The Minnesota Historical Society stewards and shares Minnesota's history with all Minnesotans. Not with a political lens, not with an activist lens, but with a historian's lens for the benefit of all.
History is more than facts and dates. It is also understanding gained through insight and the compelling stories of our past. History is also very much alive. Impassioned debate continues today across our state and nation.
Some of that debate has been at the Legislature, and some on the pages of the Star Tribune ("Activists commandeer Historical Society," June 25). Historians welcome debate, of course, but not every point is accurate. The assertion that "a small group of activists commandeers Minnesota Historical Society" is one such point — and it requires a response.
When I arrived in Minnesota three years ago to become the CEO of the Minnesota Historical Society, I took the helm of an organization centered on the idea that study and interpretation of history informs the present and helps create a better future. We endeavor to connect people to history, stoke curiosity about the past, teach critical thinking skills and help make sense of the complex historical moment we all share today.
The most important way we do this is to turn our interpretive and research lens to the multiplicity of personal experiences and stories that make up the past. To that end, our historical research department works hand-in-hand with other important functions including interpretive programming and Native American initiatives. As public historians, we work to illuminate history by pulling back the curtain on the experiences of settler and Native American alike.
At Fort Snelling, to choose one example, we tell the stories of veterans, women, enslaved people, Buffalo Soldiers and Japanese American interpreters. As a state largely defined by immigrant experience, we also explore the experiences of 19th-century newcomers as well as those who arrived in just the past few decades.
This mosaic of human experience exposes us to narratives that are not always comfortable and that sometimes challenge our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world, but we believe that understanding such history opens a pathway to a more inclusive, empathetic and informed future.
Elevating narratives and stories long ignored or minimized can sometimes be seen as displacing more familiar ones. At times, we have introduced challenging new stories without fully explaining our research and interpretive choices. For that, we must do better.
