As we all go into the Sesquicentennial, I’m interested to know what you’re thinking about doing, what concerns you have, what help we can be to each other. It would be really useful, I think, if we could invent this wheel together (or at least the part of the wheel that suits us). My particular interest is linking academic and public historians, so I’m also interested to know what kind of help the academics might be able to offer. (For another purpose, a group of various kinds of Minnesota historians have met a couple of times and have begun to put together a list of names, e-mail addresses, and specialties in the field as well as list of important secondary sources and primary documents in print and on line — would you be interested in these lists, for example?) The academic historians, for our part, are looking for outlets for our work, too.

So, my special interest is to find ways that we can help each other. What would be the best forms for that help?

Anyone interested in talking about this?

Thanks.

Annette Atkins
Professor of History
Saint John’s University/College of Saint Benedict

Should a historical society ever refuse an estate bequest? If someone has willed possessions - photographs, books, cultural materials - to a Society, is it advisable to decline part or all of the materials, or is there the need to keep the peace by accepting the whole lot? How might the Society approach a conversation with the heirs about the decision-making process?

Deborah Morse-Kahn