Breakfast Club: German-Catholic of Stearns County with Jeanette Blonigen Clancy
2022-12-14 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Chicago) | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Save the date for this month’s Breakfast Club. Join us for coffee and rolls with Jeanette Blonigen Clancy as we discuss the German-Catholics of Stearns County.
Please call the Museum at 320-253-8424 or click here to register. The Breakfast Club program is free for Stearns History Museum members and $7 for nonmembers.

Mission Moonshine Escape Room
2022-12-15 16:00 - 19:00, 2022-12-22 16:00 - 19:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Join us this December for the Stearns History Museum’s first-ever Escape Room experience. During the hour, you’ll be transported to the 1920s, a time when everyone wanted the Moonshine Stearns County produced. But the agents are knocking down the door to dry out Stearns County with one goal in mind. Can you stop them?
Thursdays in December – Dec. 1, 8, 15, 22 from 4-7. One hour time slot per group, maximum 6 per session. Sign up today!
$20/person (nonmembers), $15 for members
To get tickets, you must register online by clicking here. Questions? Call us at 320.253.8424
Register online

Mission Moonshine Escape Room
2022-12-17 14:00 - 16:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
We’re opening two more time slots for the Mission Moonshine Escape Room! This Saturday, December 17 from 2-3 and 3-4.
Register and get tickets by clicking here.

During the hour, you’ll be transported to the 1920s, a time when everyone wanted the Moonshine Stearns County produced. But the agents are knocking down the door to dry out Stearns County with one goal in mind. Can you stop them?

One hour time slot per group, maximum 6 per session. $20/person (nonmembers), $15 for members
Questions? Call us at 320-253-8424

Memory Writers
2022-12-20 10:00 - 12:00, 2023-01-17 10:00 - 12:00, 2023-02-07 10:00 - 12:00, 2023-02-21 10:00 - 12:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Memory Writers is a writing group that meets twice a month on the first and third Tuesdays at 10:00 am. The group develop topics to write about and in turn shares those stories. This program is free to Museum members (non-members $7).
Questions? Call the Museum at 320.253.8424.

Museum CLOSED
2022-12-23 - 2022-12-26 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Museum closed for the Holidays. We will reopen and see you Wednesday, December 28th!

Lion Man Literacy Exhibit closing
2022-12-31 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
A new comic book exhibit featuring the work of young community members kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, August 25, at Stearns History Museum.
The Lion Man Literacy Project highlights the visions of young Black youth solving real-life problems through the embodiment of superheroes. The summer program, under the guidance of Michael Dando, an English professor at St. Cloud State University, involves students at Too Much Talent, Southside Boys and Girls Club of Central Minnesota and District 742 South Junior High School CRUSH Academy. The students created characters and one- to two-page stories using technology like Procreate and other digital art tools.
The name Lion Man comes from the first Black superhero comic written in 1947 by Black Philadelphia journalist Orrin Cromwell Evans. The story follows an American scientist turned superhero (Lion Man) tasked by the United Nation to watch over a magical mountain full of uranium in Africa to prevent war. The exhibit is expected to run through September in conjunction with Beyond the Black Panther: Visions of Afrofuturism in American Comics, a Michigan State University’s traveling exhibition. The second presentation explores how aesthetics and community shape contemporary Black comics. It also offers stories inspired by African folklore such as Is’nana the Were-Spider and stories from the Black speculative tradition.
Presented by United Way Partner for Student Success 21st Century Community Learning Centers and Stearns History Museum.

Open from 10-3
2022-12-31 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
We will be closing early to observe the New Year holiday. Note: we will be closed all day 1/1 New Years Day!

Museum CLOSED
2023-01-01 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Closed for the holiday. Happy New Year!

