Trent Opstedahl

 Artifacts and manuscripts aside, the Beltrami County Historical Society has seen quite a bit of history in its 61 years of operation.

 

 Since its opening at the James J. Hill railroad depot in 2001, the county history center has housed five main exhibits that have brought the past into the present for its visitors to enjoy and learn from.

 

 The museum’s newest exhibit, “Trails Through Time,” — which opened Wednesday — is expected to continue the trend of resurrecting the past, according to exhibit project manager Nicole Foss.

 

 “We (the historical society) kept hearing people wanted a deeper look into the county’s history,” she said.

 

 With a $30,000 grant from the George W. Neilson Foundation and additional funding from the city, county, membership and admission fees, the history center has spent the past six months working to bring the Beltrami county population that “deeper look,” said Foss.

 

 The “Trails Through Time” exhibit features a variety of displays that cover Beltrami county history from the time the glaciers receded to the mid-20th century.

 

 With many of the pieces featured in the display donated or on loan from area citizens, Foss said the new exhibit is one of the first the museum has had that the community can claim to be their own.

 

 “We wanted to have a permanent structure for the exhibit,” said Foss, who is stepping down from director of the history center after four years. “The community can donate to this and make it their own.”

 

 Differing from previous exhibits, “Trails Through Time” will have a prominent presence at the history center, according to Foss.

 

 Whereas past exhibits were staged for about a year and then replaced with a new exhibit, the new display will be housed for “several years,” said Dan Karalus, new director of the history center.

 

 “The exhibit was built in portions, so we can constantly change things up bit by bit,” said Karalus, who is writing his dissertation to receive his doctoral degree in history from Northern Arizona University. Karalus has a master’s degree in history from the University of Idaho.

 

 According to Karalus, each display was built so that they could easily be taken down and adjusted to accommodate incoming history objects without having to revamp the entire exhibit.

 

 Furthering their efforts to make the exhibit feel like the county’s, the history center commissioned Steve Sundahl, local artist and associate professor of technology, art and design at Bemidji State University, to design and construct the exhibit.

 

 “I just hope that the exhibit opens people’s eyes to all that’s happened here,” Sundahl said. “The Beltrami County we see today is so different now than what it used to be.”

 

 Growing up in the Bemidji area, Sundahl said he has seen a lot of change here in just the short time he’s been around, and that the exhibit can explain a lot about county’s origins.

 

 “This exhibit explains a good share of the history of the Native Americans here,” said Sundahl, an artist and designer for more than 30 years. “It does a much better job of representing them and their part of history than they are sometimes credited with.”

 

 Noting this same evenhandedness, Berry Babcock is responsible for writing portions of the text that appear on the displays within the exhibit.

 

 “This exhibit gets down to some of our most interesting bits of history,” said Babcok, of Laporte.

 

 Babcock, who is a citizen historian, has served on the Beltrami County Historical Society board for 10 months. He is credited with writing explanations for three separate displays in the exhibit.

 

 “Everybody on the board is thrilled with this exhibit,” he said.

 

 Wanting to bring a “fresher” look to the exhibit, Foss said the displays were not placed in chronological order, whereas old exhibits flowed in that style.