September 16, 2020

Heritage Preservation Grants

Next Week! Fall 2020 HRAC Meeting
September 24 and 25 - ONLINE: The Historic Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC) will be meeting to publicly discuss and determine their funding recommendations for this year's round of large Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants (MHCHG) applications. Due to COVID-19 this year's meeting is online. Anyone is welcome to view - and the meetings will be recorded; however, viewers are not able to participate in the discussion. The meeting links to the live stream will be posted on the home page of the MHCHG website.

Spotlighted Project: Condition Assessment for 1912 Alexander Baker School
The purpose of this project was to hire a qualified architect to conduct a Condition Assessment of the 1912 Alexander Baker (AB) School as a guide for the preservation planning for rehabilitation of the historic building. Alexander Baker School was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The three-story brick building (with partial basement) still contains original features, including hardwood floors, built-in cabinets, coat rooms, and main hallway light fixtures.

Completion of the Condition Assessment has added to the credibility of the adaptive reuse plan for the historic Alexander Baker School. The fact that architects were on site created some “local buzz”--the local newspaper carried a complimentary article on their visit and the plans for the assessment of the building as a guide to preservation planning. When completed, the Alexander Baker School will contain 26 “universal design” affordable housing units with historic features preserved. Forty-nine percent of Koochiching County residents and 84% of area renters would be income eligible. The adaptive reuse of the AB School will help moderate the drastic lack of quality affordable housing in the county.

Recipient: Citizens for Backus AB
Amount awarded: $10,000
Project Details

Grants Office Webinar: How to Select a Historic Architect for your Building Project
September 17 - Online: 2 to 3 p.m (CT): When you start the journey to restore your community’s historic buildings you want the best guide possible. Join three Design Reviewers to discuss the critical importance of hiring a qualified Historic Architect to conduct your Historic Building Condition Assessment. Learn about the Historic Architect selection process: required qualifications, how to evaluate those qualifications, and what to expect from the final report. Presented by Design Reviewers Laura Kindseth, Julia Larson, and Tamsin Himes. 
Learn more »

Small Grant Deadline
The next small grant deadline (requests of $10,000 or less) for the MHCHG program is Friday, October 9, 2020.

From the Blog

This week's blog post is from East Side Freedom Library. Have a blog? Let us know!

OTHER BLOGS POSTS
Between Planning and Chance - Museum Notes

If at first you don’t succeed: The early years of Federal Cartridge - Anoka County Historical Society

Lowertown: Former steamboat landing experiences another boom - Lisa Stories

Job Opportunities

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

MNHS

Sales Assistant I - Minnesota History Center 

LOCAL

Head of Communications and Content
Walker Art Center - Minneapolis, MN, seeks a Head of Communications and Content.

REGIONAL

Assistant Preparator
Stanley Museum of Art - University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, seeks an Assistant Preparator.

Assistant Registrar
Stanley Museum of Art - University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, seeks an Assistant Registrar.

Digital Scholarship Librarian
Marquette University Libraries, Milwaukee, WI, seeks a Digital Scholarship Librarian.

Museum Technician
Knife River Indian Villages NHS - National Park Service, Stanton, ND, seeks a Museum Technician.

Exhibits Registrar
Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, MO, seeks an Exhibits Registrar.

Development Coordinator
Wood County Historical Society, Bowling Green, OH, seeks a Development Coordinator.

Museum Specialist
Gerald R. Ford Museum - National Archives and Records Administration, Grand Rapids, MI, seeks a Museum Specialist.

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Supervisory Archivists
National Archives and Records Administration, Location Negotiable, seeks three Supervisory Archivists.

Temp Collections Managers
History Associates, New London, CT, seeks three Temp Collections Managers.

Digital Collections Librarian
Union College, Schenectady, NY, seeks a Digital Collections Librarian.

Museum Curator
Monmouth County Park System, Lincroft, NJ, seeks a Museum Curator.

Archivist II
Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control at the Department of Environmental Quality, Salt Lake City, UT, seeks an Archivist II.

Museum Experience Leader
City of Lynchburg, Lynchburg, VA, seeks a Museum Experience Leader.

Historian
Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Department of Defense, Pentagon, Arlington, VA, seeks a Historian.

