Belle Prairie Seminary: Formal Education in Indian Country in the New Minnesota Territory

Linda Louise Bryan is an independent scholar who is obsessed with Belle Prairie, the village just north of Little Falls that was founded by Frederic and Elisabeth Ayer right at the time Minnesota Territory was also founded. The lives and times of the Ayers and their cohort are the subject of her ongoing research into the complicated history of Ojibwe Country in Minnesota and Wisconsin in the mid-19th Century. Linda will explain the collision of events that created the Crow Wing Chippewa Indian Agency and the Long Prairie Winnebago Indian Agency as well as Fort Ripley.

Linda will be at The Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum on March 5th, 2022 at 10:30 AM, where she will discuss the Ayer school at Belle Prairie and its place within the larger history of white settlement, certain protestant missions, Winnebago and Ojibwe treaties, and the waning Indian trade. Once she finishes her talk, she will invite local residents to share memories of their own experiences with rural schools.

This event is free and open to the public, though pre-registration is required. Both in-person and Zoom options are available. To register for the event, please email staff@morrisoncountyhistory.org or call (320)632-4007. Please specify whether you will be attending in-person, or if you would like the Zoom link.

Masks are required for the in-person event.