Column: Pat Mulso, Preserving the Past

Do you remember the sayings your parents had as you were growing up? For example: you don’t have to prove anything, your word should be good enough; don’t do anything to disgrace the family name; wait ‘til your dad gets home; you don’t have to win, just do your best; if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right; stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about; if there’s a will there’s a way; if you don’t have something good to say about someone, then don’t say anything; and the good old standby: do it because I said so! There must be thousands of those phrases that we heard over and over. Another was: go out and play or entertain yourself. We didn’t sit in the house and watch television all day. We did use our imaginations. I remember making up plays and performing for the relatives or anybody who would sit and watch. Another was making things with plaster of Paris or using our wood burning set. We made things out of thread and beads, sewed patch work quilts and crocheted scarves or afghans. How about putting puzzles together or writing a mystery story or reading for fun.

I wonder what children would do today if they didn’t have a television, a computer, a Nintendo DS, an iPod, an MP3 Player, or any electronic or computer games? How would they entertain themselves? If you are together for Easter, why don’t you ask the younger members of your family and see what options they can think of and then tell them what you did as a young person. They might be surprised or maybe they will surprise us!

April is a very busy month at the museum; the 11th-grade students have begun their research for Discover History Days that will take place on May 3 and 4. We have our Brown Bag Lunch Genealogical Lecture Series which started on April 5 and will conclude on April 26, and we are busy preparing to open the village for school tours.

We are having our annual Tour Guide Orientation on April 27. If you have thought about being a tour guide for the museum, please call or stop by and I’ll be happy to visit with you about our tours and get you signed up to attend the orientation.

Things are changing at the museum, you should definitely stop by, you probably won’t recognize the upper level as nearly every exhibit has been moved during the month of March in preparation for our tour season.

Our April Defensive Driving Classes are full, but we do have some openings in our May 10 class. Please call to reserve your spot or stop by during our regular hours of Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to pre-register for our classes.

We are hosting another Salt Lake City Genealogical Research Trip this coming October to the World’s Largest Genealogical Library. Call or stop by for details. We have one opening left in our May 16 Library Lock-In, so don’t delay if you would like to attend, call and reserve your place.

Each week I am turning down items that people would like to donate to the museum because we have nowhere to put them, please consider making a donation to the FCHM building expansion and make our building addition a reality so that we can continue to preserve the history of Freeborn County and its people. If we all give some, we can make it happen! Have a great week and remember, what happens today is history tomorrow.

Pat Mulso is the executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum in Albert Lea.