MUSEUM CLOSED
2023-01-02 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States

Memory Writers
2023-01-03 10:00 - 12:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Memory Writers is a writing group that meets twice a month on the first and third Tuesdays at 10:00 am. The group develop topics to write about and in turn shares those stories. This program is free to Museum members (non-members $7).
Questions? Call the Museum at 320.253.8424.wr

Civil War Roundtable: The Cincinnati Dock Riots of 1862 with Dr. Shannon Smith
2023-01-10 15:15 - 17:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Meeting Overview: In July of 1862, Irish workers in Cincinnati rioted to keep Black workers from laboring on the docks and attempted to “clean out” African American residential sections of the city. A precursor to the more infamous New York draft riots of 1863, the violence was triggered by the prospect of a draft and the rumored arming of Black soldiers. Fearing that their jobs would be threatened by emancipation and an influx of Black workers, immigrant laborers tried to establish themselves as true citizens and African Americans as interlopers. During the Civil War, as at other times in the nation’s history, Black men staked their claims to citizenship on their loyal labor and their armed service—not just in federal armies, but in defense of their homes and livelihoods. When Black workers organized in self-defense, white Cincinnatians quickly formed militia units in response. This wartime rioting followed patterns of antebellum riots, but the emancipation of African Americans and their military service during the war created a clear turning point in Black demands for social citizenship.
Speaker: Shannon Smith is an associate professor of history at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. She teaches courses on the Civil War and Reconstruction in American culture, gender and race in US history, and protest and riots. Her research focuses on how riots and their military response led to the development of the National Guard and how protest has influenced citizenship and belonging in public space.
Meetings are held at the Stearns County History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud.
Note change in starting time:
3:00pm – doors open and opportunity to socialize and interact with fellow members
3:15pm – welcome and “new features”
3:30pm – speaker presentation
4:45pm – adjourn
For more information – contact Andy Ditlevson – aditlevson@gmail.com, 320-241-8477
Presented by Dr. Shannon Smith, Associate Professor of History, CSB/SJU
Find more details on the program at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/3000739850230287?active_tab=about
Find the Central MN Civil War Round Table at: https://www.facebook.com/cmcwrt
Free and open to the public. Feel free to bring a friend!

Breakfast Club "The 10th Division: Our WWII Mountain Troops" with Elena White & Molly Weyrens
2023-01-11 09:00 - 10:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Join us for a special January edition of Breakfast Club as Elena White and Molly Weyrens, members of the Nordic Ski Club of Northern Minnesota, discuss the 10th Mountain Division – a group of mountaineers who fought in Italy, Austria, and other areas during WWII.
January 11 at 9am – Stearns History Museum
Open to the public! Free to Museum members and $7 for nonmembers. Call us to register or click here to register online.

St. Cloud Area Genealogists - "A Whole New World of Catholic Records" with Margaret R. Fortier
2023-01-17 19:00 - 20:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Save the date for SCAG’s first meetup of 2023!
Have you wondered what new resources are available for those with Catholic ancestors and how to decipher them? Margaret R. Fortier, Certified Genealogist (CG), will present the webinar “A Whole New World of Catholic Records” for the St. Cloud Area Genealogists on Tuesday, January 17, 2022 at 7 p.m. Participants will gather to enjoy the webinar at Stearns History Museum (235 33rd Ave S., St. Cloud) and the webinar will also be offered synchronously online.
Catholic sacramental records can be genealogical gems. They identify important moments, places and cultural information about your ancestors. Fortier will discuss the expanded availability of Catholic records online and how to find them both online and offline. She will cover parish records both for the United States and internationally as well as records for Catholic institutions and newspapers. Come hear what these records contain, what they mean and how you can use them in your family research.
Margaret R. Fortier, CG, a Boston-based genealogist, researches immigrant ancestors, focusing on those with French-Canadian, Italian, and Portuguese roots. She serves on the board of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
Free for members, $7 for non-members (to register email kmsauer@ymail.com) Call or email the Museum or SCAG to register.
St. Cloud Area Genealogists Facebook Page

Whippersnapper Hour: Fur Trade Frenzy
2023-01-21 10:00 - 11:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Whippersnapper Hour is a program for children to learn about history with hands-on activities.
At this month’s Whippersnapper Hour, kids will get a little taste of what it was like to be involved in the American Fur Trade during the 19th century here in Minnesota. They will get to touch real furs, barter for goods and make their own Bandolier bag to take home!

