St Louis County Historical Society

Programs: Veterans memorial hall (vmh)vmh oral history program: one oral training session was held in 2017, and another will be scheduled in early 2018. Project priorities for 2017 included updating and correction information about the existing collection in the vmh files to meet basic standards. This information also gave the collections manager the data she needs to catalog the interviews into the society's collections. O a vmh program assistant was employed part-timeo 10 trained oral historians conducted interviews in 2017o 34 previously recorded (before may 1) oral histories need transcriptiono 20 oral histories were recorded in 2017 and need to be transcribedo 15 oral histories were found on cds, but have not been uploaded to the websiteo 40 prospective interviewees will be scheduled in 2018vmh minnesota remembers vietnam: the society received a grant of $20,000 from the minnesota humanities center to host four events in 2018 to encourage vietnam veterans and their families to share their memories. Women (including blue star and gold star mothers), american indians, hmong and iron range residents and their roles in the vietnam war and back home will be the target audiences/themes at the events. Vmh program assistant and the vmh oral history project consultant received training at the humanities center, st. Paul, to learn more about capturing absent narratives, the purpose of the planned events. Vmh stories on website: 6963 total stories from st. Louis county veterans. In addition, 1 photo was added to this website along with 34 oral histories. Veterans memorial hall program events:o vmh 5 k fun run/walk in may. 43 runners. O new event: reopening the vmh gallery on memorial day. 60 attended. O veterans day march in november. 100 attended. O veterans 13th annual remembrance dinner in december. 95 attended. O veterans 13th annual remembrance dinner sponsors: 7 local businesses. Co-hosted veteran-related events:o with wdse public tv, viewing ken burns' documentary the vietnam war. 30 attendees. Off-site veteran-related events participated in by society staff:o new event: society executive director spoke about vmh history at duluth woman's club in november. 20 attended. O new event: h. E. R. O. S scholarship fund, honoring cdr. David wheat in september. 2 society staff attended; 300 guests. O new event: uss duluth crewmembers association, 3rd biennial reunion. 2 society staff attended. O new event: society accepts model of uss duluth ship for display in vmh gallery. O upcoming event series: minnesota remembers vietnam. Awarded $20,000 from minnesota humanities center for 6 events in 2018. O new training: initiated training for volunteer oral historians by contracted oral historian. O attended funeral for james joseph hubert, wwii, kia and repatriated in july. Vmh website (www. Vets-hall. Org): 11,253 visitors/users; 13. 197 visits/sessions/31,676 page views. Vmh facebook (www. Facebook. Com/veteransmemorialhall): 865 likes; 36,708 vmh total reach via facebook. Museum operationsthe operation of a museum with the st. Louis county heritage & arts center serves to help meet the society's mission to collect, preserve and present county/northeastern minnesota history. Approximately 65,984 people viewed special fixed exhibits at the st. Louis county historical society (in the depot) man behind the medal: life of medal of honor recipient henry a. Courtney, jr. Generations of service in veterans memorial hall once upon a ballet exhibit expanded version in small fesler gallery old country memories. Albin zaverl collection. Fesler gallery and the depot board room. Slovenian exhibit. April through may. Approximately 68,000 people collectively viewed permanent & long-term exhibits at the depot, the duluth international airport, or at the uss duluth memorial (on the duluth lakewalk). Veterans memorial hall (off the great hall) including uss duluth ship replica, and uss duluth presentation silver. Uss duluth anchor memorial (on the duluth lakewalk). County built on iron (2nd floor mezzanine). Depot square at depot (1st floor, with lake superior railroad museum). Forest history (3rd floor currently includes 4 paintings by dale lyons). History of the depot great hall (great hall). The history of st. Louis county 1856 to date (great hall & mezzanine). Eli's farm children's interactive exhibit (2nd floor mezzanine). The immigrant waiting room (2nd floor). Lake superior ojibwe gallery (4th floor). New: gallery docent guide written by society intern, and member of the ojibwe band. Ivy vainio american indian photo exhibit (stairway between 3rd and 4th floors). Melheim/woodcarving (large fesler gallery. ) minnesota ballet's once upon a ballet (small fesler gallery). David wheat & joe gomer statues (donated to society & on display at the james l. Oberstar terminal at the duluth international airport). There are currently 16 exhibits from the traveling exhibits program available for installation outside the depot. An estimate of 356,508 individuals viewed one or more of the traveling exhibits in 2017. In addition, processes and procedures for loaning and installing traveling exhibits were updated to better meet the needs of the society and to ensure the preservation of each exhibit. A revised traveling exhibits brochure added to the society's website allows borrowers to search for an exhibit by category: fine art and photographs; american indian; immigrant; military; local and county history; and regional and national history. Further, an active plan is in place to promote the exhibits to other historical societies, libraries, courthouses or educational institutions. The following displays were loaned in 2017 and a new plan to include traveling exhibits as part of the society's mini-exhibits is in place: preserving the old county: the experiences of croatians, serbians and slovenians in st. Louis county borrowed for the families in flight, two events in september. 300 attendees total. Finns of western lake superior was borrowed for finland 100 northland yhdessa, december 6 (600 attendees) the 18 civil war exhibit was used for the 125th anniversary of the depot, november 15. 50 attendees. Women in the military loaned to gary new duluth alliance in may. 60 visitors. Desert medics: 477th medical company borrowed in june by the 477 medical company ambulance, located in canal park. 150 viewers. Nowhere to hide: aids & the 1918 influenza myth, misunderstanding, fear and fact. World aids day, december 1. 50 viewers. Hibbing courthouse 35,000 - county history case exhibit created and installed in 2015 - a salute to servicewomen from the range - will remain permanently. Virginia courthouse - 12,500 visitors - a county history case exhibit created and installed in 2015 will remain permanently with periodic changes to the artifacts and other exhibit components, as well as traveling exhibit. Return to the river: the history of the st. Louis river and the wester lake superior sanitary district (produced by wlssd in cooperation with slchs) was on display at the great lakes aquarium january through mid-may, 2017. 5,250 viewers. Return to the river: the history of the st. Louis river and the western lake superior sanitary district was transferred in mid-may, 2017 to the lake superior marine museum and installed in the lecture hall. 152,048 viewers. Statues of joe gomer and david wheat are placed permanently at the james l. Oberstar terminal, duluth international airport. 150,000 travelers or visitors viewed these statues. Albert woolson exhibit remains at the james l. Oberstar terminal, duluth international airport. Albin zaverl collection of 30 original paintings and drawings was donated to the society in 2016 and remained on display in 2017. Two paintings from his estate were installed in the depot board room in december, 2016. 500 people view these during regularly scheduled meetings held by all organizations housed in the depot throughout the year. Accessions [36]: as of 12. 13. 2017, the society has accessioned 39 collections for the year 2017. However, the society recently acquired an additional 6 collections that will be entered into the system before december 31. Artifacts [257]: for accession, 82 catalog records have been created. 257 items have been catalogued including items that are back-logged. Preservation [10]: 10 items needed "above and beyond" preservation methods applied to them. These included custom ethafoam folders, custom pads, etc. Basic preservation standards (e. G. , rehousing, padding) are considered a daily responsibility. St. Louis county historical society is one of the five largest county historical societies in minnesota in number of collections and artifacts. Archives added [5 linear feet (lf)]: archival records acc