Kate Hujda, a senior curator for the Minnesota Historical Society, isn’t necessarily looking for Viking runestones. She’ll settle for some old farming maps. Or even transcripts of board meetings.
“History is all around us,” Hujda said.
Which means there’s history around you. In a basement box, stashed in the back of a closet or hanging on your wall. At the Minnesota Star Tribune, we want to hear from you: what history do you have?
If you have an object you think has actual or historical value, send us a picture and description. We’ll try to figure out what history you’ve uncovered.
You don’t have to follow in the footsteps of Rich Benson, a Minneapolis-based massage therapist who insured his 5,000-piece collection of Prince memorabilia for $750,000. Or the growing number of typewriter obsessives, hunting the Midwest for antique machines.
In fact, Hujda said some unique items come from the state’s most recent history. Items produced after the 1950s are capturing the interest of curators at the Historical Society, she said. Those items haven’t reached an age where they’d be donated en masse, and that’s left the Historical Society’s collection with gaps in more recent time periods.
“It just takes time for someone to either realize what they have might have historical and cultural significance,” Hujda said, “or to get to a place where they want to part with something.”
Hujda describes her job cataloging Minnesota stories as a balancing act, halfway between a science and an art. She looks for an item that has some combination of rarity, historical relevance and significance to an individual or their community. The most expensive pieces that donors bring, she said, might not be the most relevant to Minnesota history, and sometimes, she turns them away.
