What's It Worth?

We received calls on a pretty frequent basis about the worth of certain items. It makes sense, if anyone would know the value of something historic it would be a historical society, right? We don’t necessarily know the value of things, more accurately; we are not allowed to give that information out even if we do. It might seem weird, but the value of items can get a historical society into some pretty tricky waters. If we assigned a value to something, and then let you write it off on taxes, we both get in trouble. Beyond that, it gives us a degree of power we just shouldn’t have.

Consider, for a moment, if you had a gold necklace and you brought it in for appraisal by a historical society. Well, if it had massive historical value, that organization could tell you it’s worth less than true value to try and convince you to donate it. This is highly unethical, and at the end of the day that’s the point. Historical societies, like ours, are guardians of the past. We hold everything in Public Trust, which is exactly what it sounds like, the Public trusts us to take care of these items. We want to honest and straight forward, and put forward the best ethical foot we can. This leads to the follow up question we always get asked, “Do you know someone who can tell me?”

We generally do not give out appraiser’s information for much the same reason that we do not give appraisals ourselves. It is easy for people to make deals and agreements to undervalue items to encourage their donation or sale. We do not want to appear to be making deals, and we always encourage donors to seek an appraiser on their own. If a donated item has an appraisal, we will honor that value, but we do not assign any value ourselves to items we take in.

Written by Dave Nichols, Curator of Collections

An Update to Our Collection Donation Policy

We have recently updated our collections donation policy, and this seemed like a good way to reach a large majority of people. First, a recap of how our old policy worked. In the past we welcomed individuals to bring in donation for the staff to evaluate off the street or by giving us a call/email ahead of time. If the items we accepted into the collection we would send you deed of gift paper work to be filled out and returned. If the items we not accepted we would notify you and ask you to retrieve them.

While this system worked well for us in the past, we realized that many donations were set for return and we hampering our ability to care for those being accepted, as well as caring for those yet to be collected by donors. We want to ensure that all items that come through our doors can receive the best care possible. In order to make sure that can be accomplished; we have made a change to our donation policy as follows. We are no longer accepting walk in donations off the street. We ask that those looking to donate items to us always contact us first.

The goal of this change is two-fold: 1) We want to make sure that we have the space and means to care for everything in the building without causing harm to other items or staff, 2) If we decide that an item does not fit our collection, this saves the donor the hassle of pulling the item from storage and hauling it to the museum only to have to take it back to their home at a later date. We encourage donors to provide pictures and any background information on donations when contacting us. If donations are accepted we will still be sending out deed of gift information to be filled out. As always, if an item doesn’t fit our mission and collection we are happy to provide names and contact information for organizations which might be interested in the items.

We hope this change to our policy will make the donation process easier for everyone going forward; and we appreciate everyone’s understanding as we implement this change. If you have any questions regarding the change please give us a call and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Written by Dave Nichols, Curator

The Home of Memories

I had a professor in school who imparted an idea to me that strikes at the heart of what museums do. He said “Artifacts, books, papers, all of them are the home for memories. Like a character in a cartoon has a thought bubble, so too do objects. Their thoughts are of the stories they hold.” What a wonderful way to look at objects, and I have always continued to look at objects that way. Every item in our collection is “thinking” of its part, and the stories it can share. Our role as a museum and a keeper of these artifacts is to put those thoughts into view.

We recently held our first of what will hopefully be several History Story Shares. The goal of this program is two-fold: First, it allows people to share the stories of their treasures without having to say goodbye to them. Second, it allows us to hear, share, and collect more history about our county than we would through donated items alone. Everyone has something personal to them, an heirloom, a lucky pair of shoes, something; and each of those somethings have a story to them. We want those stories, its those pieces of the past that help us tell the future about today.

In thinking more and more about the stories within an item, I am reminded of the idea that where we have been tells us where we are going. Looking at a rotary phone and comparing it to a cell phone is a story in itself. Its a legacy, and that is what museums and history are meant to do, preserve the legacy of us, people. Our past, and future, are tied up in how we got from A to B and that journey is the story of history and it is contained in the old rocking chairs, heirloom lockets, and tiny keepsakes that many of us have but seldom reflect on.

We hope that in the coming months we can do more story shares across the county, and hope to see and hear stories from all over. If you have an item with a great story, consider stopping by the museum and sharing it with us.

What's in our Collections?

Our collection has all manner of interesting items in it from flags, to jackets, to postcards. We collection items related to Scott County from all over the state. However, it’s important to be careful when taking things into the collection. I admit that I am a bit of a hoarder personally, and curators tend to be. I often have to fight my urge to accept everything that walks through the door, and ask myself some very basic questions. First of all, who is the item about and what is it, followed by when is it from and where in Scott County. The last question is the most important, and the one that is hardest to answer. Why? Why should we accept this item? What stories or insights into the people of Scott County can this item bring that we don’t already have?

It seems important to share this aspect of what we do here. I have had to turn down donations recently because they would be duplicate items, or wouldn’t be usable for relating the county’s history. If you are interested in donating artifacts, documents, papers, anything really, we encourage you to do so. Our collection is far from complete, and honestly never can be. Should you have something in mind that you would like to donate, give us a call first and let us know what you have. We might not always accept donations into the collection, but it might go into our education collection, or we might know another organization that would be interested as well. Like you, we hate to see things thrown in the trash and we do what we can to ensure that history continues to live on, even if we can’t be the ones to give it a home.

Bike Season!

It’s the time of year when Minnesotans emerge from their winter hibernation and everyone wants to be outdoors! Scott County boasts an excellent biking trail system, and opportunities abound to ditch your four wheeled vehicle and head out on two wheels. Biking has long been a popular form of transportation for Scott County residents. Check out some bicycle gems from the SCHS collections below, and learn a bit more about Scott County’s cycling history in this blog post. 

Children on bicycles join a parade at Holmes Avenue and Third Street in Shakopee. 1945. Photo from the SCHS Collections.

Studio portrait of three cyclists. Handwritten on the back is “Uncle Walter Adams. He rode this bicycle from Sioux City, Iowa to Shakopee and back to Sioux City Iowa” Walter Adams is the man on the left. 1885. Photo from the SCHS Collections

Studio portrait of Fritz Kahle of Belle Plaine with a bicycle. 1890. Photo from the SCHS Collections

Performer at Valley Fair, 1978. Photo from the SCHS Collections.

Steve Lebens of Shakopee, 1965. Photo from the SCHS Collections

Enjoy the summer sun and join us for our annual series of Pedaling the Past history bike tours! Each tour focuses on the unique environmental history of a Scott County community. Tours span between 2 and 5 miles and last approximately 2 hours with frequent stops for discussion and to look at photographs!

Participants must bring their own bikes and all participants MUST wear helmets (no exceptions!). This tour is open to participants ages 10 and up; participants under age 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

$5.00, SCHS members FREE

Registration Links:
New Prague Tour, Sat. June 8th, 10am-12pm: https://bit.ly/2V8e5Ro
Jordan Tour: Sat, July 13th, 10am-12pm: https://bit.ly/2ZT1GPV
Prior Lake Tour: Sat, Aug 10th, 10am-12pm: https://bit.ly/2VHEJjE
Shakopee Tour: Sat, Sept 14th, 10am-12pm: https://bit.ly/2Vc9Wf6