Minnesota History Center

Minnesota History Center

Established	1993
Location	345 W. Kellogg Boulevard Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
Type	Historical society
Director	D. Stephen Elliott
Public transit access	Bus: 16, 21, 94
Website	www.mnhs.org

The Minnesota History Center is a museum and library that serves as the headquarters of the Minnesota Historical Society. It is near downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, and is considered one of Minnesota's finest public buildings.

The History Center is on Kellogg Boulevard, between the Mississippi River and the Minnesota State Capitol.^[1] Before this building was built in 1992, the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) occupied what is now the Minnesota Judicial Center, originally built for the Society in 1917. Before that, MNHS was housed in the basement of the State Capitol.^[2]

The Center hosts concerts, dance performances, lectures, conferences, meetings, dinners, political campaign events, memorial services, receptions, parties, and weddings; as many as 75,000 schoolchildren visit the History Center every year.

Architecture

The Minneapolis architectural firm of Hammel Green and Abrahamson (HGA) designed the History Center's floor plan and exterior. HGA looked to Fort Snelling, the St. Paul's Cathedral and the Minnesota State Capitol for inspiration. One member of the History Center Planning Committee said, "We have envisioned a place that draws the public in, fires the imagination, and responds to its hunger for an understanding of the past. We have envisioned a building alive with people from morning until far into the evening...a vital cultural and educational center."

After ten years of planning and nearly three years of construction, The History Center opened in October 1992. The building features a central dome with two bordering wings, creating an L-shaped design. The north facade faces the Capitol, and the southeast facade overlooks a large lawn and terrace area. Bronze doors admit visitors into the Center's main entrance, on the west wall.

Charm Bracelet lies on the floor of the first-story rotunda. This project, sculpted by James Casebere, depicts a broken piece of jewelry in which each of ten "charms" represents an important aspect of Minnesota: a tractor (agriculture); a printer's ink roller (civic society and free speech); a tepee (the Dakota tribe); a mill building (lumbering and flour-milling); a house (family); a power plant (technology and industry); a turtle, bear and fish (nature, outdoor recreation, and Ojibwe totems of healing, defense and learning); and a whooping crane (lost wilderness and a metaphor for history).

The Minnesota History Center is one of the 26 Minnesota Historical Society sites and is home to the Minnesota Historical Society headquarters, the Society's collections, an expansive library, and 44,000 square feet (4,100 m²) of museum gallery space. The museum showcases interactive in-house-developed and traveling exhibits, as well as historical programming and lectures. The Center also contains conference rooms, the 3M Auditorium, Café Minnesota, two museum gift shops and 12,800 square feet (1,190 m²) of classroom space.^[3]

More than half of the 427,000 square feet (39,700 m²) building is underground,^[4] much of which is used for storage. The Minnesota History Center possesses over 1,000,000 artifacts, including archaeological objects, books, photographs, maps, paintings, prints, drawings, manuscripts, government records, newspapers and periodicals. Such artifacts are stored in the 100,000 square feet (9,300 m²) of storage space available in the Center. In this storage space, the shelves reach heights over 25 feet.^[5] The Center also has a conservation laboratory, where conservators repair, stabilize, and maintain the Society's thousands of valuable objects.

Gale Family Library

The Gale Family Library on the second floor of the History Center, offers resources for MNHS members and guests. Two rooms, the Weyerhaeuser Reference Room and the Ronald M. Hubbs Microfilm Reading Room, make up the library area. The library often hosts classes on historical and genealogical research.^[6]

References

↑ "Minnesota History Center", p.2.
↑ http://www.minnesotahistorycenter.org/about/about-the-history-center.
↑ http://www.minnesotahistorycenter.org/about/about-the-history-center.
↑ Horrigan, Brian. "Minnesota History Center" Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1996. 9.
↑ Horrigan, Brian. "Minnesota History Center" Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1996. 30.
↑ "Library | Library Home". sites.mnhs.org. Retrieved 2016-09-23.

External links

Minnesota History Center - official site
"Hubert Humphrey, Presidential Contender" from C-SPAN's The Contenders, broadcast from the Minnesota History Center

Protected areas of Minnesota

National

Parks	Voyageurs

Monuments	Grand Portage Pipestone

Rivers	Mississippi National River and Recreation Area Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway

Scenic Trails	North Country Trail

Wildlife Refuges	Agassiz Big Stone Crane Meadows Glacial Ridge Hamden Slough Mille Lacs Minnesota Valley Northern Tallgrass Prairie Rice Lake Rydell Sherburne Tamarac Upper Mississippi River

Wetland Management Districts	Big Stone Detroit Lakes Fergus Falls Litchfield Minnesota Valley Morris Windom

