Preserving the Past by Kim Nelson

On Jan. 24, the Freeborn County Historical Museum, Library and Village hosted its annual meeting and volunteer recognition. Over 70 people attended the annual event, which recapped 2016 and celebrated our volunteers. We also celebrated Linda Evenson’s 25th anniversary with the museum.

Linda is the librarian and has been a significant contributor to the success of the museum. The museum staff and volunteers are so thankful for her.

“Building the future by preserving the past” is our mission statement at the museum. We took time at the meeting to acknowledge what we did in 2016 to carry out that mission. Some of our accomplishments included hosting almost 11,000 visitors at the museum from 39 states and five countries. Our volunteers clocked over 6,700 hours, which works out to be 132 of average volunteer hours a week for the 51 weeks we were open. We hosted or participated in over 100 special events and activities.

In reflecting back on 2016, probably our biggest accomplishments were the two grants we received. One grant was in partnership with the city of Albert to scan their documents. We received that grant from SELCO. The second grant, from the State Historical Society, made it possible for us to enhance our storage and upgrades to our archiving room. This room now has floor to ceiling shelving that provides a clean, safe and climate-controlled room to store our archived items. We are so thankful to the staff, volunteers and especially Pat Mulso for their work on making this dream a reality.

In the coming year we will continue to provide education and activities that benefit the citizens of Freeborn County.

Check us out on Facebook and make sure to follow us to get updates on the museum. Also, you can hear me on KATE radio every Sunday morning for updates from the museum. I love visitors, too, so come on in and see me. We are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Kim Nelson is the executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum, Library and Village, 1031 Bridge Ave.