News Flash

There were just two file drawers of information when she started in 1995, Beverly recalled. Beverly helped nurture, grow, and guide the community organization over the last three decades. She organized and digitized files, and she added to its collection. During that time, she served as archivist, secretary, newsletter editor, and treasurer. 

Beverly is stepping down from the Roseville Historical Society after 30 years to lean into other hobbies and spend more time with family and friends. She said it’s also time to pass the torch to a new generation of historians. 

Beverly, who grew up on a farm outside of Hinckley and studied at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, said she was hooked on history at an early age. 

“I also enjoyed history in high school and it’s what I studied in college.  I just always had a lot of interest in it,” she said. Beverly takes a keen interest in Civil War history, her Scottish lineage, and, of course, Roseville’s past. 

Beverly, her husband and three young sons moved to Roseville in 1962. She still lives in the same home today.

“We moved here because at that time Roseville was like moving out to the country,” she said with a chuckle. “We went to Hinckley a lot to see our families, so we wanted to be on the north side of the Cities.” 

She worked for the Roseville Area School District first in a clerical role and later in computers. In the early 1990s, Beverly was asked to help digitize the records from the Dale-Rice Cemetery in town. This project ignited her interest in local history. 

“They brought the information to me in brown grocery bags. Some were on index cards some were on burial certificates. Some were on pieces of paper. I did the best I could,” Beverly said. 

She frequently accompanied folks to the cemetery to help find the burial sites of their kin. Beverly brought that cemetery project, and her strong organizational skills, to the Roseville Historical Society in 1995.

People often think of history as telling big, important stories, but much of that storytelling is painstakingly pieced together with old photos, news clippings, personal recollections, artifacts, and documents. Beverly had a talent for gathering that information and creating systems at Roseville Historical Society to organize and easily access it.

She’s also rescued history from the trash bin. When Lillie Newspapers went out of business, she dispatched society members to the building headquarters to scoop up old volumes of Roseville newspapers. 

Beverly volunteered each week to staff the society’s office hours and small museum space in the lower level of City Hall. She answers questions and gives a quick synopsis of Roseville history to visitors:

Rose Township was organized by surveyor Isaac Rose. Rosetown was organized in 1858. By 1861, it had 500 people. It incorporated into the Village of Roseville in 1948 and changed to a city in 1974.

“I just love Isaac Rose, and we have a lot of information on him,” Beverly said. “I think he is just precious.” 

The society, founded in 1977, originally focused on the early founding and agricultural history of the community. It has now widened its focus to include the World War II-era and beyond when Roseville grew into a modern and bustling suburb. 

“The original group founders weren’t collecting items and information from the 1940s, ‘50s, or 60s because it just didn’t feel like history. We have really tried hard to add into those years,” Beverly said. “Even now, if something interesting is happening, it’s added to the files because tomorrow it’s history.” 

Thank you, Beverly for your time and talent, and your devotion to preserving our community’s history. 

Learn more about the Roseville Historical Society