Celebrating 50 Years of The Bakken Museum

In 1975, Earl Bakken—an imaginative tinkerer turned visionary inventor—founded a museum that would grow into one of Minnesota’s most unique cultural treasures. Today, as The Bakken Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the institution reflects on a half-century of sparking curiosity, honoring history, and inspiring the next generation of innovators.

Bakken himself is the embodiment of innovation. Fascinated from childhood by the possibilities of electricity—an obsession first ignited when he watched Frankenstein on the big screen—he went on to co-found Medtronic and design the world’s first external, battery-powered pacemaker. Driven by his passion for merging science, technology, and imagination, he began collecting rare books, instruments, and artifacts that explored “electricity in life.” What started as a personal collection has since grown into a world-renowned museum, rooted on the scenic shores of Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis.

From Rare Collections to Public Inspiration

The early vision of The Bakken Museum was as an international research hub, attracting scholars from across the globe. But in 1998, a major expansion shifted the focus outward, opening its exhibits, programs, and gardens to the public. The museum became more than a library of rare books or a vault of instruments—it became a place where…