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Building a small town museum

Hanska Historical Society works to preserve community’s past

By Clay Schuldt 6 min read

HANSKA - The town of Hanska was officially incorporated in 1901, making it one of the younger communities in the region, but its history is rich and its residents maintain a strong community spirit 125 years later.

It is this community spirit that has led to the recent creation of a Hanska Historical Society (HHS). The long-term goal of the HHS is to create a museum for the community, but a more immediate goal is to help celebrate Hanska's 125th anniversary, which is scheduled for the Aug. 21-23 weekend.

As part of the 125th anniversary celebration, the HHS has decided to organize its first historical display. Display will be located in the upper level of the Hanska Community Center and will feature a variety of artifacts from Hanska's past and represent the start of Hanska's Museum.

HHS member Larry Harbo said the idea to create a historical society in Hanska came out of a history tour he helped organize in August 2025.

The driving tour took participates to several historical sites around the Hanska community, including the Torgimson Log Cabin, Lake Hanska Lutheran Church, District 31 Schoolhouse, Norwegian Stabbur, Zion Lutheran Church, Nora Unitarian Church, Jorgenson Cabin Museum and Linden Lutheran Church.

After the success of the tour, Harbo saw potential in other historical programming in Hanska, but he also worried preserving the community artifacts. Hanska already has some historic items held at different sites in the community, but the town has no dedicated place to keep important historic pieces or an organization to catalogue and protect the items.

That led to Harbo organizing a leadership team to kickstart the historical society. In addition to Harbo, the leadership team includes Nita Giblerg, Dianne Osborne, Larry Harbo, Kristen Moore, Jenny Mosenden, Dave Nelson, Dan Paulson, Bruce Lammers and Joel Botten.

Last month, the HHS team put out a call for artifacts to be donated to the burgeoning museum collection. Anyone willing to donate historical items is encouraged to drop them off at the Hanska community center every Wednesday from 3 p.m to 6 p.m.Volunteers will be on hand to log the items.

The society is looking for pieces of all sizes, including unique artifacts to everyday household objects.

Examples include, buttons, tools, arrowheads, trunks, kitchen items, letterman jackets, military uniforms, ration coupons, war memorabilia, pendants, trophies, quilts, military items, butter churns, medical equipment, old cameras, vintage photographs and more.

HHS member Larry Harbo said the future museum would be honored to preserve these items for the public. He believed that by helping preserve Hanska's history, they were preserving the community as well.

"If you don't have a community history, you can lose your community," Harbo said.

The HHS acknowledges that the museum is a work in progress. With no official dedicated museum building, they are using the Hanska Community Center as a temporary base of operations. The artifacts and displays will be placed on the second floor.

Harbo said the theme for this temporary museum display is "Museum Under Construction." The idea is to raise awareness for the HHS. The hope is that the initial display will bring in additional artifacts as well as new stories.

"We tell only 10% of Hanska's story," Harbo said. "The rest will be told by the people who walk into see the exhibit. Seeing the exhibits will trigger a memory and then we have a new story."

HHS member and Hanska Mayor Dan Paulson agree that a lot of Hanska's history is tied to its people and that families that have lived here over the years. He hoped the historical society and museum would be away to carry on the Hanska's tradition to the next generation. Paulson worried history could be lost in a single generation.

Harbo agreed that it was easy to forget even relatively recent parts of the past, which is why they were accepting a wide range of artifacts. He even donated some vintage Beanie Babies.

"Yesterday is technically history," Harbo said.

HHS member David Nelson brought it several artifacts from his personal collection, including Norwegian plates and select pieces of uranium glass.

HHS has already started to receive some donations from the public. The first item they received was a quilt made as a raffle item during Hanska's centennial celebration in 2001.

The HHS team is optimistic that they will continue to receive more artifacts over the next few weeks. Harbo said the idea of the museum is to continually add artifacts as they go.

While HHS works to create its first display on the town's history, the Brown County Historical Society (BCHS) in New Ulm is working on its own display. The two historical societies are partnering together in honor of Hanska's 125th anniversary.

BCHS curator Logan O'Neill has been working on the Hanska 125 since last month. He said the exhibit will feature seven segments. The first will be about the Hanska area, before it was incorporated. This section will feature information on the first Norwegian immigrants and early churches founded in the area. From there, each section of the exhibit will cover 25 years of Hanska's history, all the way up to the present day.

O'Neill said the exhibit will end with a notice to visit the Hanska Historical Society for more information. The BCHS's Hanska exhibit opens Friday, Aug. 7

The Hanska historical exhibit will officially open to the public at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21 at the Community Center. This will kick off the rest of Hanska's founder's day weekend.

Other big events during the 125 celebration include an All School Reunion from 10 am - 12 pm Saturday, August 22, at the Community Center lower level. This reunion is for all alumni who attended a Hanska school, including the country school. At 5 p.m. Saturday, a community parade will be held in downtown.

From 12-3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, the Hanska area Historical driving tour will be held again. The tour will feature Torgimson Log Cabin, Lake Hanska Lutheran Church, District 31 Schoolhouse, Norwegian Stabbur, Zion Lutheran Church, Nora Unitarian Church, Jorgenson Cabin Museum and Linden Lutheran Church. The tour is free and the locations will be open to the public.

Harbo said the HHS team will continue to accept artifacts from the public for the museum. By contributing artifacts today, you ensure that your family's unique story and our shared community heritage are preserved for generations to come.

If an individual cannot make it to the community center during the scheduled drop-off times, email hanskahistoricalsociety@gmail.com or call Larry Harbo at 507-340-9843 to make alternative arrangements.

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