Historical Society Takes Past into Future By Joan Farnam
in mid-November and invited the community to come look at the possibilities and sign up for the task force that interested them.
An organization that specializes in the past is planning for the future.
The recently acquired blacksmith shop has really energized the community and drew a lot of attention at the open house. But the other sites offered interesting challenges as well. The task forces will work this winter and develop an action timeline check list for each site, McHugh said.
The Cook County Historical Society has launched a longrange plan to develop their four major properties and retell their stories so they’re alive and interesting for generations to come. It’s history in the making, so to speak, and it isn’t being done in a vacuum.
What’s really fun is the new Passport Into the Past: Travel Through Time page on the website.
On the contrary, the Historical Society continues to involve the community every step of the way, said Carrie McHugh, museum director. “Yes, we’re collecting and preserving,” she said. “But it’s the sharing part—the stories—that’s going to draw the interest of residents and visitors, and keep an active society going. Hence our new website, and we’ve got a Facebook page now. It’s a new way to reach people.”
Historical Society director, Carrie McHugh, shows off some recent acquistions. | Joan Farnam
The new website gives the public easy access to hundreds of photographs and historical details, videos and recordings from their collections, as well as inviting everyone to tell their own stories and post them on the site. Dan Helmerson has volunteered to run the Facebook page, and he posts photos and historical tidbits on it regularly.
The society is developing new exhibits, including a Maritime Exhibit, centered around the historic Fresnel lens which was removed from the Grand Marais lighthouse in 2012 and now sits in the Museum. The exhibit will tell the stories of people who lived beside the Big Lake – the boats that brought them here, the fish they caught, the lives they led. The society has held several workshops to talk about what would be important in a maritime exhibit. They recruited members of the community, including Howard Sivertson, into an active role in developing the exhibit. The big step is the long-range plan, which has been in the works for awhile. The Historical Society received a grant to hire a consultant to work with community members about what could be done with their four properties: The Light Keeper’s House Museum, the Chippewa City Church, the Bally Blacksmith Shop and the Fish House and tug, The Neegee, at the Rec Park. The focus groups came up with recommendations for both short-term and long-term plans, but the next step is to set up task forces for each site, McHugh said. To that end, the Historical Society organized an open house
The Passport program was set up about 12 years ago for K-5 students to learn more about the history of Cook County, McHugh said. It was a great idea, but it’s difficult for teachers to arrange field trips to all the historic sites in the county—from Sugarloaf Cove to the Grand Portage Monument, the Chippewa Church to the Gunflint Trail—19 in all.
Leah Thomas was hired to redevelop the Passport Program and include it on the new website. “It was the biggest one and the most fun,” Thomas said. She decided to add a lot of support materials for teachers, and set it up so their students could add their own stories. Thomas also made a series of fascinating videos about the Passport sites, with great old photos and historic facts. And they decided to offer access to the Passport site to other interpretive centers so they could add their own materials. ChikWauk, the Cross River Heritage Center, Sugarloaf Cove, the North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum, the Grand Portage Monument, the Tribal Museum and the Grand Portage Visitor Center all have their pages on the site, and are just beginning to add their own materials. Chik-Wauk, for example, has uploaded some of their videos, and the Grand Portage State Park is helping kids add their stories and photos. “It will just be a phenomenal resource for teachers and students,” Thomas said. “And, as time goes by, there will be more and more information on there.” In short, as McHugh put it: “The Historical Society is alive and well. We want everybody to get on board—that’s what will keep us going.” To learn more about the Historical Society and try out their new Web page, visit www.cookcountyhistory.org.
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