Intersections

FAIN: GI-50380-11

Chippewa Valley Museum, Inc. (Eau Claire, WI 54702-1204)
Susan M. McLeod (Project Director: January 2011 to April 2016)

Implementation of Intersections, a new permanent exhibition that would chronicle the history of community formation and immigration in Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley.

The Chippewa Valley Museum (CVM) requests $340,000 for Intersections, a major exhibit and related programming. Everyone who lives in Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley today came from somewhere else or is descended from someone who did. This is true of the Ojibwe, American Indians migrating here in the 17th century; Europeans who arrived in the 19th century lumber boom; Hmong refugees re-settled in the 1970s; and Somalis coming now to work in the poultry industry. But, community formation is an exchange among people, not just a progression of people. The region is always in the process of creation. Intersections between those here and those newly arrived have shaped Chippewa Valley communities, bringing energy and character to our region. The project developed from study of scholarly concepts and re-interpretations and extensive regional research and collecting. Nationally recognized scholars and museum specialists, and historians with regional research interests are advising.