Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County

05/28/2026

Summer is finally here! ☀️🏖 Here's some exciting events we have planned for June! Further details can be found on our events tab or on our website. All these events will be at the Hjemkomst Center.

05/25/2026

This Memorial Day, take a chance to remember those who died in service of their country. Eugene Studlien served in France during World War One, but didn't return home alive. The account of his funeral, three years after the war's end, was documented by his friend Orabel Thortvedt. https://youtu.be/5qdc_2aJL0w?si=MWbUnf1vP3Tzvn0u

Three years after he was killed in France in World War I, the body of Eugene Studlien returned home to a farming community along the Buffalo River in Minneso...

05/22/2026

Summer is just around the corner! 🌴⛱️HCSCC is open all weekend! Saturday and Monday 9 to 5, Sunday 12 to 5.

05/21/2026

Moorhead had a zoo?! Yup! A small zoo existed in what is now Memorial Park from 1929 to 1936. Ole Bergstrom captured video of one of the zoo's main attractions, a white tailed deer. You can learn more about the zoo here https://www.hcscconline.org/blog/a-moorhead-zoo. June's Decades Club will focus on the story of the Moorhead zoo and give kids a chance to explore it as well!

05/19/2026

This photo raised a lot of questions at first. Archivist Petra Gunderson-Leith soon figured out it was Stella Watson, Moorhead's first and only, aerial police officer. Learn more about Stella Watson's life and career with Petra this Thursday at 3pm as part of our History Thursday program! Jay Bjerke will bring in cameras from his vast collection of that illustrate the groundbreaking inventions of David H. Houston of Hunter, ND.

05/18/2026

Another documentary HCSCC helped work on! This one is from our friends over at Prairie Public https://youtu.be/fchVXR1w9fg?si=35tBjgfdUosq5PiO

From its earliest days, life in Minnesota was shaped by resilience, determination, and the pursuit of opportunity as newcomers sought to build better futures...

05/17/2026

Come celebrate Syttende Mai with us! It's Norwegian Constitution Day and we're making the day extra special around here. Make-and-take a 17.Mai sløyfe (ribbon pin) to wear and try some ice cream with cloudberry jam, all included with your paid admission. We will also be opening a new exhibit called "Rocks and Hard Places" on June 16, which highlights the rough lives many Norwegians left when coming to America. Gratulerer med dagen!

05/15/2026

Lauren McCombs stopped by the museum earlier this week to get some tips for preserving the immigrant trunk of her great-great-grandmother Synneva Hopperstad. Synneva grew up in Viki, where the original Hopperstad is located, and immigrated to the US in 1893. We couldn't resist the urge to photograph this family trunk beside Guy Paulson's replica. ❤❤❤

05/14/2026

In case you missed it, we recently created a documentary on the founding of Moorhead with Moorhead Public Access! We hope to do more videos in this series focusing on topics like Moorhead's wild west days, prohibition, and more! https://youtu.be/9JnOs_rhpOk?si=7WUslavIgaTr1Def

05/11/2026

Crew Member Jeff Solum dropped off this piece of the ship’s history! This radio was on the ship and used to communicate with people in Fargo.

05/10/2026

Mother's make the difference. Happy Mother's Day to all mom's, aunties, and other maternal figures we hold dear! One mother we are honoring today is Rose Asp, who helped her children on Hjemkomst voyage and greeted them in Norway upon its completion. What memories do you have of your mother?