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.
Counterpoint: Historical Society seeks to tell Minnesota's entire story
We gain insight and understanding through history, and to do that we need to look at every angle.
By Kent Whitworth
July 1, 2021 at 10:45PM
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.
However, our commitment to telling history through multiple perspectives, rather than diminishing certain groups or narratives, ultimately enriches our collective understanding of the past and the present.
One moment early in my tenure here helps illustrate this point. Attending my first Indian Advisory Committee meeting, a group established by MNHS in 1988 for the purpose of strengthening relationships with Minnesota's 11 federally recognized tribes, one member approached me and commented, "our ancestors probably met." And he very well could be right.
You see, my great-great-grandmother settled in Minnesota in the 1850s and was captured and later released in the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War. Her first husband was killed in the conflict. I shared my story, noting that possibility.
The gentleman then extended his hand with a warm smile and said, "Welcome to Minnesota!"
Our belief in the power of knowing and understanding history is what drives us to bring forward, preserve and tell the multiplicity of stories that make us who we are. It is our hope that every Minnesotan will see their history in the work we do.
Kent Whitworth is director and CEO, Minnesota Historical Society.
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Kent Whitworth
That’s a discussion we in the industry are willing to have.
