The History Center welcomes its second traveling exhibit from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, beginning July 20. “Life in Shadows: Hidden Children and the Holocaust” looks at the lengths that children went to in order to hide from Nazi persecution during World War II. Photos and objects from these Holocaust survivors and their rescuers detail the courage of these young people in times of desperation.

The accompanying lecture series “The Holocaust: A Minnesota Testimony” presents “Real Art, Real Stories: Drawings and Writings by Children of the Holocaust” on July 16 at the History Center. Dr. Elizabeth Baer will show examples of writing and poetry from diaries and scraps of paper left by children during the Holocaust. Dr. Stephen Feinstein will explore the work of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, an artist and teacher who encouraged her young students at the Terezin concentration camp to express their emotions through art. The cost is $10 for MHS members ($14 for non-members). Register online or by calling 651-296-4975. Funding for school programming related to the exhibit was provided by The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation.

You can win prizes just for visiting MHS sites throughout the summer! Pick up “Your Ticket to History” brochure at any of our historic sites. Visit five of the eight selected locations before Sept. 10 and not only will you automatically receive one of the special History Matters gifts (pictured), but will also be entered to win the grand prize – a fall getaway to Lutsen Resort and Split Rock Lighthouse. See the list of participating sites and full contest rules.

Over 100 years after its inception, Red Wing Pottery – long a favorite of collectors – is as popular as ever. Several hundred pieces of Red Wing stoneware, artware and dinnerware from MHS collections will be on display through Dec. 31 at the History Center. “Red Wing Retro: Extraordinary Pottery, Everyday Life” celebrates the ingenuity of this signature Minnesota company and includes a fun children’s play area in a kitchen setting encouraging kids to use their imaginations. Funding for the exhibit was provided by the Red Wing Pottery Company.

The rollicking “Nine Nights of Music” continues each Tuesday at the History Center through the end of August. These free outdoor concerts feature a different style of music each week from 6:30 to 8 p.m., along with dance instruction to keep your toes tapping. On July 18, come in your best retro outfit for a 1940s costume contest and hear the big band music of Ellington Echoes. Upcoming shows include bluegrass with the Blue Drifters (July 25); rocking British Isles folk featuring Todd Menton and the Tara Boxers (Aug. 1); and Mexican Música Norteña with Los Jefes (Aug. 8).

Record crowds are rocking out at Mill City Live in Minneapolis! Join them for live bands in Mill City Museum’s open air Ruin Courtyard on the Minneapolis Riverfront from 6 to 8 p.m. Enjoy food and drinks, available for purchase from D’Amico Catering, and see the gorgeous views of the Stone Arch Bridge and Mill Ruins Park. Watch Minnesota Music Award-winner Chris Koza on July 20, and afro-funk band Yawo on Aug. 3. The series continues on the first and third Thursday of each month through September.

The Minnesota’s Greatest Generation Project, which explores the lives of those who grew up amid the 1930s depression era and came of age during World War II, invites filmmakers of all ages and abilities to participate in “Moving Pictures - Shared Stories of Minnesota’s Greatest Generation.” Filmmakers can explore any aspect of the lives and legacy of this generation (born between 1910 and 1929) but must pre-register online. Workshops are available to registered filmmakers. Save the date for a film premiere event on Sunday, Oct. 8 at the History Center.

Laura Salveson, Mill City Museum manager writes, "This birds-eye view of the Minneapolis milling district was taken in 1912. The photograph contains several landmarks familiar to Minnesotans today: the Stone Arch Bridge, Ceresota Elevator, and Gold Medal Flour sign chief among them. In direct contrast to today’s view of the same area is the industrial look of the district: dozens of train tracks running through what is now South Second Street all the way to Washington Avenue, smoke and haze covering the photo with a gritty film. No bike paths, condominiums, theaters, hotels or parks can be seen in what was once the milling capital of the world!"

Browse more than 117,000 additional historic images.

Now is the perfect time to:

• Join Children's Day at the Kelley Farm on July 21. Kids can help oxen Coulter and Toby bring in wagonloads of grain, pump water from the well, and shuck freshly cut grain in the field, just like children did 150 years ago.

• Make crafts at a History HiJinx program, held each summer weekday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the History Center. In July, learn how 1930s kids helped others and make a clothespin doll; and in August see what depression-era children did for fun without spending a lot of money by making funny fold-ups reproduced from the 1930s' Minneapolis Junior Reader.

• Celebrate the Twins' recent winning streak by reading a new MHS Press release, Stew Thornley's “Baseball in Minnesota: the Definitive History,” an account of the state's earliest days of 1800s town ball to the latest seasons of the Twins and Saints.

Hear legends and lore of the North Woods at the Forest History Center’s “Tall Tales, Songs of the Pineries and Lumberjack Poetry” on July 22. Experience lumberjack life in an isolated 1930s logging camp through songs, poetry and storytelling from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Bring chairs and blankets to the Harkin Store on July 16, where the Concertina and Buttonbox Club will perform old-style accordion music from 1 to 4 p.m. outside the 1870s general store.