St Louis County Historical Society

What it reported doing in 2025

The st. Louis county historical society (slchs) is responsible, per state statute, to collect, preserve and present the history of st. Louis county (as recognized by the Minnesota state historical society) and is eligible, accordingly, for county taxpayer support. The society is unique (and privileged) in that it is housed as a tenant in a county owned building with premier arts/cultural non-profit service providers. Slchs also grants county funds to a system of six iron range affiliates in hibbing, Virginia, chisholm, ely, tower, and embarrass. In addition, slchs was assigned responsibility (and county funding) for veterans' "history services" in the 1990s and built the veterans memorial hall program, which it still maintains today. To date 29,500 of st. Louis county's 35,000 veterans are identified in the veterans memorial hall veteran's information database. The veterans memorial hall gallery and the albert j. Amatuzio research center are repositories for local veteran history. The veterans memorial hall program continues a veteran's day event in partnership with duluth women of today. The event was held on veteran's day and recognized area veterans. Slchs based exhibits were made available to 239,706 depot visitors in 2025. Numbers provided by depot management, staff of st. Louis county. 24 volunteers contributed approximately 3,174 hours of work for society programs and research. Approximately 75,000 individuals (actual numbers not available) viewed society exhibits and/or materials. These include artworks on loan to the kitchi gammi club in duluth, statues located at the duluth international airport, and traveling exhibits installed in various locations throughout the county, including aurora, hibbing, and duluth. 20 traveling exhibits covering a wide range of topics were view by approximately 430,000 people in st. Louis county. 13,000 individual 3d artifacts are estimated to be held in public trust. Staff fielded an estimated 550 requests for information through various contact methods (email, phone, social media, and walk-ins) as a matter of regular duties for staff. One annual scholarship was awarded in cooperation with the duluth community foundation, with fund balance originating through society efforts or through partners. (mike colalillo medal of honor scholarship and erie mining company scholarship). Slchs hired wayne gannaway, a museum professional with 25 years of experience as a full-time executive director. Initiated a 6-month strategic planning process with pro bono assistance from facilitator and nonprofit consultant, madeline kvale. Hosted the twin ports festival of history event. Held four history-in-a-pint history talks at the st. Louis county depot. Held a slovenian history, culture, and cuisine festival, co-sponsored by the slovenian union of america. Restored and re-opened veterans memorial hall after serious water damage in 2024. In close coordination with slchs american indian advisory committee, produced a new traveling exhibit, sovereign nations: discovering the treaty story of Minnesota's indigenous peoples. Held the annual native american heritage day family festival on treaties in our area and the sandy lake tragedy, featuring elders of the red cliff band of lake superior chippewa. Awarded a grant from the depot foundation to refresh and relocate the lake superior ojibwe gallery to the main floor of the st. Louis county depot. Re-instituted internship program partnership with university of Minnesota duluth's museum studies program, with two interns assisting with collections management. Completed a grant from the Minnesota historical society for an ongoing collections cataloguing initiative.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 79.7%; rating input score 80
• Program expense ratio: 70.3%; rating input score 70
• Fundraising efficiency: $20.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -12.8%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -2.5% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings