Column: Pat Mulso, Preserving the Past

The Albert Lea Public Library and the Freeborn County Historical Society invite you to join us at 2 p.m. today at the Freeborn County Historical Museum as we welcome author Doug Ohman. His presentation will be on school house memories. This program is funded in part or in whole with money from Minnesota’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund. You may enter the museum through the gate by the fairground’s arches.

The museum is also hosting a special open house on March 25 in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts of America. The open house will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Please join us that afternoon to view photos, news articles and memorabilia about Girl Scouts through the years as we recap local scouting experiences. If you have Girl Scout items that could be used for our special exhibit, please notify us this week. Your items will be returned in approximately six weeks.

Mark your calendar now and plan to attend the third annual Taste of Heritage event to take place from 1 to 3 p.m. March 31 at the Northbridge Mall. Join us to learn about different cultures and traditions as well as having the opportunity to taste food featured by the different countries represented. We will also have special entertainment every 20 minutes throughout the afternoon. The entertainment will take place close to the food court. There will be activities for children, so bring the family and spend the afternoon with us.

The next Defensive Driving Refresher Class will be from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. April 10. The cost is $19, and you must pre-register. You will need your driver’s license when you register. The four-hour refresher class is required every three years after the initial eight-hour class in order to continue receiving a discount on your auto insurance.

Volunteers from the museum and the Freeborn County Genealogical Society are going to help with the 1940 US Federal Census indexing project. This project is the largest, most comprehensive and most recent record set documenting the 132 million people living in the United States in 1940. Family Search, FGS and other community partners are organizing an effort to index and publish these records online for free. This project will be an enormous benefit to individuals doing family research, and we are excited to be able to help with this project.

The museum is busy scheduling school tours for May already, which means we will need numerous tour guides to share their knowledge and experience as they show students through the museum or village this spring. If you would like to become a volunteer tour guide please stop by the museum or give us a call, and we will add your name to our list and contact you for a tour guide orientation to be held in April.

As you can see we have a very busy spring ahead of us and that also includes moving forward with our building expansion project. The bids are in from the general contractors and the museum’s board is reviewing them. It is an exciting process. So now we need your help to make the addition a reality.

If all the residents of Freeborn County make a donation to the museum’s building expansion fund, at whatever level they are able, we can begin this project this year. We are a nonprofit so your donations are tax deductible and will help us to continue to preserve and protect the history of Freeborn County and its people. Please consider making your donation now to help us complete this needed addition for our children today and for generations to come. You may drop your donations off at the museum or send them to FCHM Building Fund, 1031 Bridge Avenue, Albert Lea, MN 56007. Thank you for your continued support to the museum and our projects. Remember, what happens today is history tomorrow.

 

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