I realize now that I have more in common with Jesse James than I thought I ever would; I’ve worked closely with my brother, traveled extensively through the American South, own a six-shooter, and came to Northfield, Minnesota to see the First National Bank. Having said that, I should probably point out that, unlike Jesse, I am from Michigan, have worked honest jobs with my brother, and did NOT come here to rob First National Bank. In fact the First National Bank I came for, isn’t even a bank anymore, but the home of the Northfield Historical Society. My name is Travis Farrington and I’m the new Collections Manager and Museum Operations Assistant for NHS.

On the day of my job interview, I realized that I have something else in common with the people of Northfield who defeated the James-Younger Gang; calm under pressure. In what turned out to be one of many bizarre occurrences on my journey to Northfield, I happened to walk into my interview at the same time that a small plumbing fixture on the second floor of the building was gushing water. After waiting in the gift shop for a few minutes, Cathy appeared and explained that water was pouring down the walls into the vault, and then into collections storage. I followed her to see what was going on and after seeing what it meant for collections storage, I knew we had to save the objects and get them to a place to dry. A few hours later we had done all we could by evacuating anything that was wet or in danger of becoming wet and we sat down for the interview. Did I mention that I had not been in the building before that day? As you may have guessed, I was offered the position and am now the Collections Manager for the society!

My wife and two little girls have been in Northfield for a little over a week now and could not be happier. Even with these strange times surrounding the virus outbreak, I’m excited to help preserve and present the incredible history of Northfield and its citizens. I look forward to working with Cathy, our board of directors, and our donors who have already shown how amazing they are in their support of the museum through these troubled times. I hope to see everyone in the museum soon because big things are coming at Northfield Historical Society and I’m thrilled to be a part of it!