Museum

Featured exhibits

Girlhood (It’s complicated).

Girlhood (It’s complicated)

September 7, 2024 - June 1, 2025 

Explore the ever-evolving experience of girlhood in the US with over 100 objects from the Smithsonian collection, interactive displays, archive photographs, and more. And don’t forget to check out the section on girls’ basketball in Minnesota, developed by the Minnesota Historical Society, digging deeper into the importance of participation, encouragement, and support for women both on and off the court.

ROS opening

Reframing Our Stories

From a decades-old box of photographs simply labeled "Indians," came the idea for a powerful new exhibit. Inside the box were dozens of pictures of Native community members, organizations, activities, and events that are relevant today. Now in the hands of Indigenous community members, those photos have new meaning. 

Our Home: Native Minnesota.

Our Home: Native Minnesota

View historic and contemporary photographs, maps, and artifacts and learn how Minnesota's Native communities have retained cultural practices, teachings and values, and an essential connection to home.

Also on view

Minnesota's Greatest Generation.

Minnesota's Greatest Generation

Board a C-47 and join a combat flight on D-Day, get behind the counter of a 1930s soda fountain, view classic film clips in a vaudeville theater, pack WWII ammunition shells, and step into the stories of an inspiring generation.

Weather Permitting.

Weather Permitting

Ride out the 1965 Fridley tornado in a basement, learn about the Minneapolis Weatherball, play with the power of wind, and discover how Minnesotans have coped with the weather’s highs and lows.

Then Now Wow.

Then Now Wow

Blast for iron ore, crawl into a tipi, plow a field, visit a sod home, board a street car, trade at the fur post, sing in a box car, discover all the parts of a buffalo, and so much more in this action-packed exhibit. Fun for kids of all ages!

Grainland.

Grainland

Kids love to climb and slide through the chutes of this model grain elevator as they learn about the journey of soy and corn from farm field to town.