Saturday, January 21 @ 10am; Recommended for ages 7-13
$5 for nonmembers and members are free
Call to register! 320-253-8424

Historski: A History Ski Tour of Riverside Park
2023-01-22 11:30 | Riverside Park, 1725 Kilian Blvd, St. Cloud, MN, 56304, United States
Love history? Like to ski? Take the central Minnesota park history challenge and try Historski: A History Ski Tour of Riverside Park during the 15th Annual Sons of Norway Barnelopet (children’s ski) at Riverside Park on Sunday, January 22, 2023.
Check your knowledge while doing a scavenger hunt along some of Riverside Park’s great ski trails. Stop by the park shelter (1725 Kilian Boulevard Southeast) to get started. This self- guided, free event is open to all ages. Event starts at 11:30 a.m.
Historski: A History Ski Tour of Riverside Park is hosted by the Stearns History Museum with support from the Central MN Youth Ski Club, Nordic Ski Club of Central Minnesota and St. Cloud (Trollheim) Sons of Norway Lodge. For more information/to register, go to www.rethos.org/classes, contact info@stearns-museum.org or call 320/253-8424.
10th St. Bridge, St. Cloud State University, 1910 Image courtesy SCSU Archives.

Crazy Quilt Exhibit opens
2023-01-25 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
View our Crazy Quilt exhibit in gallery 2&3!

Heritage Circle Tour at Iron Street Distillery
2023-02-02 10:00 - 12:00 | Iron Street Distillery, 539 East St. Germain Street, St. Cloud, MN, 56304, United States
Heritage Circle members! We’d like to invite you to tour the new Iron Street Distillery, formerly the International Harvester building (ca 1928). The distillery tour will begin at 10am with lunch to follow.

Please RSVP to info@stearns-museum.org or call 320-253-8424 by Monday Jan 30 for the Thursday Feb 2 event! Hope to see you there!

Exploring History & Culture in Central Minnesota - Hmong Cultural Center
2023-02-04 11:00 - 12:00, 2023-02-11 11:00 - 12:00, 2023-02-18 11:00 - 12:00, 2023-02-25 11:00 - 12:00 | Zoom / Online
Learn about Hmong history and culture in Minnesota during a free February event series, “Exploring History and Culture in Central Minnesota – Hmong Cultural Center.” Hosted via Zoom each Saturday in February, this is a partnership project of the Benton, Morrison, Sherburne and Stearns county historical societies. The series seeks to create greater understanding and awareness of cultures that have been and still are part of central Minnesota and its history.
This year’s programming comes from the Hmong Cultural Center (HCC) in St. Paul, a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and nourishing Hmong culture and to enhancing cross-cultural awareness. The programs will be presented by HCC’s director of programs, Dr. Mark Pfeifer, and executive director, Txongpao Lee. A traveling exhibit from HCC will be available for public viewing at each site on a revolving basis for two weeks in February.

February 4 – Hmong 101: Weddings & Funerals
February 11 – Hmong 101: Traditional Hmong Beliefs about Health and Medicine
February 18 – Hmong 101: Folk Arts Traditions
February 25 – Hmong 101: Minnesota Milestones

Registration is required. For more information and to register, visit or contact the Stearns History Museum at info@stearns-museum.org or (320)253-8424 or click here to register online.

Hmong Cultural Center Traveling Exhibit on view:

January 31 – February 16 – Morrison County Historical Society (2151 Lindbergh Drive South; Little Falls) and Stearns History Museum (235 33rd Avenue South; St. Cloud)
February 18 – March 1 – Sherburne History Center (10775 27th Avenue Southeast; Becker) and Benton County Historical Society (202 Second Avenue South, Sauk Rapids)

The 2023 event series is sponsored by Sourcewell, Wingnut Tattoo, Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union and Bezek Family Dentistry. Support also comes from the Hmong Student Organization at St. Cloud State University.

