East Central Regional Library Legacy Grant SFY 2012 - SFY 2013

Nelly Gustafson Bronze Sculpture

The Chisago Lakes area (consisting of the cities of Center City, Chisago City and Lindstrom) has a rich Swedish heritage. In 1850 over 100 Swedish immigrants came to America and settled in the area. The Lindstrom Park Board decided on erecting three statutes to honor three immigrants (Per Andersson, Daniel Lindstrom and Erik Norelius) within the City of Lindstrom because of their significant contributions to settling Minnesota and the Chisago Lakes region.

However, it was decided to add a female Swedish immigrant to the collection of sculptures and local midwife, Nelly Gustafson, was chosen. The East Central Regional Library Legacy Committee approved the Nelly project in 2012. Nelly was a University trained midwife and served the area for many years and is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Lindstrom. The sculpture will provide dialog amongst its viewers, help to facilitate their understanding of sculpture as an art form and rekindle an interest in Swedish culture and heritage in the regions. The program held by Ian Dudley at the installation ceremony gave the audience an overview of the project along with the sculpture making process.

The project was collaboration between many partners including Chisago County, the City of Lindstrom, the Chisago Lakes Library Commission, the Chisago County Historical Society and the Friends of the Chisago County Library. All were committed to making the project a successful one that would honor and educate the community about its Swedish heritage. Comments from those who have seen the sculpture and/or attended the unveiling were pleased that a local artist was chosen to do the sculpture thus supporting both the cultural and economic solidarity of the region. It also served as a continuing education piece as stated by one individual's comments: "wonderful story, history and tribute to midwifery. Your gift and talent, Mr. Dudley, is amazing. It is interesting and a "timely" statue of Nelly because of the recent PBS series called "The Midwife". It gave more meaning to the dedication for me to learn about these courageous, pioneering women. I am glad the Chisago Lakes Library has the honor of displaying Nelly. Thank you so much."

Larry Yazzie and the Native Pride Dancers

Native American culture is important not only to the East Central Regional Library region but all of Minnesota. Many of our regional counties have a large Native American population, yet many of our library patrons and residents are unaware of their culture and traditions. We invited Larry Yazzie and the Native Pride Dancers to perform workshops at two local schools and perform evening concerts for the general public. In March of 2013 they presented four educational workshops (3 at the Chisago Lakes High School and 1 at the Chisago Lakes Area Library) followed by an evening performance at the Chisago Lakes High School Performing Arts Center with a troupe of 4 dancers which included storytelling, music and dance. A similar program was held at the East Central High School and Performing Arts Center in Finlayson, MN. Eight workshops along with two assemblies were held over a period of two days following by an evening performance. These took place in February 2014.

These were both excellent examples of school and library partnerships and collaboration. We were able to bring an educational, cultural and professional program to the schools that they could not manage within their own budget. It allowed students, teachers and the community to have the opportunity to learn about diverse and multicultural people and artists.

If they didn't learn anything else, the students learned that there are 565 federally recognized tribes in the U.S. It was the most stated comment on our surveys by the students attending the workshops. The performances truly opened up their "eyes and their world" to another culture. The students "learned more about their history" and "more about the removal Act or Relocation Act. The really sad part was the schools and what they did to the children" or in another student's words, "how the government screwed them". One student even admitted to his own prejudices as he stated, "I learned that despite my apparent prejudices, indigenous traditions are as interesting as the traditions of any other culture" and "not all stereotypes are true".

Library Day at the Fair

Almost every child remembers going to their local county fair. This legacy project provided us with a unique partnership with the Kanabec County Fair through the Kanabec County Agricultural Society. As the Minnesota State Fair promotes a "Library Day" each year, we felt this would be a great opportunity to do a local promotion. On one day during the fair, the Arts and Cultural Heritage fund provided funding for three 45-60 minute shows that included an aerialist, a fire eater and a sideshow act on July 25, 2013. The first show was held in the morning at the Mora Public Library and included a brief history of the circus along with a hands-on workshop. The highlight, however, were the performances in the afternoon at the Kanabec County Fairgrounds which included the more daring and exciting acts (aerialist, fire­ eater, eating light bulbs, and mind reader). Individuals commented that it was "first rate and versatile" and "it was awesome." Whether you found it fascinating or freaky, it was a unique and rare program and partnership that brought two unlikely entities together. People learned about the library at a place they didn't expect to (the local county fair) and were entertained as well.