Effigy Mounds National Monument Receives $3.5 Million for Visitor Center Exhibits and Film: Renovated Iowa Center to Open in Summer 2029
The National Park Foundation (NPF) has announced $3.5 million in philanthropic support for new exhibits and an educational film at the revitalized visitor center at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harpers Ferry, Iowa. The funding consists of a $3 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and a $500,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The renovated visitor center is expected to open in summer 2029.
Through the exhibits and film, the National Park Service (NPS), the local community and the 20 tribal nations affiliated with the monument will work together on a truthful account of the site's cultural heritage, alongside its spiritual, geological, archaeological and historic significance. The new 20-minute film, produced in high definition with open captions and audio description, will feature the voices of tribal representatives and support ongoing work to build relationships and further healing with tribal nations whose history and perspectives have too often been misrepresented or left out. Mike Reynolds, the foundation's Chief Program Officer, said the renovated visitor center will give people a welcoming, accessible place to begin their visit, with new exhibits and a new park film sharing the story of the park through the voices of affiliated Tribal Nations. Susan Snow, the monument's superintendent, said the new exhibits and educational materials will help the park share the monument's rich history and cultural significance, working with its affiliated tribal nations to enhance the visitor experience.
The rehabilitation of the visitor center building itself is funded by the Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund. It will improve the building's layout, accessibility and systems, and address moisture problems affecting the museum collection and indoor air quality. Federal Highway Administration funds are also supporting a parking lot improvement project. Walter Panzirer, a trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust, said Effigy Mounds is a place of profound cultural, historical and spiritual significance whose story deserves to be told with depth, honesty and respect. Lilly Endowment's grant was approved through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative.
Effigy Mounds National Monument, in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, preserves outstanding examples of mounds built by Indigenous peoples of the American Midwest. The 2,526-acre monument protects more than 200 prehistoric mounds, 31 of them effigies shaped like birds, bears, deer, bison, lynx, turtles and water spirits. Established in 1949, the monument is, for the 20 tribal nations affiliated with it, more than a site for archaeological and scientific study: the mounds are places of interconnected cultural and spiritual significance.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Effigy Mounds 国家纪念地的 Big Bear Mound（大熊丘）秋日实景。照片：Archbob / GoodFreePhotos，CC0（经 Wikimedia Commons） / The Big Bear Mound at Effigy Mounds National Monument in autumn. Photo: Archbob / GoodFreePhotos, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Direct: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Big_bear_mound_at_Effigy_Mounds_State_Park.jpg
