Mill City Museum celebrates the opening of the new film "Minneapolis in 19 Minutes Flat" with a weekend of family events on Oct. 14 and 15, including ethnic food demonstrations in the Baking Lab, a craft activity making three-dimensional Minneapolis postcards, music of Minneapolis with the Brass Messengers and performances by History Player Franklin Steele (Saturday only). See the film, written and narrated by local playwright Kevin Kling, at Mill City Museum throughout the weekend or during any regular museum hours.

Join the Minnesota Historical Society for strange and spooky Halloween performances, tours and family activities at a number of our sites around the state.

Minnesota State Capitol
Shadows and Spirits of the State Capitol

James J. Hill House
Victorian Ghost Stories

Minnesota History Center
Dark Nights – When Theater Illuminates History: History After Hours

Dia de los Muertos

Mill City Museum
Minneapolis Horror: Tales from the Night Shift

Alexander Ramsey House
Children's Victorian Halloween

Oliver H. Kelley Farm
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

North West Company Fur Post
Mystery at the Fur Post

This Sunday, Oct. 15, is the last day to see the History Center’s “Life in Shadows: Hidden Children and the Holocaust,” a traveling exhibit from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum telling the remarkable stories of the Nazis’ most vulnerable victims – Jewish children. The accompanying exhibition “Voice to Vision,” a multi-generational collaboration between Holocaust survivors and artists, will also close on Oct. 15.

Congratulations to Freya Schirmacher, whose “A Satisfied Life” won Best Film at the “Moving Pictures - Shared Stories of Minnesota's Greatest Generation” festival, held Oct. 8 at the History Center. The festival, open to filmmakers of all ages and abilities, explored stories from the “Greatest Generation” – those Minnesotans who grew up amid the depression of 1930s, came of age during World War II, and participated in the boom that followed in the wake of the war. If you missed the festival, screenings of many of these films will be held around the state in the upcoming weeks. See more about this year's winners and get started making your film for the 2007 competition!

Sixty archaeologists and historians from 26 countries visited Minnesota as part of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Archaeology and History (ICMAH) annual conference from Oct. 4-7. Along the way, the group visited the History Center, Historic Fort Snelling, Mill City Museum, Mille Lacs Indian Museum, James J. Hill House and Oliver H. Kelley Farm. Sixteen of the visitors were participating in the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program, a multi-regional cultural heritage preservation project allowing international professionals an opportunity to meet their counterparts and experience the United States firsthand. 

Says exhibit developer Ellen Miller, "One section of the film 'Minneapolis in 19 Minutes Flat' relates to the tear down of Minneapolis' Gateway district. 'In five years,' Kevin Kling narrates, 'the city removed nearly 200 buildings, over 17 square blocks.'  I chose this picture, taken by Jerome Liebling in 1963, to illustrate the shocking rawness of this new Minneapolis (that's Washington Avenue on the left)."

Browse more than 117,000 historical images from the Society's collections.

Now is the perfect time to:

• Welcome Mill City Museum’s new neighbor, the Guthrie Theater, with an exhibit of photos, memories, props and costumes, exploring what the Guthrie has meant to the community in its first 43 years. “Looking Forward, Looking Back: Guthrie Theater Reflections” is now on display at Mill City Museum during regular hours.

• See the Hill House Chamber Players, who begin their 21st season of concerts in the restored art gallery of the James J. Hill House. On Nov. 6 and 13, the musicians will perform works by Mozart, Shostakovich and Paganini, using rare instruments from the collections of the Schubert Club. Reservations are recommended; call 651-297-2555.

The sinking of the freight ship the Edmund Fitzgerald on Nov. 10, 1975, took the lives of all 29 crew members aboard. The annual commemoration of the event at Split Rock Lighthouse on Nov. 10 and 11 features guided tours, a film about the ship, and a talk by professor Mark Seeley, author of "Minnesota Weather Almanac." The lighthouse will close temporarily at 4:30 p.m. and the names of the lost crew members will be read to the tolling of a ship's bell. Following the ceremony, the lighthouse will be reopened and the beacon will be lit – the only time during the year to see the lighted beacon from inside the lighthouse.

Do you have family heirlooms collecting dust on your shelves? Learn how to protect these cherished items with the Society’s outreach conservator Bob Herskovitz at his “Preserving Family History” workshops throughout the state. Bring an item, such as a photograph, quilt or document, to ask preservation questions. See upcoming workshops in your area.