Preserving the Past by Pat Mulso

As some of you may have heard, I am retiring. My replacement will begin the week of Jan. 18, and we will make a formal announcement soon. I am having a retirement open house at the museum from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 2. I have thoroughly enjoyed my 10-plus years as the executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum, Library and Village. When I started in September 2005 my first goal was to expand our library and its collections. Next, we worked on foundations — painting and roofs for the buildings in the village. We also added roofs over the railroad exhibit, the log house and extended the roof over the machinery exhibit and re-chinked the post office log building. We replaced three furnaces, two air conditioners and replaced every ceiling light fixture in the museum, the lights in the exhibit cabinets and the red barn with energy efficient fixtures. Next, the big project, our building addition and all the surprises that came with that project, like tiling in the front of the property and putting a new drainage tile system through the village. The list could go on and on. After the addition was complete we also made some changes in the old part of the building, which included a new archive room on the main floor behind the new library and reception area. We didn’t have money to equip the room with new archival shelving, but we did get the room built.

Breaking news, we just received our grant award letter announcing our grant for $71,513 to purchase and have installed the archival shelving for our new archive room! This project process will begin in 2016 and should be complete by fall. The grant will help us organize our archives and make our collections more accessible. It was made possible in full or in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.

My passion for the museum has been my life for the last 10 years and I will still be involved. I have pledged 300 volunteer hours for this archive project so I’ll still be around — just not every day.

I want to say a very special thank you to all our museum volunteers, the staff and our donors and members. Without all of you we would not have accomplished all that we have. We have a wonderful museum complex and need to get more of our local community involved in our programs and events. If you are not a member, I encourage you to join and enjoy all that the museum has to offer.

The museum will host a four-hour AARP defensive driving refresher class from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Jan. 9. The cost is $20 for AARP members or $25 for nonmembers, which includes the class materials and administrative fee. You must pre-register for the class and will need your driver’s license to do so. The refresher course is needed every three years after the initial eight-hour class is taken to continue receiving a discount on your auto insurance. Call or stop by the museum to register during our regular business hours. You will receive your certificate at the end of the class. Our next class will be from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 6.

The museum is happy to announce that we will be hosting a special presentation by geographer/photographer Tobias Walther-Antonio at noon Jan. 16 in the museum meeting room. The title of his lecture is “The Road as Protagonist for Landscape Morphology:  Chronicling U.S. Highway 16 and Interstate 90 in Southern Minnesota, 1925 to 2015.”  There will be a special focus on Freeborn County. Through comparative photography, data graphs, maps, aerial imagery, historical and geographical facts from the communities, detailed landscape morphology is illustrated. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us for this informative lecture.

The date has been secured for a bus tour to see Marion Ross April 2 at New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park, Kansas. Ross is starring with Hal Linden in the play “Moon Over Buffalo” by Ken Ludwig. In this comedy two fading stars of the 1950s are playing a comedy and drama in rotation in Buffalo, New York. On the brink of a disastrous split-up, they receive word that they might just have one last shot at regaining their stardom. One perfect performance is all they need.  Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong does. Please plan on joining us for this great trip to see our hometown star live at New Theatre Restaurant.  A $100 deposit is required by Jan. 2, 2016, to secure your spot on this weekend getaway. Call or stop by the museum for details and don’t miss out on this great trip to see our hometown star!

With the end of the year just around the corner, we invite you to renew your museum membership now. This will help us to plan our budget for the new year. We also encourage you to consider a donation to help eliminate the balance due on our building expansion project. Your donations are tax deductible. We appreciate the continued support of the individuals and businesses that support the museum.

 

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