Robbinsdale Historical Society Receives Nearly $10K Grant

A local museum that’s dedicated to preserving the history of Robbinsdale just received a significant gift to help them with their efforts

The Robbinsdale Historical Society is one of 36 recipients of a Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Small Grant.

These grants are awarded quarterly to help nonprofits, educational organizations, government units, and federally recognized tribes to preserve and share Minnesota history. 

The Minnesota Historical Society’s Executive Council awarded Robbinsdale a grant worth $9,900.

“We’re going to inventory everything in this collection,” said Pete Richie, the president of the Robbinsdale Historical Society. “It is going to have a number on it. You’re going to be able to see it on mncollections.org, and we’re just really excited.”

A small sample of the items on display at the Robbinsdale Historical Society museum, which is located at 4915 42nd Avenue North in Robbinsdale.

Richie and the other volunteers plan to catalog every single piece of memorabilia in the museum along 42nd Avenue — using a software called CollectiveAccess — and create a database people can view online. Their goal is to preserve the history behind each piece.

“We need to know what we have, where it is, who it belonged to, and every one of these objects tells a little story,” Richie said.

Some of the inventory is already accessible on the web. Richie says it will take about two more years to catalog all of the pieces in the collection.

Related: Robbinsdale Historical Society Shows Off Historic Clothing Collection

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