Executive Director
Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, Girl Scouts of the USA, Savannah, GA, seeks an Executive Director.

Additional Job Postings in the Field »

Do History Here

Image used by permission from the Pipestone County Historical Society.

Dinosaurs! At Glensheen Mansion
For the month of September, dinosaurs from the Duluth Children’s Museum’s new exhibit will be ‘hiding’ in the mansion. It is the job of Glensheen tour guests to I-spy all 15 dinosaurs that escaped from the Duluth Children’s Museum and are now hiding in Glensheen mansion. They will be extinct (again) on October 1, 2020. Learn more »

Funk, Folk, Punk and More! Places that Brought Minneapolis Music to the World - Part I
September 14 - Online: 1 to 3 p.m. (CT). Preserve Minneapolis - From Prince and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis’ creation of “The Minneapolis Sound” to Bob Dylan and Cedar-Riverside folk scene to Husker Du and The Replacements' high-energy punk rock and Rhymesayers' founding in South High School to their continued influence today, Minneapolis is well-known for its diverse and vibrant music scene. In fact, there is so much music history in Minneapolis and its nearby suburbs that this will be a two-part tour! Cost: $5. Learn more »

Virtual Book Club: A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota
September 17 - Online: 7 p.m. (CT). Dakota County Historical Society - In this book, sixteen of Minnesota’s best writers provide a range of perspectives on what it is like to live as a person of color in Minnesota. DCHS board of trustee Leslie Greaves-Radloff will lead the discussion on this intriguing story. Registrants are encouraged to have read the book by the time of the discussion and be prepared to discuss the book. Cost: No cost. Learn more »

American Bison Virtual Program
September 17 - Online: 4 p.m (CT). Blue Earth County Historical Society - Scott Kudelka, Minneopa Area Naturalist, will be talking about the Bison at Minneopa State Park. Introduced in 2015, the bison have added a new attraction to the park as well as introduced a native species back to where they once called home. Cost: No cost to members/$7 nonmembers. Learn more »

Online Family History Conference 
September 19 - Online: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (CT). Stearns History Museum & St. Cloud Area Genealogists - Attend this unique opportunity to learn about conducting your own research on family history. Featured speaker Kim Ashford will present "FamilySearch.org: A Place for Learning," and break-out presentation "Facebook for Genealogists." Twelve presentations covering topics from immigration, research road trips, publishing books, family history databases to female connections and researching in Germany, Poland, and Sweden will be available to livestream. Learn more »

Virtual ‘Women Outward Bound’
September 19 - Online: 7 p.m. (CT). Dakota County Historical Society - Attend a virtual screening of the documentary ‘Women Outward Bound.’ Fifty years ago, girls were not allowed to participate in the rigorous U.S. Outward Bound Wilderness school until 24 women broke that barrier. Find out how one month of surviving in the Northwoods of Minnesota and Canada changed them and history forever. Following the screening, there will be a short Q & A session with the documentary creator, Maxine Davis. Cost: No cost. Learn more »

Frontier Game Day
September 20 - Bloomington: 1 to 4 p.m. Drop-In Program - Pond Dakota Mission Park - Try your hand at a variety of outdoor frontier games such as walking on stilts, Graces, Stick and Hoop, Marbles, and Checkers. See how simple household items were fashioned into toys that entertained children for hours. For more information call 952-563-8674.

The Sunnyside Addition: Minneapolis’ First Streetcar Suburb Virtual Tour
September 20 - Online: 2 to 3:30 p.m. (CT). Preserve Minneapolis - Visit the Sunnyside Addition. View historical photos, see what is here, and understand why there is a fight for the preservation of the historic architecture of Minneapolis’ first and best streetcar suburb. Cost: $5. Learn more »

Morrison County Historical Society Online Annual Meeting 
September 29 - Online: 7 p.m. MCHS members will elect board members to 3-year terms, review financial statements, and receive an update on the organization’s operations over the past year. Cost: No cost. Learn more »

Continuing Education

  

Highlighted Museum: Andrew John Volstead House, operated by the Granite Falls Historical Society, Granite Falls, MN.

