Minnesota Historical Society requests funding for site preservation, county/local grants and collections project (PATH)

Ken Whitworth, director and CEO of the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS), and David Kelleher, MNHS vice president for public policy and government relations, told the Capital Investment Committee on Feb. 25 that the society needs funding for three capital priorities: historic sites asset preservation, a county/local historic preservation grants program, and a multi-year Preservation and Access to History (PATH) project focused on collections care and storage.

Kelleher told the committee MNHS is responsible for 26 public historic sites and more than 150 structures, about half of which are more than a century old. MNHS presented a 2025 asset-preservation need that the society quantified as roughly $11 million per year (about $22 million per biennium) to keep pace with normal replacement cycles across the portfolio; the society's request for the 2025 session was presented at about $15 million for historic-site preservation, with the governor's recommendation at $5.1 million directed toward specific projects such as Kelly Farm.

The PATH project was described as a multi-year effort to improve off-site and on-site collections storage and access. MNHS said the first phase would renovate and expand existing unfinished collections space at the Minnesota History Center and renovate state-owned storage at 1500 Mississippi Street on St. Paul's East Side to improve preservation and public access. Kelleher said the society is studying options—renovation, retrofit or new construction—to meet collections-care standards and accommodate growth.

On county and local historic preservation grants, Kelleher said the governor recommended $900,000; he noted the program is typically structured as a competitive, matched grant to cities and counties for significant historic structures. He also explained that nonprofit-run local historical societies frequently rely on legacy funds for preservation projects because bond-funded grants are typically limited to publicly owned properties unless program language is changed.

Representative Perez Vega and others raised concerns about representation and diversity in MNHS programming and staffing; Whitworth acknowledged those concerns and invited follow-up conversations and more detailed offline engagement on how exhibits, staffing and programming reflect the state's diversity. No committee vote on MNHS requests was recorded at the hearing.

MNHS cited Minnesota Statutes Chapter 138 as the statutory authority for its historic-sites role and pointed committee members to materials in the hearing packet for project details.