W.H.C. Folsom with its original furnishings
Forest History Center		Grand Rapids	1900-1934		website, recreated logging camp and exhibits on humankind's relationship with Minnesota's forests
Fort Ridgely		Fort Ridgely State Park	1853-1867		website, fort built to keep the peace around a Dakota reservation, but attacked twice during the Dakota War of 1862
Grand Mound or Laurel Mounds		International Falls	192 BCE	1971	information, five burial mounds, the largest of which is 25 feet (7.6 m) high.
Harkin Store		New Ulm	1870-1901	1973	website, general store with much of the original inventory still on display
Historic Forestville		Forestville Mystery Cave State Park	1853-1899	1978	website, restored town with living history reenactors
Historic Fort Snelling		Fort Snelling State Park	1820-1946		website, portions of the fort have been restored to their original frontier appearance, while later additions served as barracks for soldiers training during World War II
Oliver H. Kelley Farm		Elk River	1850-1901	1961	website, a working frontier farmstead
James J. Hill House		St. Paul	1891-1921	1978	website, mansion of railroad magnate James J. Hill
Jeffers Petroglyphs		Jeffers	3000 BCE-1750	1966	website, exposed rocks bear ancient Native American petroglyphs
Lac qui Parle Mission		Lac qui Parle State Park	1835-1854		website, reconstructed wooden church where missionaries worked to convert the Dakota
William G. LeDuc House		Hastings	1865	1958	The estate is an unusually complete example of the Carpenter Gothic style of Andrew Jackson Downing, a pioneer in American landscape architecture. William and (his wife) Mary LeDuc used Downing’s book, Cottage Residences, as inspiration for their home (Downing himself had died in 1852).[3]
Charles A. Lindbergh House		Charles A. Lindbergh State Park	1906-1920		website, house of Congressman Charles August Lindbergh and his son, aviator Charles Lindbergh
Lower Sioux Agency		Lower Sioux Indian Reservation	1853-		website, depicts the lives of Dakota people before and after the Dakota War of 1862
Marine Mill		Marine on St. Croix	1839-1895		website, ruins of Minnesota's first commercial sawmill
Dr. William W. Mayo House		Le Sueur	1859-		website, home built by William Worrall Mayo, founder of the Mayo Clinic, and later home of Carson Nesbit Cosgrove, founder of the Green Giant food company
Mille Lacs Indian Museum		Mille Lacs Indian Reservation	Prehistory-present		website, history and culture of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
Mill City Museum		Minneapolis	1874-1965		website, flour milling industry that built Minneapolis, within the ruins of the Washburn "A" Mill
Minnehaha Depot		Minneapolis	1875-1963	1964	website, former train station near Minnehaha Falls with "gingerbread" Victorian architecture
Minnesota History Center		St. Paul	Prehistory-present		website, the Minnesota Historical Society's headquarters, with permanent exhibits about Minnesota, changing exhibits about national history and a library
Minnesota State Capitol		St. Paul	1905-present	1969	website, tours and exhibits of the state's seat of government
North West Company Post		Pine City	1804		website, recreated North West Company trading post and Ojibwe encampment
Alexander Ramsey House		St. Paul	1872-1964	1964	website, home of Congressman and Minnesota governor Alexander Ramsey with original furnishings
Saint Anthony Falls		Minneapolis	1887		The sharpest elevation drop on the Mississippi River, which determined the location of Minneapolis.
Sibley House Historic Site		Mendota	1838-1910		website, homes of Henry Hastings Sibley, Minnesota's first state governor, and fur trader Jean-Baptiste Faribault
Split Rock Lighthouse		Split Rock Lighthouse State Park	1910-1969	1976	website, lighthouse on the Lake Superior shore restored to its 1920s appearance.
Traverse des Sioux		St. Peter	Prehistory-1869	1981	website, site of a river ford, the signing of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, and a former town

References

External links

• Minnesota Historical Society website
• Placeography – Wiki operated by the Minnesota Historical Society