The Minnesota Historical Society launched the PeopleFinder and HistoryFinder (keyword search) federated search engines on May 29. They will allow users to search with one click across many of the MHS databases, such as the MnPALS catalog, the Visual Resources Database, the Birth Certificates Index, and the Death Certificates Index.

Eventually the federated search engine will allow users to search North and South Dakota databases, and several Minnesota county historical societies as well.

We will gather for the monthly research meeting at our regular day — this coming Tuesday, June 3, from 10:00 a.m. to noon in the Publications offices’ Knight Research Suite. We will hear reports from those who are attending the MN150 history conference.

If you can’t make the meeting but would like to send a message to the group (raising a question, asking for research help, making an announcement, or offering a suggestion), let Debbie or Kathie know. We can even post your message on the blog, if you want, and you can receive “virtual” answers!

We look forward to hearing about your current and planned research projects.

Please let Kathie know if you would like to remove your name from the monthly reminder list.

The Researchers Notebook blog has a new component: new books recently added to the Minnesota Historical Society Library.

Using a widget from LibraryThing, a rotating list of eight random new books now appears in the blue area on the right-hand side of the blog (scroll down below where you login or register). The list is selected monthly by librarian Hamp Smith. Being a selection, however, the list does not include all of that month’s new books.

If you’re visiting the Library, the books on the list are on the top of the bookcases along the back wall (near the Betsy-Tacy poster, above where the Es begin), so you may look at anything that you find of interest.

The sesquicentennial history conference is coming up very soon — May 28-30. I hope you’ll all plan to come for at least one day. Let’s show our fellow Minnesotans that historians have important, meaningful, and interesting things to say about the 150 years of history since Minnesota became a state. This gathering is also a rare opportunity to talk with others in the history “business” — public historians, teachers, researchers, academics, cultural resource managers, preservationists, and writers — in a setting rich with possibilities for both formal and informal conversations.

In order to attend, you’ll need to register. The good people at St. John’s have contributed much so that the fees for the conference are modest. Here’s a link to the website, where you can click to see the conference schedule, the registration form, and a map with directions to the campus in Collegeville: http://www.csbsju.edu/MN150 If clicking doesn’t work, copy the URL into your search engine.

Deb is still at home recovering from knee replacement surgery, but recently re-established access to her MHS email, so feel free to e-mail her with questions.

Jeff brought this to the attention of the group at the May monthly meeting.

The Pond-Dakota Mission Park, on the site of the 1840s Oak Grove Mission, recently got nine new interpretive signs throughout the park to tell the story of the area’s history. The new signage was dedicated by Mayor Gene Winstead on 27 April 2008.

The fruit of almost two years of research and editing, the signs allow visitors to enjoy a self-guided tour any day of the year. The signs include a large number of historic photographs, commissioned illustrations, and reproductions of Seth Eastman artwork.

Signs include:

• Dakota Missions on the Minnesota Froniter
• Missionaries to the Dakotas
• Pond Family Heritage Timeline
• Changing Landscapes
• Gideo and Agnes Pond House
• Oak Grove Mission
• Dakota Life, and
• Minnesota River Valley.

The City of Bloomington website has a picture of one of the signs.

Upcoming programs at the Pond-Dakota Mission include:

U.S.-Dakota War Documentary, by Sydney Beane, Sunday May 18 at 2 p.m. Syd Beane will talk about his upcoming U.S.-Dakota War Documentary, which he is negotiating to have aired on a national TV network. Syd is a descendant of Chief Cloud Man, Seth Eastman and his wife Stands Sacred (daughter of Cloud Man), Mary Nancy Eastman, who married Many Lightnings (Jacob Eastman) and Rev. John Eastman.

Working with Horn, by David Vavreck, Sunday June 1, drop-in program from 2-4 p.m. Meet one of America’s few remaining horn workers, see a wide variety of horn products, and even try using horner’s hand tools. Until the invention of synthetics in the later 19th cnetury, animal horn was used all over the world as a raw material in the manufacture of thousands of products such as combs, spoons, powder horns, and more.

House tours from 1:30-4 p.m. both days.

We will gather for the monthly research meeting this coming MONDAY, May 5, from 10:00 a.m. to noon in the Publications offices’ Knight Research Suite. We will be having a special presentation on a new searching tool that MHS will be implementing. You get to be some of the first to see it, use it, and give feedback on anything you do or don’t like about it.

If you can’t make the meeting but would like to send a message to the group (raising a question, asking for research help, making an announcement, or offering a suggestion), let Debbie know. We can even post your message on the blog, if you want, and you can receive “virtual” answers!

We look forward to hearing about your current and planned research projects.

Please let Kathie know if you would like to remove your name from the monthly reminder list.