Purpose & history | Minnesota Veterinary Historical Museum

The Minnesota Veterinary Historical Museum was established in 1985 to collect artifacts related to veterinary medicine in Minnesota, educate Minnesotans about the heritage of the Minnesota veterinary profession, and to recognize the people responsible for its progress. The museum has extensive collections of photographs, manuscripts, press clippings, books, and instruments.

Museum Origins

Old anatomy building — In 1901, the University of Minnesota constructed a Veterinary Medicine Building for $25,000 (shown on the right, with chimneys). The Annex building on the left is an addition added in 1915. These buildings were razed in 1992 (Annex) and 2011 (Veterinary Medicine).

In August, 1985 the president of the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. Walter Mackey, discussed the possibility of a museum with the Chairman of the MVMA’s Memorial and Historical Committee, Dr. John Arnold. In September, Dr. Arnold and his committee discussed the idea with the MVMA, the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine, the Minnesota Veterinary Council, and the Minnesota Veterinary Alumni and Friends Society. From December 1985 to February 1986, organizational meetings were held and Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws were adopted. In 1987 the Internal Revenue Service registered the Museum as an IRS tax-exempt organization.

A more detailed essay on the beginnings of the museum was written by Prof. Carl Osborne in 2008 and can be read below:

Birth of Minnesota Veterinary Historical Museum
by C. A. Osborne, Museum President
October 2008

Museum Founders

Walter Mackey

As a prospective student, Dr. Walter J. Mackey was instrumental in founding the College of Veterinary Medicine in 1947. He graduated in 1951 as a member of the first class. He had a private practice for 13 years and then became director of the University's Research Animal Division, followed by a position teaching anatomy at the College. He finished his career as assistant veterinarian for the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, retiring in 1992. After retirement, he served as curator of the museum, and dedicated thousands of hours of work to it.

Dale Sorensen

Dale Sorensen was a native of western Wisconsin. He received his D.V.M. from Kansas State University in 1946 and his Ph.D. from the Univ. of Wisconsin in 1953. He joined the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine as an Assistant Professor in 1953 and became a Professor in 1959.

He described his field of specialization as “internal veterinary medicine with a particular interest in the infectious diseases of large animals,” and his research interests as leukemia of cattle, respiratory diseases of cattle, enteric diseases of the newborn, and diseases of the hemopoietic system. Sorensen was Acting Dean of the U of M College of Veterinary Medicine in 1972, and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Research from 1980 to 1987.

He was a wonderful storyteller. One part of his life that he described well involved his work with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in 1946‒7, when he crossed the Atlantic several times with shiploads of cattle and horses, overseeing their health, to repopulate European farms after World War II. Another involved his consultation on a case in Wisconsin, where he finally determined that undiagnosed cattle deaths on a particular farm were caused by a deranged worker who was killing the animals with surreptitious hammer blows to the head.

His CV lists 57 publications and five chapters in textbooks.