The award winning exhibit, “Our South Dakota: Big Land\Big Ideas\Big Heart,” at the museum in the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre will be closing on Sunday, March 10.

“Our South Dakota,” recipient of the Award of Merit in 2012 from the American Association for State and Local History, will close at the end of business on March 10, following an 18-month run.

A new exhibit entitled “Furniture: The Fancy & The Functional” will open at the end of April.

“While we are always sorry to see an exhibit end, we are excited by the next exhibit and the new programming opportunities it brings,” commented Jay Smith, director of the Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society.

The planned closure of “Our South Dakota” is part of the museum’s exhibition plan that calls for more exhibits to be featured at the museum in the future.

“We learned a lot about our visitors and what they want to see in exhibits from ‘Our South Dakota’ and you will see new hands-on activities for all ages in the upcoming exhibit,” Smith said. “We will also feature some pieces from the museum’s permanent collection that have never been displayed before.”

Museum staff plans to use some of the more popular elements of the “Our South Dakota” exhibit in other areas of the Museum.

“We are in the process of working on various spaces of the museum,” said Smith, “but we anticipate taking some of the interactive items into the primary gallery and potentially to the Observation Gallery.”

New programs related to the new exhibit are being planned in the coming months, Smith added.

“We hope people take advantage of this opportunity to visit the museum in the Cultural Heritage Center to see ‘Our South Dakota’ before it closes,” said Jay D. Vogt, director of the South Dakota State Historical Society. “We are sure it will be an enjoyable experience for people of all ages.”

For more information, visit history.sd.gov or call (605) 773-3458.

The South Dakota State Historical Society is a division of the Department of Tourism. The Department of Tourism is comprised of Tourism, the South Dakota Arts Council, and the State Historical Society. The Department is led by Secretary James D. Hagen. The State Historical Society, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The center houses the society’s world-class museum, the archives, and the historic preservation, publishing and administrative/development offices. Call (605) 773-3458 or visit history.sd.gov for more information. The society also has an archaeology office in Rapid City; call (605) 394-1936 for more information.