BEMIDJI — It’s not so much the heat as the humidity that threatens historic artifacts important to Beltrami County.
The city of Bemidji owns the historic Great Northern Depot building, which houses the local museum. Emily Thabes, executive director of the Beltrami County Historical Society, recently asked city officials to help prevent impacts like mildew and stress fractures.
"I hate bringing bad news. You know, I really do," Thabes said. "We're doing such amazing work there and we want to continue that work. ... It's just put a real pause on everything. We just have to stop and deal with this now."
When the building was renovated for its current use in 2000, the heating, ventilation and cooling system was installed and has reportedly never worked properly since. A recent boiler improvement handles the building’s heating needs, but the widely fluctuating humidity is damaging items like historic documents, furs and birch bark.
The ideal humidity range for museums is between 45% and 55%, according to Thabes, but the Depot currently fluctuates between 17% and 77% humidity across all seasons.
Thabes said she contacted tribes across Minnesota and elsewhere, due to the number of Indigenous artifacts threatened by mold, insect infestations and more.
“[There's] a canoe that was sold at the trading post in Red Lake, and it has just succumbed and cracked. And we have several items in that collection that have similar pressure cracks. So we're seeing direct evidence of damage,” Thabes said.
She asked the city July 1 to help with temporary dehumidifiers. But looking ahead, Thabes said a partnership is required to pursue grants to replace the system. The cost is estimated to be at least $250,000.
While no formal action was taken during the meeting, council members indicated support for both short-term solution and long-term solutions, including the Historical Society’s council representative Gwenia Fiskevold Gould.
"It is really concerning to me that this has been something that has been an issue for this long, that it's been brought before council and that it's in our lease," Fiskevold Gould said. " ... I think that it's really important that we, as a city, are good stewards and also model good landlord behavior as well."
Since the city of Bemidji owns the building, it would have to be the main signatory in the grant process.
“This is a very humid summer. We cannot go through this summer without dehumidifiers in there. We just absolutely cannot,” Thabes said.
