Preserving Local Dakotah Heritage

Growing up, I can’t say I was really all that interested in American history. I remember taking a history class in high school and not being able to answer the question: What was the Kellogg Pact? To tell you the truth I still can’t answer that. But I do remember my friend’s response: “To put 2 scoops of raisins in every box of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran”. Hahaha…I’m still laughing at that one!

But working for the National Trust has changed all that. To dry run these field sessions and use a city, and its past, as a living laboratory makes the past seem…well….the past seems more present. You can have that same experience on any one of the field sessions offered at the Conference.

For instance, “Preserving Local Dakotah Heritage” focuses on two of Saint Paul’s important spiritual and cultural preservation projects, the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary and the Gibbs Museum. Each of these projects has a unique story as to how the Dakotah tribe was approached to participate, what the process was to establish each of these sites as local preservation efforts and how each site continues to develop.

Your first stop at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary (picture at right) allows you to commune with nature and tells the story of how this sacred Dakotah site is slowly being preserved while simultaneously being made accessible as a living, authentic, educational experience for the surrounding public.

And then find yourself at the Gibbs Museum which is an interpretation of a time of peace and friendship between the Pioneers and the Dakotah people. The focus here is on the story of an early settler, Jane Gibbs, and her close relationship with the Dakotah. It is the Gibbs Museum’s mission to show how these native Indians were prolific farmers, quality craftspeople and good friends to Jane...who was kidnapped by missionaries and practically raised by the local Indians her kidnapper was trying to convert...

Makes you want to learn more, doesn’t it?

~Farin

(The Gibbs Farmhouse)