The Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County’s Home of Memories: Portraits and Stories of Kurdish and Iraqi Minnesotans exhibit showcases immigration stories from those in the region. Legacy funding allowed the nonprofit to hire Kurdish and Iraqi immigrant community members to lead the project.
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and people who have benefitted from Minnesota’s unique Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.
Britt Aamodt: The Kurds are stateless people. Kurdistan, their ancestral home, is a region that now includes parts of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. Today, Kurds make up the largest New American population in Moorhead, with some 3,500 calling the Minnesota town in Clay County home. In 2024, an exhibit about Iraqi Minnesotans was traveling to Moorhead.
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Maureen Kelly Jonason: And we thought that would be an interesting opportunity to supplement it with our own local community members.
Aamodt: Maureen Kelly Jonason is the executive director of the Historical and Cultural Center of Clay County. The center got a grant from Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage grant to interview fourteen individuals from Moorehead’s Kurdish and Iraqi communities.
Jonason: That has allowed us to hire members within the Kurdish and Iraqi immigrant community to do the interviews
Aamodt: In all, they produced thirteen color portraits and interviews, which premiered in October 2024 as the exhibit, Home of Memories. It runs through June 22, 2025.
Closing: Minnesota’s Legacy is a production of AMPERS, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, more at ampers dot org.