Director's Blog

The Northfield History Collaborative, a local consortium dedicated to creating online access to documents and images related to Northfield history, has received a $43,950 grant from the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage grants program.

The grant will support the second phase of the collaborative’s development. It will aid in the addition of six new partners and provide for the upload of a couple hundred digital objects, ranging from oral histories, historical photos, primary artifacts and documents held by the partner organizations. In addition, it will provide funds for a full time staff person for a period of nine months to coordinate the day-to-day operations of the collaborative.

“The goal of the NHC is to develop a Google-like, one-stop shopping center for Northfield area history,” said Hayes Scriven, co-chair of the NHC and executive director of Northfield Historical Society. “The long range goal is to broaden it to all of Rice County and to plug into a state or national database of historical records.”

The NHC was established in 2007 as a forum for local libraries, archives, museums and others to collaborate in identifying, describing, digitizing, and making accessible materials related to the history of Northfield.  The initial partners of the NHC are the Northfield Historical Society, the Rice County Historical Society, the Northfield Public Library and Carleton College.

Sam Demas, co-chair of the NHC and college librarian for Carleton College, the collaborative has instituted standard technical protocol and a common technical platform that allows for easy access.

“Most important,” he said, “is our commitment to work together to provide comprehensive access to the records of Northfield history.”

The grant NHC received is from the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant program, is administered by the Minnesota Historical Society. The grants were made possible through the passage of the Clean, Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution in November 2008. The grants are awarded to support projects of enduring value for the cause of history and historic preservations across the state. The Minnesota Historical Society will award $6.75 million during the 2010/2011 fiscal years.

“This is a really great time for history in Northfield and Rice County! I am really excited to start the second phase of the NHC!” Scriven stated.

The Museum Store is really excited to unveil some it’s new Defeat of Jesse James Days merchandise!

Defeat of Jesse James Days T-Shirt

Every Girl Loves an Outlaw T-Shirts

Give me the coffee and nobody gets hurt coffee mug

Get Your Guns Boys they’re robbing the bank coffee mug

Northfield MN hats

James-Younger Gang t-shirts and Sock Monkeys!

All of these items can only be purchased at the Northifeld Historical Society Museum Store.  For more information on the store call us at 507-645-9268 or stop by, we are located at 408 Division Street!

The 2010 Outlaw Run was a great success this past Saturday!  We had about 140 registered riders but we counted 180 bikes!  It was a great success and thank you to all the volunteers, sponsors and riders!  The Run was a blast!  Enjoy the photos!

Last night’s exhibit opening was a great success.  Thank you to all that came out and supported the Northfield Historical Society.  The Taking Northfield History to the Next Level  exhibit examines some rarely seen historic photographs of Northfield in a very large format!

The exhibit highlights the Northfield Historical  Society’s home, the Scriver Building throughout the years, but there are also many great photos of downtown.  The exhibit will be up through October, so come on down and take a look!

If you fee like you missed out last night, do not worry.  On September 9, we will  hold another exhibit opening.  The reason for that is we are adding 3 more photos to the exhibit that will add so much more to the display!

Hello everyone, we are only 3 days away from the 2010 Outlaw Run.  Things are coming together nicely and we are starting to finalize the details.  We have changed where the bikes will be parking.  This year we will be parking in the Washington Street Parking Lot.  It is located between 4th and 5th Street and just south of Washington Street.  Here is the map of Downtown for all of the Outlaw Run happenings.  For more questions feel free to call NHS at 507-645-9268.

View Outlaw Run Parking Map in a larger map

This will be a busy week for the Northfield Historical Society.

We are pleased to announce that the Northfield History podcasts are off and running.  You can view the videos here.  We are still working out a few kinks but they are up for your viewing pleasure.  If you cannot download the videos or do not have an I Pod/smartphone you can come by the museum and pick up a FREE RENTAL and a map that will take you on a walking tour of downtown Northfield!

This Thursday NHS will also, open up it’s newest exhibit, Taking Northfield History to the Next Level.  The exhibit will showcase photographs from early downtown Northfied in a large format!  You will see downtown Northfield like never before!  Doors open at 5:00 with the program starting at 5:30. This is an open house, so we will be open until 8:00 p.m.

Finally, this Saturday, August 28 will be the 3rd Annual Outlaw Run!  Registration starts at 9:00 and a bank raid at 10:00 a.m.  We will then leave Northfield around 10:30 and head out on the trail.  This is about a 100 mile run that will follow part of the James-Younger Gang’s escape out of Northfield.  All of the money raised by the Run goes to support the NHS Youth programs.

The Outlaw Run is only 8 days away!  The Run committee has been hard at work laying out the route and coming up with ways to make this year’s Outlaw Run very entertaining!  Registration will start around 9:00 a.m. on August 28.  The bank raid will be at 10:00 and we will leave Northfield around 10:30.  We will stop in Elysian, Lexington and Millersburg this year.  At each stop we will have a few games where riders will earn points and the top points earners will be eligible to win these prizes: (there are more!)

