Photo courtesy of Lyon County Museum
The Mark S. Goodenow Collections Storage Room at the Lyon County Museum features storage shelves on a track system, at left. The system maximizes the museum’s storage space, and has helped free up room to process new donations to museum collections, said museum director Jennifer Andries.
MARSHALL — The Lyon County Historical Society is being recognized for work done to improve the Lyon County Museum’s storage area. This week, the Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums announced that the Historical Society will be one of the recipients of the 2026 Minnesota History Awards.
The Historical Society will be receiving the award for its collection storage project, which was completed in fall 2024. The storage project installed new shelving systems that more than doubled the museum’s space for artifact storage, and freed up space to process new donations.
MALHM Coordinator Liz Koele said the Minnesota History Award winners included a variety of projects from around the state.
“We are proud to honor so many creative people and organizations for their efforts to preserve and share local history. The communities they serve should be proud,” Koele said in the award announcement. In 16 years, the MALHM has honored more than 50 organizations with the Minnesota History Award.
Andries said the collections storage project was made possible with the help of a $141,000 state grant, and matching funds including funds from the estate of Mark Goodenow. The storage room, located on the basement level of the museum, was named the Mark S. Goodenow Collections Storage Room.
“It was very fitting, because Mark had donated a lot of items to the museum over the years,” said Lyon County Museum director Jennifer Andries.
Comments from the awards committee said the storage rehousing project was “an important step in ensuring their collection could be properly and safely kept for the future.”
Andries said the new storage system at the museum allows for more efficient use of space.
“It’s on a track system,” she said. The track system eliminates the need for traditional shelves with aisles between them, which leaves more space to store items.
“We were fortunate to be able to move things from our upstairs storage,” Andries said. The new storage system also allowed the museum to create a room to process new items donated to the collection.
“As part of the project, we renovated the space with new flooring, ceiling tiles, paint and lighting,” Andries said.
Andries said this will be the third time the Lyon County Museum has been honored with an award from MALHM. The last time the museum was recognized was around 2021, for its second-floor gallery display.
