The Northfield Historical Society is pleased to announce that it will receive a large collection of artifacts related to the history of the Malt-O-Meal Company (MOM). The donation is being made by the Campbell Family, former shareholders of MOM Brands, following the sale of MOM Brands to Post Holdings, Inc earlier this year.
The collection includes promotional materials, advertising items, and personal scrapbooks kept by company employees and John Campbell, its founder. NHS Executive Director Hayes Scriven noted, “If you were to keep a history of a company, this is what you would keep. The family and the employees did a thorough job documenting and preserving their history. They definitely cared about their past.”
Long-term support
The collection was too large for the society to acquire as easily as most donations, so we gave the family a proposal to sort, inventory, and catalog the collection properly,” explains Scriven. “After numerous conversations on how the collection would be cared for and displayed we came to an agreement that included an endowment for care of the collection.”
As part of the agreement, NHS will create a series of small displays of the collection in a renovated gallery space on the society’s main museum level 
dedicated to showcasing MOM and Northfield history. A year-long exhibit plus various programs will appear during the company’s centennial year in 2019.
The initial display of the Malt-O-Meal Collection will appear in the first half of 2016, with new displays being unveiled annually. Because of the collection and the renovations happening at NHS to house the collection, the research facility at NHS will be closed until the construction is completed in summer 2016.
“We are extremely honored that the family of John Campbell has entrusted NHS to care for the company’s history,” says Scriven. “Malt-O-Meal has been a big part of our city’s identity and we are excited to share its history with a wider audience.”
