Local organization directly benefits from funds appropriated by the Legacy Act. Minneapolis (September 5, 2010) - The Friends of the Immigration History Research Center, in collaboration with historians Marilyn J. Chiat and Jeanne Halgren Kilde, have been awarded a Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant of $13,123, from the Minnesota Historical Society.
The grant will support research into religious congregation and houses of worship formed by early settlers in nine neighborhoods developed in the Twin Cities along the Mississippi River between 1849 and 1924. The project, titled "Houses of Worship and the Settlement of the Twin Cities," will explore such themes as community creation, ethnicity and identity, relationships among congregations, intra-congregational interactions, the role of houses of worship, and social class structures. The goal of the project is to document for contemporary Twin Citians and for future generations the long heritage of religious diversity that has been central to this region's growth and development.
The Friends of the IHRC is a non-profit, auxiliary organization associated with the University of Minnesota's Immigration History Research Center. It is dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary research on international migration, developing archives documenting immigration and refugee life, and making specialized scholarship available to students, teachers, and the public. Dr. Chiat is the author of "America's Religious Architecture: Sacred Places for Every Community" (1997), and the "Spiritual Traveler: Chicago and Illinois" (2004). She has served as a historical consultant on public television documentaries, "Country Spires" (1998) and "Iron Range: Minnesota Building America" (2009). Dr. Kilde is the director of the Religious Studies Program at the University of Minnesota and the author of several books, including "Sacred Power, Sacred Space: An Introduction to Christian Architecture and Worship" (2008), and "Nature and Revelation: A History of Macalester College" (2010).
