The Hennepin History Museum offers a series of rotating exhibits focusing on everything from historic toys to technology; each exhibition is designed to reflect a piece of the Hennepin County story.
Current exhibits in the galleries are:
* The Lure of Shoes: Cultural Connections 1840-2007
Runs through Summer 2008
*The Century of the Child
Permanent Exhibition
*Building Ties '08: Culturally Sensitive Housing Designs for Mexicans & Ojibwe
Runs May3-June 8, 2008
* Studies From Life: Costume and object portraits from the collections of
the Hennepin History Museum"
By Minneapolis artist Timothy G. Piotrowski
Runs through September 28, 2008
*Cat-Gut is Not Our Friend: An Examination of Medical Implements and
Images from the HHM Permanent Collections.
Runs through September 24, 2008
Look for our exhibits in the 2008 Mosaic calendar!
November 17, 2007 The Lure of Shoes:
Cultural Connections 1840-2007
This Hennepin History Museum exhibition uses shoes from the HHM permanent collections as a backdrop for a collection of shoes from those who work, play, heal, protect, defend, prosecute, paint, make music, drive buses, cabs, fire engines, dance,
act, give us the news, enthrall us on the radio, cook, save lives, and just try to get by in Hennepin County.
The exhibition will showcase a spectacular collection of vintage wedding shoes, slippers, carriage boots, stiletto pumps, clogs, wedgies, sandals, platforms, hiking boots, and a superb collection of children’s and infants shoes. The show will be tastefully accessorized by vintage handbags, purses, and a few suitably chosen hats. Photograph by Natalie Sigler Domka
May3 - June 8, 2008
Building Ties '08
Culturally Sensitive Housing Designs for Mexicans & Ojibwe
Created by the Interior Design Students of the University of Minnesota.
Minnesota’s population has dramatically diversified in the last few decades. Joining Native Americans and African-Americans who have long called Minnesota home are thousands of newcomers. More than 40 percent of all immigrants in Minnesota arrive as refugees, almost three times the national average (St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2000). Having lost everything they ever knew or owned, refugees and immigrants, like the Mexicans, come to the US in search of a better life. Research has long shown that retaining cultural connections and practices, like religious customs, gathering with friends and family, and cooking traditional foods can improve the mental, emotional, and physical well being of members of cultural groups as well as ease their adjustment to new life circumstances.
Under the direction of Prof. Tasoulla Hadjiyanni, third-year Interior Design students at the University of Minnesota responded to the needs of Mexicans, one of the Twin Cities’ largest immigrant groups, as well as the Ojibwe people, one of Minnesota’s largest Native groups. Trained to provide for human welfare through the design of interior environments, the students created culturally sensitive design solutions, i.e. residential designs that support diverse ways of living. At the same time, on the conceptual level the designs speak of ‘what does it mean to be a Mexican or an Ojibwe?’
Guiding the students’ search for culturally sensitive solutions was the premise that by supporting dimensions of meaning of home such as family and community connections, religious identity, personal aesthetic, and various activities, a house can be transformed into a home that fosters a sense of belonging.
November 17, 2007 The Century of the Child
This Hennepin History Museum exhibition looks at growing up in Hennepin County through a series of “time stations” that examine educating, entertaining, dressing, and putting children to work. You will see how these things impacted a century of kids and shaped the world we live in today. This exhibit will look at everything from rolling hoops to the hula hoops…
You will also glimpse the darker side of Hennepin County through subjects such as child labor, abuse, and the notorious baby farms that proliferated in Hennepin County at the turn of the 20th Century.
This unique exhibition will be a presentation of children’s daily life seldom seen elsewhere.
"Studies From Life: Costume and object portraits from the collections of the Hennepin History Museum"
By Minneapolis artist Timothy G. Piotrowski
Costume and Object portraits by
Timothy G. Piotrowski
This Hennepin History Museum exhibition looks at the relationship between the HHM collections and Minneapolis artist Timothy G. Piotrowski. Piotrowski uniquely interprets and photographs HHM’S luscious costume collections on living models against a back-drop of vintage furniture, art objects, and historic locations for a collection of stunning images.
This exhibition exemplifies a rare opportunity for an artist to have access to working hands on with a museum’s collection. This is both an historic event and an assemblage of art; each party has received something very valuable in this exchange.
Open through summer 2008!
This highly anticipated exhibition is perhaps the best way to kick off a new season of exhibits at the Hennepin History Museum.
" Cat-Gut is Not Our Friend: An Examination of
Medical Implements and Images from the
HHM Permanent Collections."
This Hennepin History Museum exhibition invites you to have a close-up look at a stunning collection of the tools of medical practice. These artifacts are the ones we seldom see as we are poked, probed, and prodded. The exhibition will showcase medical bags and instruments used by over a century of Hennepin County doctors as well as rare photographic images inside surgical chambers, clinics, and operating theatres. There are lots of long, sharp, pointed, shiny objects here. Brace yourself up, come in, and learn a bit about the history of medical practice in Hennepin County.
This is definitely not your average medical display.