Forests	Chippewa Superior

Natural Landmarks	Ancient River Warren Channel Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve Itasca Natural Area Keeley Creek Natural Area Lac la Croix Research Natural Area Lake Agassiz Peatlands Natural Area Pine Point Research Natural Area Upper Red Lake Peatland

Wilderness	Agassiz Boundary Waters Canoe Area Tamarac

State

Parks	Afton Banning Bear Head Lake Beaver Creek Valley Big Stone Lake Blue Mounds Buffalo River Camden Carley Cascade River Charles A. Lindbergh Crow Wing Father Hennepin Flandrau Forestville Mystery Cave Fort Ridgely Fort Snelling Franz Jevne Frontenac George H. Crosby Manitou Glacial Lakes Glendalough Gooseberry Falls Grand Portage Great River Bluffs Hayes Lake Hill-Annex Mine Interstate Itasca Jay Cooke John A. Latsch Judge C. R. Magney Kilen Woods Lac qui Parle Lake Bemidji Lake Bronson Lake Carlos Lake Louise Lake Maria Lake Shetek Lake Vermilion Maplewood McCarthy Beach Mille Lacs Kathio Minneopa Monson Lake Moose Lake Myre-Big Island Nerstrand-Big Woods Old Mill Rice Lake Saint Croix Sakatah Lake Savanna Portage Scenic Schoolcraft Sibley Soudan Underground Mine Split Rock Creek Split Rock Lighthouse Temperance River Tettegouche Upper Sioux Agency Whitewater Wild River William O'Brien Zippel Bay

Recreation Areas	Big Bog Cuyuna Country Garden Island Greenleaf Lake Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle La Salle Lake Minnesota Valley Red River Saint Croix Islands

Waysides	Caribou Falls Devils Track Falls Flood Bay Inspiration Peak Joseph R. Brown Kodonce River Ray Berglund St. Croix Boom Site Sam Brown Memorial

Forests	Badoura Battleground Bear Island Beltrami Island Big Fork Birch Lakes Blackduck Bowstring Buena Vista Burntside Chengwatana Cloquet Valley Crow Wing D.A.R. Emily Finland Fond du Lac Foot Hills General C. C. Andrews George Washington Golden Anniversary Grand Portage Hill River Huntersville Insula Lake Jeanette Kabetogama Koochiching Lake Isabella Lake of the Woods Land O'Lakes Lost River Lyons Mississippi Headwaters Nemadji Northwest Angle Pat Bayle Remer Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood Rum River Saint Croix Sand Dunes Savanna Smokey Bear Smoky Hills Snake River Solana Sturgeon River Two Inlets Waukenabo Wealthwood Welsh Lake White Earth Whiteface River

Scientific and Natural Areas	List of scientific and natural areas

Local

Parks	County and regional parks Three Rivers Park District

Other

Minnesota Historical Society	Alexander Ramsey House Birch Coulee Battlefield Charles A. Lindbergh House Comstock House Folsom House Forest History Center Forestville Fort Renville Fort Ridgely Fort Snelling Grand Mound Harkin's General Store James J. Hill House Jeffers Petroglyphs Lac qui Parle Mission Lower Sioux Agency Marine Mill Mill City Museum Mille Lacs Indian Museum Minnehaha Depot Minnesota History Center Minnesota State Capitol Morrison Mounds North West Company Post Oliver H. Kelley Homestead Sibley House Historic Site Split Rock Lighthouse Stumne Mounds Traverse des Sioux Upper Sioux Agency W. W. Mayo House

Nature centers	List of nature centers

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Museums in Minnesota

Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Area	American Swedish Institute The Bakken Bell Museum of Natural History Historic Fort Snelling Hennepin History Museum James J. Hill House Oliver H. Kelley Homestead Mill City Museum Minneapolis Institute of Art Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Minnesota Center for Book Arts Minnesota Children's Museum Minnesota History Center Minnesota Streetcar Museum Minnesota Transportation Museum Museum of Lake Minnetonka The Museum of Russian Art Pavek Museum of Broadcasting Science Museum of Minnesota Twin City Model Railroad Museum Walker Art Center Weisman Art Museum

Duluth	Glensheen Historic Estate Great Lakes Aquarium William A. Irvin Floating Ship Museum Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center Lake Superior Railroad Museum Tweed Museum of Art

Elsewhere	3M Museum (Two Harbors) Hjemkomst Center (Moorhead) Minnesota Music Hall of Fame (New Ulm) Two Harbors Light (Two Harbors) United States Hockey Hall of Fame (Eveleth) Mille Lacs Indian Museum (Onamia) Minnesota Military Museum (Fort Ripley) Minnesota Marine Art Museum (Winona) Rourke Art Museum (Moorhead) Spam Museum (Austin)

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