Douglas County Historical Society is undertaking a Legacy-funded research project to incorporate more Dakota history into the organization’s exhibits.
Transcript
This is Minnesota's Legacy, a look at the organizations and the people who have benefited from Minnesota's Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.
Ben Gessner: A number of Native American cultures would build mountains. One of the largest in Minnesota is in Douglas County.
Britt Aamodt: Ben Gessner is a consultant working with the Douglas County Historical Society on a Legacy-funded research project to incorporate more Dakota history into the organization's exhibits.
Ben Gessner: You know, Dakota people are descendants of mound builders that cared for mounds. They used mounds.
Britt Aamodt: A goal of the project is to bring Dakota knowledge keepers into the process to be able to tell the story of the land and the people through their history and their voices.
Jenna Collins: That awareness, but then also reframing those places as cemeteries, which a lot of tribes are doing really good work with right now.
Britt Aamodt: Associate Director Jenna Collins says that when the historical society began in the early 1900s the focus was on European settler histories.
Jenna Collins: We’re still going to talk about those things. It's just we really want to expand our knowledge and expand what we can talk about and to make those connections.
Minnesota's Legacy is produced by AMPERS with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Online at AMPERS dot ORG.