Saturday, August 22 – 10am to 2:30pm

Join the Rice County Historical Society for an outside tour of 7 historic sites around the county. Volunteers will be at each site to share its history and answer questions.

This is a family-friendly and COVID-friendly event. All vehicles (cars, vans, motorcycles, even busses) are welcome. $20/vehicle – no matter how many people are in the vehicle. 

To make it fun, we’ve added a poker-run-like game where each car will get one playing card when they stop at each historic site, and then participants will turn in the best 5-card hand of their 7 cards. The top 5 hands will receive a prize. (To be announced on Facebook and on our Website by 7 pm that night.)

Participants should start this 2-hour tour anytime between 10 am and noon. Poker hands should be turned in no later than 2:30.

Please note: due to Covid-19, we will not be touring the interior of buildings. 

For more information and/or to register please call or email the museum at 507-332-2121 or rchs@rchistor

Thursday, June 18, 6 pm:
“Exploring the Dalby Database: Online Class”

The Dalby Database is RCHS’s first “Go To” website when doing research, about people, places, and events in Rice County and the surrounding area. Join Susan Garwood (RCHS Executive Director) and John and Jan Dalby, creators of the database, as we do a live demonstration of the website and show some tips and tricks to get the most out of the database.

This class will be held using Google Meet. To join, click this link: meet.google.com/zjv-kyov-fyh

People are encouraged to email RCSH at rchs@rchistory.org to register but it is not required.

Thursday, June 25, 6 pm:
Book Talk: “A Woman’s War, Too: Women at Work During World War II”, with author Virginia Wright-Peterson

Author Virginia Wright-Peterson will talk about her newly published book, “Woman’s War, Too” that shares dramatic stories of women discovering their own potential in a time of national need, surprising themselves and others— and setting the roots of second-wave feminism.  

Faribault’s own Liz Strofus is mentioned in the book as are many others. Participants are encouraged to share their own stories or stories of family members who made a difference, at home and abroad, during World War II.

This talk will be a Facebook Live event on the RCHS Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/rchistory

For more information about either event, please call us at 507-332-2121

The Rice County Historical Society’s exhibit gallery will be opening to the public, with limited capacity, starting on Wednesday, June 10. The Gallery will then be open Monday – Friday from 9 to 4 pm.

We have set up stanchions throughout the gallery to help facilitate social distancing as per the Governor’s Stay Safe Plan. We also ask that everyone continue to wear masks.

Please note: We continue to ask that anyone interested in donating artifacts to the museum call the museum at 507-332-2121 to discuss the collection and make an appointment to bring your donation into the museum.

The Research Room will remain to be closed to the public. We are happy to assist with research remotely. Feel free to contact on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/rchistory, email us at rchs@rchistory.org or call us at 507-322-2121.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

With Governor Walz’s update on May 14, we are one step closer to opening our doors to the public.

He announced that Beginning May 18, “Stay Safe Minnesota will still ask people: stay close to home, limit travel to what’s essential, but we can now gather with friends and family of groups of less than ten.” That has been clarified to include social, civil, and community gatherings.

Staff returned to work the week of May 4, and starting May 18, our collections and research volunteers will be welcome to return to the museum. We are asking all staff and volunteers to wear masks and encouraging them to stay home if they are feeling unwell.

As for opening to the public…we still have to wait a bit longer. When we do open we’ll also be asking visitors to wear masks and follow other social distancing practices. We want to do our part to keep everyone healthy but also welcome everyone to the museum.

In the meantime, if you have any research requests or general questions, feel free to email us at rchs@rchistory.org or call us at 507-332-2121.