history museums pragmatic historian

A Cool Exhibit Idea from Minnesota’s Historic Northwest

When I was visiting the Beltrami County Historical Society for the Legacy Strategic Agenda Collaborative (LSAC) meeting I mentioned in my last post, our group learned a bit more about a long-term partnership called Minnesota’s Historic Northwest. Minnesota’s Historic Northwest is a regional collaborative of about 20 history and culture organizations in northwestern Minnesota. Minnesota is a large state and the northwestern portion has some areas that are sparsely populated. Banding together allows these organizations…

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history museums pragmatic historian

Saving a Country’s Cuisine with History

A visitor to my museum suggested I watch “Chef’s Table,” a beautifully filmed Netflix documentary series that follows world-renowned chefs. It’s the sort of series where you can jump in anywhere because each episode focuses on a single chef and is a self-contained story. When I started the series, I seem to have jumped in on *Volume 4, the pastry chefs, but have been making my way back to earlier episodes. (*Netflix calls the seasons…

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challenge history museums pragmatic historian

Who Is Your Audience? (It’s Not Everyone)

In nonprofit organizations that create cultural events, particularly museums and historic sites, we like to think that everyone in the general public is our audience. That’s the great potential — that every soul who lives on earth will wander through our doors and be enamored with what we have to offer. That’s not true, of course. Challenges in Reaching an Audience People have to know we exist, be able to find us, have time to…

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