Banner ends its journey

For the last year, Minnesota public libraries, in partnership with the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission,have provided residents the opportunity to touch Minnesota history, be part of the Sesquicentennial, and journal their memories about the State of Minnesota in observance of the 150th statehood anniversary. The partnership was announced on May 11, 2007 at the 10th annual Rural Minnesota Summit, sponsored by Minnesota Rural partners. Two banners were launched, and through the coordination of the Minnesota Regional Library Systems have made their way through public libraries throughout the state.

Here at ECRL we received our banner and began the roving party on March 13th. Each of the 14 branch libraries in the East Central Regional Library System hosted the banner, giving the celebration its own local flavor. We collected many of the photos and posted them on our Flickr site. You can see them all by clicking on any photo in this post.

Sunday, May 11th the banners and journals were returned - one came from the north, the other from the south. East Central Regional Library Assistant Director Nick Dimassis presented the banner and journal to Governor Tim Pawlenty, who in turn presented the items to Nina Archabal, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Historical Society for archiving. Nick was accompanied by his daughters Emma and Alice. The southern banner was presented to Governor Pawlenty by Southeastern Libraries Cooperating Executive Director Ann Hutton, who was accompanied by several SELCO staff members. SELCO's Flickr photos of the day are online here.

It's been fun to be part of Minesota history. Happy 150th birthday, Minnesota!

Launching the banner (May 11, 2007)


Governor Pawlenty accepts well-traveled banners from ECRL and SELCO (May 11, 2008)



Barbara Misselt, ECRL Director