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Minnesota Historical Society seeks $15M for site preservation, proposes PATH collections project
Summary
The Minnesota Historical Society presented capital requests to the Capital Investment Committee on Feb. 25, asking for asset-preservation funding for historic sites, a county/local preservation grant program, and the first phase of a Preservation and Access to History (PATH) collections project.
Kent 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 oversees a 26-site network, more than 150 buildings and off-site collections storage that require specialized maintenance.
Kelleher said MNHS’s asset-preservation calculus treats the replacement value of MNHS facilities as nearly $400 million and applies a common facilities-planning rule (roughly a 4% annual reinvestment rate) to estimate a biennial need of about $22 million; the society’s request this session is approximately $15,000,000 for historic-site asset preservation. “If you quantify that, … our replacement value of our facilities is just under $400,000,000,” Kelleher said, and he provided a prioritized list of specific site projects included in the request.
MNHS also requested a county and local historic-preservation grant program; the governor recommended $900,000 for that competitive program, which requires a local match and focuses on publicly owned historic structures. Kelleher noted legacy funds remain the principal funding vehicle for many nonpublic museums and historical societies that lack public ownership.
On collections care, MNHS described the first phase of the Preservation and Access to History (PATH) project. Officials said the phase would (1) renovate an off-site state-owned facility used for collections storage on St. Paul’s East Side, (2) build out unfinished expansion space in the Minnesota History Center with necessary climate control, and (3) renovate existing collection storage at the History Center to increase efficiency.
Representative Perez Vega asked for programming and staffing diversity and urged that exhibits and educational programming better reflect Minnesota’s diverse communities; Whitworth and Kelleher said they welcome further conversations and would provide additional detail offline.
Kelleher noted the governor’s recommendation for historic sites asset preservation this year was $5.1 million; MNHS asked the committee to consider the larger $15 million request to better align with estimated long-term preservation needs.
Ending: MNHS concluded by inviting committee members to tour History Center facilities and requested the committee consider the society’s three capital requests as part of state bonding decisions.