A pair of Minnesota Twins Tickets to the September 19 game vs the Oakland A’s  and an autographed baseball by Alexi Casilla

A pair of Minnesota Vikings Tickets to the September 19 home opener vs the Miami Dolphins
 

Defeat of Jesse James Days package that includes

4 DJJD buttons
4 front row seats to the bank raid re-enactment on Friday September 10
4 tickets to the PRCA Rodeo on Friday September 10

You can register for the Outlaw Run here.

If you are coming from out of town for the Run why don’t you make it a weekend.  The Archer House is offering $20 off a room night for Outlaw Run riders.  There are many great things to do in Northfield you can check out what is going on in town with the Northfield Entertainment Guide.

The Northfield Historical Society is excited to announce that it has been named a $200,642 grant recipient for the Minnesota Historical Society’s Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant Program. The grant will help fund the installation of an elevator in downtown Northfield’s Scriver Building that has housed the society’s exhibit, collection, research, and program spaces since 1975.

NHS Executive Director Hayes Scriven says the grant provides a big boost to the society’s current capital campaign, “Taking Northfield History to the Next Level,” that when completed will improve accessibility for Scriver’s 10,000 annual visitors by adding an elevator and six restrooms.

“Scriver has served us well, but it’s time to make better use of our space — and make it more comfortable for more people,” Scriven says. The elevator, installed behind the stair tower along the building’s west wall, will connect the structure’s basement and upper two stories. It will replace a steep, narrow flight of stairs that currently is the only route to the basement.

NHS’s “Next Level” campaign is the first stage of a multi-phase project that also will add on-grade access from Bridge Square, ADA-compliant restrooms, increase office space on the second floor, and restore the building’s facade to its 19th-century appearance. “We are still in need of support to finish the campaign” says Debby Larsen, NHS board president. “To accomplish our goal we still need to raise $400,000.”

The limestone building was built by Hiram Scriver, one of Northfield’s earliest merchants, in 1868. It has since housed more than 50 local businesses, including the First National Bank that the infamous James-Younger Gang attempted to rob in 1876.

Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants are made possible by the Minnesota Legislature from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that was created with passage of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution in 2008. The grants are awarded to support projects “of enduring value for the cause of history and historic preservation across the state.” MHS will award a total of $6.75 million in Historical Cultural Heritage Grants to nonprofit and educational organizations, government units, and tribes during the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years.

Read how the $3 million in MHS grants was distributed across the state in the Star Tribune.

You can now register for the 2010 Outlaw Run.  In the past two years we have seen the attendance grow from 69 in 2008 to 200 in 2009!  So sign up early!  You can see all the details here.  There will be more information on prizes coming later!

Tomorrow during the Taste of Northfield the Northfield Historical Society will have $1.00 tours from 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.  Come on down for some great food, great tour, a bank raid re-enactment and check out some new Northfield items.

NHS is now open on Mondays and until 5 everyday of the week!

Come down and check out some of the new merchandise in the Museum Store.  We have many new books, DVDs, greetings Cards and much more!

Here are some new items!

Amber Waters: The History or brewing in Minnesota

The Great Minnesota Fish Book

Women’s Northfield T-shirt.  Also comes in pink

DVDS: Ytterboe the Dog, Faithful Unto Death, Long Riders and more…

DVD: Ole and Lena Joke Night: Uncensored!

Today KYMN Radio’s Tim Freeland and I installed a Bridge Square Web Camera!  You can see it below or in the navigation bar to the right!  This will be on 24/7, so come back to check out what is happening in beautiful downtown Northfield!

Free TV : Ustream

For the past few weeks I have been tracking the construction on 4th Street.  It is kind of hard to miss.  So here are some photos of the construction.

Also, do not forget to come down to NHS tomorrow at 5:30 for free ice cream and cake as we honor our volunteers of the year!  Everyone is welcome to join us!

This Thursday May 20 at 5:30 p.m. NHS will honor our 2009 Volunteers of the year Sonja Wermager and Bob and Martha Davies.

Sonja, Bob, and Martha are key volunteers at the Historical Society museum doing things at which they excel and enjoy and for which they, for one reason or another, have a skill or aptitude. They are different kinds of people with very different backgrounds. Sonja is a senior at Northfield High School. Bob and Martha are retirees who spent their working years in Dallas, Tex., and came to Northfield only four and a half years ago.

Sonja got into Earl Weinmann’s SCOPE program as an eighth grader and progressed from there to the Junior Posse and then to being a summer assistant at the Society, working with junior curators. She also worked on Caught in the Storm, the book about the Youngers’ would be escape from Minnesota.

Bob and Martha spent the bulk of their working years in the oil and gas industry in Texas, and both were trained as draftsmen; hence, their facility for planning and display.  They both designed the exhibits on World War II, the button collection, Eva Lou Scott’s doll collection, and the NAG 50th anniversary exhibit, among others. 

This event and free and open to the public, so come down and check out NHS and help us celebrate the wonderful volunteer spirit!