In Praise of Legacy Grants

These are tough economic times.  The legislature struggles to close a 6 billion dollar deficit, job market continues to look dreary, gas prices continue to rise; and to make matters worse it is cold outside!  Yet, in spite of all of this, we can take a look at some of the details of the past few years and count some victories.

In the local history field, perhaps a significant success over the past two years has been the implementation of the Legacy Grants, which are officially known as the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.  In 2010 legacy grants were issue to 343 organizations throughout Minnesota.  In a report issued to the legislature by the Minnesota Historical Society, the estimates suggest that for every dollar spent through the Minnesota ACF, the return on investment was $1.95.  That means Minnesotans almost doubled their money on every dollar spent on cultural heritage in the state!

The Sherburne History Center has been a beneficiary of this grant money.  In this past year, we received over $25,000 to improve the storage facilities for the museum and archives.  Static shelving was added to the museum storage to improve access and preservation of the artifacts.  In addition supplies were purchased for the archives so that the photo collections and archival collections are better cared for.

There is no doubt that spending money on cultural heritage on the local and county level provides a major benefit to the area residents.  Here in Sherburne County we have received major support from county and local leaders.  As we dwell on the dismal view of the national economy, we need to take a moment and thank everyone for their efforts to continue to support Cultural Heritage in Sherburne County. 

Some of the new storage upgrades courtesy of MN ACF grant money