Explore Murray County with the History Hunt! Updates from the Fulda Heritage Society Collection Spotlight: Currie’s Bicentennial Celebration Wheel-Herald Photos Update Hobos and Their Code Director Update – Summer 2026 Director Update – Winter 2025-2026 Membership Renewal Director’s Update – Fall 2025 Updates from End-O-Line Railroad Park and Museum Collections Committee Members Needed Parade of Trees What Led to the Lake Shetek Massacre? A Carved Treasure Returns A Look Back at the Slayton Library’s 85 Years Extra! Extra! Read All About It… Online (Soon)!” The Fulda Depot and the National Register of Historic Places The Poor Farm Buttermakers Baseball Preservation Tips: 100 Years of Education Cemetery Tour – Slide Show Small Grant Awarded for Collections Project Frank Thayer: An Architect’s Story by Rose Moudry Baseball of Murray County by Bill Bolin Dinehart Lecture: Railroads of Murray County Lunchbox Lecture – Murray County in the 1920s PowerPoint Draining the Great Oasis Self-Guided Cemetery Tour Take Home History — Free Educational Packets for Children Murray County Historical Museum has another great year! Walt Benton and his Music International Holiday Traditions Baseball featured on Postcards by PBS Mnopedia Story – Sweetman Catholic Colony Waning Years of the 1891 Murray County Courthouse Brought to Light A Tale of Twenty Typewriters: The Process of Deaccession Become A Member Dinehart Holt House Historic Structure Report Mnopedia Story – Chandler-Lake Wilson Tornado (1992) Mnopedia Story – Murray County Mnopedia Story – Minnesota’s First Female Sheriff – from Murray County Mnopedia Story – Murray County Fair New in the Collection Keeping the Collections: Deaccessioning

Director Update – Summer 2026

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Written by Nicholas Demuth

Summer Updates from the Murray County Historical Society

It has been a busy summer at the Murray County Historical Society, with plenty happening both behind the scenes and throughout our museum sites.

From refreshing exhibits and caring for our collections to moving several important preservation projects forward, our staff has been hard at work preserving and sharing Murray County’s history.

Updates Around the Museum

Visitors to the Murray County Historical Museum may notice some changes on the main exhibit floor. Ann has been busy updating several exhibits, cleaning and refreshing displays, adding new labels to artifacts and giving some of the walls a fresh coat of paint.

These may seem like small changes, but they are an important part of keeping our exhibits interesting, informative and welcoming for visitors. We invite you to stop in and see some of the work that has been taking place.

Preservation Projects Moving Forward

Several grant-funded preservation projects are also underway.

Our National Park Service grant to repair the End-O-Line turntable continues to move forward. Following a request for proposals, we selected Mike Lovato of LHB, an architecture and engineering firm we have worked with in the past. Because the project involves historic preservation, the National Park Service was required to approve the architect selected for the work, and we are pleased to share that approval has been received.

The project remains on track to move forward this year.

We are also working on an application for a larger Minnesota Historical Society Cultural Heritage Grant to repair the windows at the Dinehart-Holt House.

This project has been in the works for several years, and this marks our third application for grant funding to complete the window restoration. The windows have reached a point where work is becoming increasingly necessary, so if grant funding is not awarded, other funding options will need to be explored.

Preserving historic buildings takes time, planning and resources, but these projects are an important part of making sure these pieces of Murray County history remain for future generations.

Operation Round Up Supports Collection Preservation

We also want to extend a special thank you to Nobles Cooperative Electric for awarding the Historical Society $646 through its Operation Round Up program.

The funding will be used to purchase upgraded data loggers that allow museum staff to digitally monitor temperature and humidity in collection storage areas.

Maintaining proper environmental conditions is an important part of protecting photographs, documents, textiles and other historical artifacts from deterioration. The new equipment will give staff another tool to help care for Murray County’s collections well into the future.

Programs like Operation Round Up make many worthwhile projects possible for organizations throughout our area, and we greatly appreciate the support.

Learning and Connecting with Minnesota’s Museum Community

In May, staff attended the Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums conference in Mankato.

The annual conference provides valuable opportunities to learn from other museum professionals throughout Minnesota. This year’s educational sessions covered topics including website design, grant management, digital exhibits and more.

Just as valuable are the conversations and connections made with people working in other small museums and historical organizations.

It’s easy to become focused on the day-to-day details of grants, collections and museum management. Events like this provide an opportunity to look at the bigger picture and be reminded of the important role local history plays in building community and creating a sense of place.

Staff returned with new ideas, knowledge and connections that can help us continue improving Murray County’s museums.

Our First Documentary Night Series

This summer also brought something new to the Historical Society — our first documentary night program.

As part of our America 250 activities, we screened all six episodes of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution. While our scheduling happened to compete a bit with the Slayton City Band, we were still happy to have people join us for the screenings.

Trying new programs like this gives us another way to bring history to life and create opportunities for people to learn, gather and explore the stories that have shaped our communities and our country.

Preserving Murray County’s History

Whether the work involves restoring a historic turntable, caring for a century-old home, updating an exhibit or simply making sure the temperature in a collection room is right, each project contributes to the same larger mission: preserving Murray County’s history and making it accessible for generations to come.

Thank you to our members, visitors, volunteers, community partners and everyone who continues to support the work of the Murray County Historical Society.

We invite you to stop by the museum and see what’s new!

2026 Murray County Historical Society