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Film on Secret Life of Betty Crocker, A Mill Tour, Family Storytime, Featured at Mill City Museum in December

Film Screening: The Betty Mystique
Date: Thursday, Dec. 3
Time: 7 p.m.
Fee: Free

Mill City Museum welcomes author and filmmaker Susan Marks for an evening celebrating the life and times of Betty Crocker. Marks will screen her short film "The Betty Mystique," answer questions about Betty Crocker and sign copies of her books (including "Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America’s First Lady of Food" and the new "Historic Photos of Minnesota.")

Mill City Museum, located within the National Historic Landmark Washburn A Mill complex, is the birthplace of the company that created Betty Crocker in 1921. Susan Marks is a writer and documentary filmmaker. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history, as well as a master’s degree in liberal studies, with a focus on American studies, history, and film—from the University of Minnesota.

Washburn A Mill Tour
Date: Saturday, Dec. 5 and 19
Time: 1 p.m.
Fee: $12 adults, $10 seniors and college students, $8 children ages 6-17 and MHS members. Tour includes museum admission.
Reservations: Required, call 612-341-7555

Get an in-depth look at the historic Washburn A Mill complex and the award-winning Mill City Museum building. A museum interpreter will take visitors into the building's many nooks and crannies, highlighting the lives of the men and women who worked there, how the building functioned during its peak flour milling years and the many changes to the building over time. Also covered will be the challenges of preserving the 120-year-old, fire-damaged building; its art, architecture and interior design; and the St. Anthony Falls Historic District.

Some of the of the tour highlights include; evidence of all three major fires that have damaged the building, including the story of the 1878 Washburn A Mill explosion, the "Octopus," a large machine that directed wheat into nine storage bins, and the Humphrey Manlift, a vertical conveyor belt that carried workers between floors.

Although many parts of the A mill can be explored on a self-guided basis during a regular museum visit, this is the public’s only opportunity for a guided tour through the entire museum building, and the only chance to see some of its non-public nooks and crannies. The tour includes admission to the museum gallery as well as the Flour Tower show.

Family Story Time
Date: Saturday, Dec. 12
Time 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m.
Fee: Included with regular admission of $10 adults, $8 seniors and college students, $5 children ages 6-17.

Museum storytellers will share classic tales, teach songs and lead a simple book-making project for recording the steps wheat goes through from the field to the table. Families can also try grinding wheat into flour and taste freshly baked bread. This 30-minute program for preschoolers and their families will feature children's books such as "The Little Red Hen," "Bread is for Eating," "Cook-a-Doodle-Doo," "Bakers Dozen" and "Bread Comes to Life."

Built within the ruins of the Washburn A Mill, a National Historic Landmark, the award-winning Mill City Museum chronicles the flour milling industry that fueled the growth of Minneapolis. The story comes to life through the eight-story Flour Tower, Water Lab, Baking Lab and other hands-on exhibits.

The museum is located at 704 S. Second St. in Minneapolis. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 612-341-7555 or visit www.millcitymuseum.org.

The Society’s calendar of events is posted online at events.mnhs.org/calendar. The web site also has information about all of the Society’s programs, museums and historic sites. To request a free guide to museums and historic sites, call 1-800-657-3773.

The Minnesota Historical Society is a non-profit educational and cultural institution established in 1849 to preserve and share Minnesota history. The Society collects, preserves and tells the story of Minnesota’s past through museum exhibits, libraries and collections, historic sites, educational programs and book publishing.

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