Multi-tool Museum Programming: Adaptable Activities for Varied Audiences
September 21 - Online: 2 to 3 p.m. (CT). Texas Historical Commission - “Too many programs, not enough time!” is a challenge for museum staffs of all sizes and configurations. One solution is to develop a collection of programs and activity structures that can be adapted to a variety of content, audiences, and program formats. Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens education staff will demonstrate and showcase several collection-based, visitor-centered activities and explain how they can be modified for different ages, levels of expertise, and for digital and in-person delivery. Cost: No cost. Learn more »

Back to School Week: Exploring Digital Field Trips
September 23 - Online: 2 to 3 p.m. (CT): BC Museums Association - As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, schools across the province are reopening in full or as virtual hybrid models. Since March, museums, galleries, and informal education centers have been striving to support teachers, students, and families through digital and virtual offerings. Cost: No cost. Advance registration required. Learn more »

Web Design: Prioritizing What Matters
September 25 - Online: 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. (CT). Museum Association of New York - Looking to update your website? In the wake of COVID, many organizations are looking to improve their online presence. In the first of three programs focused on digital communications, Nicholas MacDonald, Communications Manager for Humanities New York, will share what makes a good website, best practices in design, and how to approach building a new website. Cost: No cost. Advance registration required. Learn more »

C2C Care Course: Physical Media to Digital Storage
October 13 to November 12 - Zoom: 12 to 1:30 p.m. (CT). Connecting to Collections Care - Do you have collections of obsolete and vulnerable removable media (optical media, hard drives, flash drives, etc.) but no backup of the files (the content) to safe and secure storage? This course, created for collections care staff at small and mid-sized institutions, takes you through the steps to identify, prioritize, describe, verify, and to safely transfer the files.

At the end of the course, participants will be equipped to plan and carry out their own migration plans of these critically endangered materials. The emphasis will be on moving image, sound, and multimedia content, but the course will be applicable to the shared concerns about other materials such as photos and text. A sample Excel template will be provided listing the key information necessary for management of the carriers and files. Cost: $149. Register by September 30 to receive a special early registration rate of $99. Learn more »

TIPS & TOOLS

COVID-19 inspires an uptick in Black family history research and genealogy

What It'll Take for America's Small Museums to Survive the Pandemic

Additional Educational Opportunities »

Fund Your Mission

National Trust Preservation Fund
October 1 - Deadline: National Trust for Historic Preservation Grants from the National Trust Preservation Funds encourage preservation at the local level by providing seed money for preservation projects. Learn how a grant from the National Trust might be available to kickstart a preservation project in your hometown. Learn more »

2021 Tourism Crisis Marketing Grant Program
December 31 - Deadline: Explore Minnesota - The Tourism Crisis Marketing Grant Program is designed to provide advertising dollars to individual, established non-profit DMOs and primary promotion agencies so they can remain visible to customers during this difficult period, and continue to stimulate travel for the economic benefit of their destinations.

Qualifying organizations may request funding beginning July 1 through December 31, 2020. This is a non-competitive grant program. Funding for qualifying organizations has been pre-determined and Explore Minnesota will notify grantees of their award. Grant funds must be spent by April 30, 2021 with all qualifying campaigns completed. Learn more »

Digital Humanities Advancement Grants
January 15, 2021 - Deadline | September 11, 2020 - Application available: National Endowment for the Humanities - These grants support digital projects at different stages throughout their life cycles, from early start-up phases through implementation and sustainability. Experimentation, reuse, and extensibility are hallmarks of this program, leading to innovative work that can scale to enhance scholarly research, teaching, and public programming in the humanities.
Learn more »

TIPS & TOOLS

44 Fundraising Event Ideas for Nonprofits and Charities

The fundraising landscape in the midst of COVID-19

Additional Funding Opportunities »  

News

Tip Jar

Lime in Mortar Mixes of Historic Buildings
Many mortar mixes on historic buildings include lime as one component within the mix. Lime is softer than the typical Portland cement used in mortars today. Having mortar from a historic building analyzed to see if it contains lime and other aggregates is important when repointing. Check out more information about the importance of mortar in historic masonry buildings.

Learn more:
Mortar, Unsung Hero of History
Learning the hard way about softer mortar
Repointing Mortar Joints in Historic Masonry Buildings

For technical information:
Hot-mixed lime mortars and traditionally constructed brickwork

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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