Mission

The Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum seeks to strengthen public understanding of how armed conflicts and military institutions have shaped our state and national experience. We do this by documenting, preserving, and explaining military history as it was lived by the people of Minnesota. We also function as a major repository in Minnesota for historical artifacts and records of a military nature.

While visiting the museum, we want you to learn why and how events unfolded as they did. We want you to gain an appreciation for the actions and sacrifices of Minnesota citizens who served in all branches of service and on the home front—in times of peace and times of war—from our state’s early frontier days up to the present.

It is a salute to their spirit and enduring accomplishments.

Museum History and Governance

The Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum traces its beginnings to 1976 when it was organized for the express purpose of establishing a state military museum—the result of visionary collaboration within three organizations. The Minnesota Department of Military Affairs agreed to provide facilities at Camp Ripley. The Minnesota National Guard Association’s history committee formed the nucleus for a governing Board of Directors, and the Minnesota Historical Society agreed to transfer various “start-up” artifacts to the museum and lend some staff support for the first two years. The museum, housed in a former enlisted men's club, opened to the public in June 1977.

The museum moved to its present location in 1987. The main building, constructed in 1931 as a regimental headquarters for summer field training with the Minnesota National Guard, was remodeled and expanded in 1986-87 for use by the museum.* It still houses most of the museum’s exhibits, the administrative office, and the museum gift shop. Over the years, several adjacent buildings were also rehabbed to provide space for artifact storage, workshops, offices, library, archives, a classroom, and vehicle exhibits. The entire museum “complex” now covers two acres and includes several buildings. Outdoor exhibits of vehicles, tanks, aircraft, and artillery pieces are placed throughout the museum grounds.

The museum continues to be operated as a non-profit educational organization chartered to preserve and interpret Minnesota’s military history. It is federally recognized as a charitable 501(c)(3) corporation. The board appoints an Executive Director who oversees operations for the museum. The museum also employs an Administrator who provides administrative support, a Curator responsible for exhibits, collections, and history-related programming, an Archivist responsible for an extensive archival collection, and a Librarian responsible for the 15,000 volume library. The museum is certified by the U.S. Army Center of Military History and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, although its mission encompasses all branches of military service. The museum continues to work closely with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs and  the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs, which provides the facilities used at Camp Ripley.

The Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum

The Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum, is a non-profit educational organization chartered in 1976 to preserve and explain Minnesota's military history.  It is recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum is governed by a Board of Directors, and operates the museum in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs, and the U.S. Army Center of Military History.  The Board appoints the Executive Director and the Curator.