MN 150 Exhibit Opens in October

Meet 150 people, places, events and things that sparked significant change within Minnesota or beyond its borders, in honor of the state’s sesquicentennial in 2008.

Invite your students to make their own list of Minnesota change makers. You'll find many ways to weave this much-anticipated exhibit into your lessons. Grades K-12. Opens Oct. 13.

See the exhibit before it opens! Sign up for the Teacher Sneak Peek & Educator Open House. Walk away with a lesson designed for MN150!

Visit A Treaty Site With Your Students

Traverse des Sioux has been a gateway for thousands of years.

The Dakota called this area "the place of crossing." French explorers called it Traverse des Sioux, or "crossing place of the Sioux." In 1851, the U.S. government signed a treaty with the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Dakota. The treaty opened 24 million acres to land-hungry settlers and speculators.

Teach your students about this dramatic time in our history. Book your tour today. $2 per student. Nicollet County schools admitted free. For grades K-12.

You may combine this tour with the Harkin Store or Fort Ridgely. Call us today: (507) 934-2160.

Get a Glimpse of life During the Civil war and Dakota war

Fort Ridgely was a western frontier post in the mid 19th century. Its stone commissary, now a museum, illustrates the day-to-day life of a U.S. solider during the 1850’s and 1860’s.

This hands-on experience includes trying on period clothing, watching a video about the fort and the Dakota War, and an outdoor self-guided tour. $2 per student. Nicole County schools admitted free. Grades K-12.

Frontier Life Comes Alive at the Harkin store

Do you teach Minnesota history? Give your students a feel for 1870s frontier life with a free tour of the Harkin Store.

Your students will meet costumed guides who bring to life a time when Minnesotans traveled by steamboat. People walked for miles just to shop at the Harkin Store, pick up their mail, and visit with neighbors.

Hear stories about the grasshopper plague, Jesse James, and more. Your students might try on old-time hats, grind coffee, or play with an original checkerboard. Tours last 30-45 minutes.

Combine your trip with one to Ft. Ridgely, the Lower Sioux Agency, or the Brown County Historical Museum, or the Treaty Site History Center and Cox House in St. Peter. We'll help you plan your trip. Call us: (507) 354-8666 or (507) 934-2160.

Can't Take a Field Trip? Bring a History Player to Your Class

We know you can't always come to us, so our History Players come to you. Yes, we travel statewide! Characters are based out of both the Minnesota History Center and Mill City Museum. Try one today! For grades 3-8.

Book a History Player and you'll receive:

• a lively 45-minute lesson
• background materials for teachers
• a pre-visit activity, and
• a post-activity booklet for students.

History Center Players

We have a variety of fascinating characters, including St. Paul's first public school teacher, a female WWII pilot, and an African American businessman living in St. Paul at the turn of the last century.

Your students will be able to put a human face on history concepts. Save money and link up with a nearby school.

 

Mill City Museum Players

Mary Dodge Woodward brings sodbusting lessons to life with her story of life on a Bonanza Farm in the 1880s.

William de la Barre engages students with tales of the explosion that brought him to Minneapolis. His role in powering the mills helped make Minneapolis the 1880's flour capital of the world!

 

 

 

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