Plaque with a miniature Minnesota state flag and a chunk of moon rock embedded in Lucite. The flag was carried to the moon by the spacecraft America during the December 17–19, 1972, as part of the Apollo XVII mission. The rock is from the Taurus Littrow valley of the moon and technically known as "Sample 70017." This is a "Goodwill Moon Rock," one of which was presented to each state and 135 countries by President Nixon in 1973.

Minnesota state flag made in Minneapolis ca. 1898 by Pauline and Thomane Fjelde, the makers of the original 1893 flag. The Fjelde sisters presented the flag to the Fifteenth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

The first Minnesota state flag, designed by Amelia Hyde Center of Minneapolis and embroidered by Norwegian immigrants Pauline and Thomane Fjelde. The flag was exhibited and won a gold medal at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, in 1893. The flag’s design incorporates symbolic elements around the state seal, including pink-and-white lady’s slippers (Cypripedium reginae); a red ribbon; the state motto, “L’Etoile du Nord” (the Star of the North); and three dates: 1819 (the year of the founding of Fort Snelling), 1893 (the year of the flag’s adoption), and 1858 (the year of Minnesota statehood). The nineteen yellow stars refer to Minnesota’s place as the nineteenth state admitted to the Union.

Prairie land at Traverse des Sioux, the site of the signing of the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, ca. 2010s. Photograph by John Cross courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society.

The intersection of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers (Bdote), including Fort Snelling and Pike Island (Wita Tanka). The Sibley Historic Site is in the center foreground. Oil-on-canvas painting by Edward Kirkbride Thomas, ca. 1840.

Sibley Historic Site (1357 Sibley Memorial Highway, Mendota), ca, 2010s.

Pao Houa Her is a Hmong American photographer who, as a baby, fled Laos with her family. Pao came to the US in the 1980s. Take a look at this powerful video on Pao's contribution to #MyHistoryMatters and why it was important for her to photograph elders in her community.

Interior of a room in the reconstructed row house at the Snake River Fur Post in Pine City, Minnesota, 2010s.

Reconstructed row house at the Snake River Fur Post in Pine City, Minnesota, 2010s.

Musket stock used by the North West Company between 1790 and 1800.