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Dakota Prairie Museum presents expansion of school programs and new Gilder Lehrman panels
Summary
Museum representative Patricia Kendall told the Aberdeen School District board the Dakota Prairie Museum conducts roughly 400 classroom visits and 1,200 tour-students a year, is sharing two Gilder Lehrman panel sets with area schools using America 250 funding, and seeks deeper partnership and project-skills placements.
Patricia Kendall, speaking to the Aberdeen School District 06-1 board on May 26, outlined the Dakota Prairie Museum’s education outreach, partnerships with district schools and recent acquisitions funded in part by America 250 support from the city.
Kendall told the board the museum runs about 400 classroom visits across the county and recorded roughly 8,000 student interactions in the school year; the museum’s recent school tour season hosted about 1,200 students from approximately 50 classrooms. She identified two full‑time curators of education, Jessica Puente Castro and Sherry Roster, and thanked longtime staff for continuity in programming.
"Our educational programming exists to help the students connect with history, culture, community, and their own sense of place," Kendall said. She described hands‑on programs such as 'Afternoon in the Past' — activities like candle-dipping and butter-making — and partnerships with Aberdeen Central High School for Native American Student Association programming, photography projects and honors art exhibits.
Kendall said the museum recently purchased two seven-panel sets from the Gilder Lehrman Institute covering immigration and Reconstruction and will provide them to schools and libraries in Brown County free of charge. She said the city’s America 250 funding helped cover that purchase.
On funding, Kendall explained that Brown County owns the museum building and pays for core operations and salaries while programmatic activity relies on grants, an endowment (a bequest from Carl Lee), annual fund appeals and private donations. "The county keeps the lights on and pays our salaries," she said. "Programming is funded through a variety of grants and fundraising."
Kendall also described camps (history, art, museum/STEM) and a scholarship program to ensure access for students who face financial or transportation barriers; she said donations and a matching gift have supported that scholarship work. She invited board members to visit and explore classroom partnership and project‑skills placement opportunities.
Board members thanked Kendall and the museum staff for outreach to schools and student engagement; no formal action was taken on the report.
