Hennepin History Museum is a museum dedicated to the history, people, and communities of

Hennepin County, Minnesota Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapol ...

, United States. The museum provides in-house exhibits, history-themed programming, and social events throughout the year.

Location

The museum is located in the Whittier neighborhood of

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

in the historic Christian Mansion, a historic home built in 1919. Today, it is included in the

Washburn-Fair Oaks Mansion District The Washburn-Fair Oaks Mansion District is a historic district in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, centered on Washburn-Fair Oaks Park. The city of Minneapolis designated a district bordered by Franklin Avenu ...

of Minneapolis, and is located on the east side of Washburn-Fair Oaks Park. The house was designed by Hennepin County architects Hewitt and Brown.

Exhibits

The museum showcases a mixture of rotating exhibits relating to the history of Hennepin County. Exhibits are usually up for three or more months.

Community

The museum is home to a wide variety of events, including monthly "Fireside Chats" on various historical topics, as well as social events and author talks. The museum has also worked to spotlight various communities in Hennepin County. In 2003, the museum partnered with the Walker Art Museum and 30 East African students from local high schools to use letters and photographs to create an exhibit about East African communities in Minneapolis. The museum's cultural outreach continued in 2009, when

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

interior design students exhibited designs for

culturally sensitive Cultural sensitivity, also referred to as cross-cultural sensitivity or cultural awareness, is the knowledge, awareness, and acceptance of other cultures and others' cultural identities. It is related to cultural competence (the skills needed for ...

homes for Somali and Mexican immigrants.

Library

The museum's library is open to the community and highlights the museum's archival collections. The library has reference materials such as city directories, photos of houses and buildings, maps, atlases, genealogical resources, city history files, business histories, and many other reference materials. A professional archivist is on site during library open hours to assist researchers.

Funding

About 40% of the museum's annual budget is funded by Hennepin County. The remaining 60% is funded by individual donors.

Magazine

Three times a year, the museum publishes ''Hennepin History Magazine''. Redesigned in 2017, the magazine features topics of interest from all over Hennepin County. Digital reproductions of Hennepin History, the official publication of the Hennepin History Museum, are available online thanks to the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections. Earlier issues included articles such as "The Birth of Target", which explores the history of the

Target Corporation Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...

, placing it in a historical context with the Dayton family and their department store

Daytons Dayton's was an American department store chain founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1902 by George Draper Dayton. It operated several local high end department stores throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest for almost 100 years. Although it ...

. Such examinations of local companies are common in the magazine; the Winter 2012 issue explored

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

in the 1930s.

References

External links

Hennepin History MuseumHennepin History Museum at the Minnesota Digital Library
{{Authority control 1957 establishments in Minnesota Arts organizations based in Minneapolis Culture of Minneapolis History museums in Minnesota Museums in Minneapolis