Civil War surgical instruments and case, 1861-1865. This kit used by a Fifth Minnesota Infantry Regiment surgeon, with its prominent amputation saws and scarificators for bloodletting, illustrates the reliance of physicians in the era before germ theory on "heroic" medical interventions.
The month of March 2008 marked the 75th anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps, established March 31, 1933. Curator Matt Anderson commemorates the occasion with a look at CCC pieces in the Minnesota Historical Societys collection.