Exhibits

Exhibits

To make arrangements for a guided tour, see our Tours page.

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The Morrison County Historical Society’s philosophy of exhibits is to use select artifacts and archival pieces to illustrate a story. This means that only a small portion of our collections are on exhibit at any given time. In order to show more of our collection, we have a showcase exhibit that is changed at least once a year, plus we occasionally create temporary exhibits for special events.

The Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum contains two main exhibit rooms for displaying historical artifacts from Morrison County. Exhibits also line the east and west hallways. A rotating photo/document exhibit can be seen in the Gordon Rosenmeier Research Room. Following is a more detailed explanation of each of these exhibit areas.

Z.N. Barnes Exhibit Room

The Z.N. Barnes Exhibit Room displays various aspects of business and industry in Morrison County. The room was named for Z.N. Barnes, an employee of the Pine Tree Lumber Company. He was also a photographer and captured many wonderful pictures of the county and his family. Staff of the museum also call this room the Logging Room because of its display of logging photos and artifacts (including a ‘dead head’ log pulled from the Mississippi River long after the logging era in Morrison County). Other industries represented in the room include Larson Boat Works, Kiewel Brewery, local creameries, agriculture, milling companies, and water power.

J.C. Patience Exhibit Room

The J.C. Patience Exhibit Room is also called the Cultural Baggage Room because upon entering, visitors are greeted with a sign that says “Cultural Baggage.” The room has a wide variety of artifacts on display that show how people in the county lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There are personal items, such as women’s hats, men’s clothing accessories, medical goods, and hair-care items. This room also shows kitchen utensils and laundry artifacts, as well as toys, a model steam engine, and a concertina. Photographs capturing daily life are on display in the J.C. Patience Room.

Gordon Rosenmeier Room Exhibit

The Gordon Rosenmeier Room serves as the research area of the museum. It contains three exhibit cases that are changed periodically, at least once a year. Photos or artifacts based on a particular topic are chosen from the MCHS collections. These may or may not match the topic for the Showcase Exhibit (see below). Exhibits have included wedding photos, photos of children and small fiber pieces.

West & East Hall Exhibits

The west hallway of the museum displays natural history artifacts from the museum’s collections. Among the natural history artifacts are native stones, a cross-section of a white pine tree, and a taxidermy beaver.

The east hallway of the museum serves as the Showcase Exhibit area. This exhibit is changed at least once a year and highlights particular topics using artifacts from the collections. Past Showcase Exhibits have included Prohibition, the Vietnam War, county schools, aprons, music, and new acquisitions. Exhibits are self-guided at The Weyerhaeuser Museum. Visitors may view these exhibits any time during our regular museum hours.

To make arrangements for a guided tour, see our Tours page.