THE THREE RIVERS CENTER AT MACALESTER COLLEGE AND THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: DEVELOPING A WORKSHOP TO ADVANCE COLLABORATION BETWEEN HISTORIANS AND SCIENTISTS

Dan Hornbach, Department of Environmental Studies, Macalester College, St. Paul MN
Lesley Kadish, Division of Library, Publications and Collections, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul MN

In July 2007, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided the funding to establish the Three Rivers Center (TRC) at Macalester College. One of the goals of the Center is to develop long-term partnerships with community groups, academic entities and government. One of the partnerships that have been developing is between the Center and the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS).

The MHS has a significant interest in the St. Croix watershed and an endowment fund, established by the James Taylor Dunn family to promote and preserve the history of the St. Croix River valley, has provided support for work related to the valley. The TRC likewise has an interest in the watershed through the research carried out by Professors Dan Hornbach (Biology) and Kelly MacGregor (Geology) in collaboration with the National Park Service. Given this congruence of interest, we have decided to focus the start of our collaborative efforts on the St. Croix.

In addition to curriculum development that is being carried out, we thought we could advance conservation efforts on the St. Croix by exploring ways in which the resources of the MHS could help to support the research activities of scientists working in the valley. We are in the process of developing a workshop that would give St. Croix River researchers an introduction to the materials available from the MHS on the St. Croix. We also hope to gain an understanding from researchers what their major research questions are and how the MHS might best make information and materials available to them.

We are hoping to present this workshop in late February or early March 2010. At the October St. Croix Research Rendezvous we hope to gather ideas from the participants about what topics will be of most interest to St. Croix researchers.