Building Community by Studying the Past

Join Hennepin History Museum’s Executive Director John Crippen in a conversation with Susan Hunter Weir, president of the Board of Friends of Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery and longtime historian of the cemetery. Hear her journey of discovery as she researches and documents the names and life stories of many of the 22,000 persons buried in Minneapolis’ oldest cemetery. Driven by a sense of responsibility to tell the stories of the average citizens of Minneapolis, Weir finds rich reward in shining a light on the immigrants, African Americans, women, children, pioneers, and veterans who helped build Minneapolis.

This workshop is the third in a series of programs to commemorate the designation of Minneapolis’s Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery as part of the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program. It is sponsored by Hennepin History Museum, Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery, and Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery.