Catch the "Lettres de Gratitude: When Minnesota Fed the Children of Europe" Exhibit at the Mill City Museum thru September 11th

Article by Becky Fillinger 

David StevensTime is running out to see this free exhibit, Lettres de Gratitude: When Minnesota Fed the Children of Europe, at the Mill City Museum, 704 S Second Street.

We spoke to Site Manager, David Stevens, on what the exhibit is about and the relevance to today’s news. He provided us with a high-level list of reasons to visit the museum before this exhibit leaves on September 11, 2022.

• Lettres de Gratitude documents the work of famine relief in Europe during the First World War. 

• This work was led by American Herbert Hoover, who organized the Commission for Relief in Belgium, the largest humanitarian relief effort in history, which fed 100 million people in 45 countries between 1914 and 1923. 

• Mill City Museum was interested in hosting this exhibit because of the important role that Minnesota flour milling companies played in this effort.

• The exhibit is relevant and timely, as the global food system has been interrupted once again by conflict in Europe with the Russia-Ukraine war. 

• The exhibit features thank-you letters written by Belgian children to their benefactors. Mill City Museum has also supplemented these letters with flour sacks from our own collection that were embroidered by grateful Belgians and presented as gifts to members of the Commission for Relief in Belgium. 

• The exhibit was organized and produced by Global Minnesota, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that connects Minnesotans to the world, and the world to Minnesota. 

• The exhibit is located in the museum’s central Mill Commons, and is free and open to the public during regular museum business hours through September 11, 2022.

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Visit the Mill City Museum over the Labor Day weekend!

Saturday 10:00 am–5:00 pm

Sunday 10:00 am–5:00 pm

Labor Day  10:00 am–4:00 pm