Breakfast Club w/ Tom Steman
2023-02-08 09:00 - 10:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Mark your calendars for a breakfast date with the history museum.
Join us the morning of Wednesday, February 8 for breakfast with St. Cloud State University Archivist Tom Steman. We will be exploring Central Minnesota’s connection with cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang as Tom discusses St. Cloud State alumni Ralph Heimdahl and his archival materials.
Please call the Museum at 320-253-8424 to register. The Breakfast Club program is free for Stearns History Museum members and $7 for nonmembers. We hope to see you there!

Sweetheart Swing Dance
2023-02-11 19:00 - 22:00 | The Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Dr, St. Cloud, MN, 56303, United States
Throw on your dancing shoes and join us for a Sweetheart Swing Dance!
The Rock City Big Band will play all your favorites from the 20s, 30s, and 40s so you and your sweetie or you and your friends can dance the night away. Local beer will be served, along with some tasty sweet treats!
Saturday February 11th at the Whitney Senior Center. $10 per ticket, dance lesson at 6:30 & dance starts at 7.
Call 320-253-8424 or click here for tickets.

Civil War Roundtable: Unearthing Central MN History with Rob Mann
2023-02-14 15:30 - 17:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Meeting Overview: Come and hear about the findings of an archaeological dig at the site of William Warren’s ca. 1949-1853 cabin in Morrison County, near Royalton. William Warren was the son of an Ojibwe-French woman and an American fur trader. He arrived in the area then known as Two Rivers around 1849/1850 and built a cabin/trading post on what is today the McDougall State Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Morrison County. During this period, Warren was actively working on the manuscript that would become the History of the Ojibwe People, originally published by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1885. This book was and is important because as a person of mixed ancestry Warren was a cultural broker, who thus wrote the first history of the Ojibwe from an Indigenous perspective. Warren was also an interpreter and a legislator from the Minnesota Territory, serving in the Minnesota Territorial House of Representative in 1851.
Speaker: Rob Mann – professor of archaeology at St. Cloud State University and past presenter at the Central MN Round Table.
Meetings are held at the Stearns County History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud.
Note change in starting time:
3:00pm – doors open and opportunity to socialize and interact with fellow members
3:15pm – welcome and “new features”
3:30pm – speaker presentation
4:45pm – adjourn
For more information – contact Andy Ditlevson – aditlevson@gmail.com, 320-241-8477
Only exception to regular meeting time and location is the special December meeting. See details in schedule above.

St. Cloud Area Genealogists - "All Ears: Incorporating Oral History into your Genealogical Research" with Brendon Duffy
2023-02-21 19:00 - 20:00 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
Would you like to learn how to better use interviews in your family history? Genealogist Brendon Duffy will present “All Ears: Incorporating Oral History in Your Genealogical Research” for the St. Cloud Area Genealogists on Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 7 p.m. at Stearns History Museum (235 33 rd Ave S., St. Cloud). The presentation will be offered both in-person and synchronously online and will be recorded for members and registered guests.
After conducting interviews for nearly two decades, Brendon Duffy will share tips for how to prepare for, conduct, record and preserve an oral history interview. Most important, he will discuss how they can be useful to you in your genealogical research. Some unique oral history resources will also be explored. Brendon Duffy is the archivist at CentraCare and earned his Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University in 2018. He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and a board member of the St. Cloud Area Genealogists.
Free for SCAG members, $7 for non-members (to register email kmsauer@ymail.com)
To learn more about becoming a SCAG member, and to register, please contact Brendon Duffy (duffyroots@gmail.com).

Museum CLOSED
2023-02-27 - 2023-03-02 | Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave S, St Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
The Museum is taking a break this week to refresh for spring. You can come see us at the farm show and we will still be open this weekend, March 3-5! Stop in and see us then!
