Do you believe in the importance of preserving the history of our community?

The Pennington County Historical Society strives to provide a service to our community that is unique, yet is in close cooperation with many other local organizations. We can exist and flourish in this context only if we receive community support.

The Society receives a small amount of financial help from Pennington County, as well as some donated services from the City of Thief River Falls, but without the support of local citizens, the Society and the Village would not exist.

We rely on YOU
to be a part of this noble cause.

You can purchase a Membership for yourself, your family, your business. You can Donate an artifact or allow family photographs to be copied for the Society’s archives. You can visit the Museum. Bring your children. Think of the Society when you are making plans for entertaining your relatives who are here on vacation. You may even want to volunteer and assist in one of our special events.

For more information on how to help, please visit our “Support” pages on this website.

All members get the following:

1. We guarantee a warm, fuzzy feeling, that is a common response to contributing to a worthwhile cause and supporting your community.

2. You will have the opportunity to vote for those who serve on the board of directors at the annual meeting each April, even serve on the board, if you are so inclined. (Any member of the public is welcome to attend any of the board meetings.)

3. You will receive the newsletters that are published by the Society and other communications, which are produced as needed.

4. And last, but by no means, least, when you have purchased a membership of any type, you will be invited to visit the Peder Engelstad Pioneer Village, as often as you would like, for a walk-through of the grounds and buildings to enjoy the displays.

Sometimes it’s fun to visit with your children and show them the historical items that were forerunners of the technologies we use today.

Even high school age young people may not have ever held a telephone receiver up to their ear or dialed a rotary style phone. The Village has on display several telephone switchboards, as well, which show how calls on the old style phones were connected by an operator.

Most children have never tried to type on a non-electric typewriter keyboard.

Or examined classic farm machinery, printing and type-setting equipment, logging gear, or an antique corset.

Our society has come a long way since the days when these items were commonplace in every home or farm.

Some of the tools that helped shape new industries and provided better and more efficient ways of doing things, can demonstrate a bridge between the early pioneer lifestyle and our own.

The Village is more then just a storage place for historical items, it is a place to remember, learn, see, and maybe even ponder a thing or two.

No matter what your interests: the cost of membership is less then a single history book and, unlike a book, it changes as we are constantly adding new items, getting new donations and rearranging the displays.