Vesterheim Commons Collection Access

Vesterheim Commons Collection Access

In this update, Vesterheim President/CEO Chris Johnson talks with Collection Manager Jennifer Kovarik about the museum’s extensive collection and ways that the Commons will help Vesterheim share it.

The third floor will include an area we’re calling the collection access space. Its purpose is to help us better share the collection and allow students, researchers, and artists to get up close and personal with artifacts, which are often used as inspiration for art projects and connections to history. Our collection started at Luther College as a teaching aid and we maintain that educational spirit and embrace it in our work. This collection access space will serve as a classroom and also a more intimate place to study the collection on any level.

Thank you for joining us and supporting this project!

Don’t forget that right now every gift of $1000 or more to the campaign will be matched dollar for dollar. 

We invite you to be part of Vesterheim’s bold future now by donating here.

Questions about
the Campaign?
Contact Us

Director of Development: Diane Wagner

Phone: (563) 382 – 9681 x103

Email: dwagner@vesterheim.org

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Need Help Now?

If you want to speak to someone about how you can support Vesterheim’s bold new future, call Diane Wagner or Kim Toussaint.

Diane Wagner: 563-382-9681 x103

Kim Toussaint: 563-382-9681 x105

A Re-imagined, Open, and Accessible Heritage Park

The first major project of the Strong Roots | Bold Future campaign is the re-imagining of Heritage Park, the outdoor exhibit and program space for Vesterheim’s 12 historic buildings. Heritage Park opened in summer 2021. Guided by the Snøhetta master plan, Heritage Park has been designed by Damon Farber Landscape Architects to be an accessible and open public space reminiscent of Norway’s forests and glades. Here, people can connect with one another amidst tangible historic buildings set in nature.

Beginning at the plaza that depicts the 1825 voyage of immigrants on the ship Restauration, meandering pathways will guide visitors around gentle glades, past a community amphitheater, and through the expanded parkwhere history comes alive by experiencing how Norwegian pioneers lived.

Special care has been given to create an environmentally sensitive community park with native plantings and woodlands appropriate to this Driftless Area of America’s Midwest, permeable pavers, and sustainable stormwater management.