About our Collection

Hennepin History Museum preserves a collection of over 15,000 artifacts. These objects tell the story of Hennepin County and its residents, past and present.

To see which artifacts are currently on display, visit the  On Exhibit  page. We also provide object lessons on the collection in our News & Articles page and in  Hennepin History  Magazine.

This is a blue china plate with seven places to see in Minneapolis. Minnehaha Falls is in the center, surrounded by the mills, Fort Snelling, the West Hotel, the public library, the University of Minnesota, and the view of the river near the soldiers' home
Donated by Judge E. A. Montgomery in September, 1949, this is the wooden rocking chair in which Harry Hayward allegedly sat when he confessed to arranging the murder of Kitty Ging
Tonka turbo diesel backhoe toy truck.
Box of General Mills Wheaties Cereal featuring 1987 World Champion Minnesota Twins
Three Pillsbury Doughboy dolls, a.k.a. Poppin Fresh
Green silk dress (late 1800s)
'Lake Harriet By Moonlight,' painted by Alexis Fournier in 1889

Donations

Hennepin History Museum is challenged by storage space constraints, and a lack of resources  required to properly and ethically preserve our massive collection of artifacts. As  such,  we cannot accept most donation offers, though we certainly appreciate each of them, and treat each one with consideration.

Our current practice of declining most offers is temporary, as we are conducting a Collections Refinement Project to gain intellectual and physical control of our collection. The end goal is to ensure we are only preserving artifacts that meet the mission of our museum, and to free up the space and resources required to once again more proactively acquire objects for our collection.

If you have a donation offer of a three-dimensional artifact, please email the Curator:  alyssa.thiede@hennepinhistory.org

Donation offers of two-dimensional records (photos, maps, documents, etc.) will be considered by the Archivist: michele.pollard@hennepinhistory.org

Please do not drop off or mail objects without first contacting the museum.  Unsolicited donations will be disposed of as the museum sees fit.