Commemorative Works - Request for Proposal

Public Project on the Urban History of Commemoration in the Capitol Area

The Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board (CAAPB) requests proposals to plan and implement a project aimed at gaining knowledge of and promoting public education around the urban history of commemorative works on display at the Minnesota State Capitol Mall. The project includes a narrative report, tour program, analytical report and dataset, and public outreach component. 

The project takes the contingent creation of a formal commemorative works display on the lawn and the establishment of a formal “Capitol Area” with expansion of the Capitol grounds in the 1950s and 60s as an anchoring moment for expressions of the State’s cultural memory. Some statuary was installed on, or adjacent to, the Capitol building during the early 20th century. A formal monument display on the Capitol Mall, however, was a distinctly postwar phenomenon, which was connected to federally sponsored development initiatives, including interstate highway construction and urban development projects (“Urban Renewal”). Urban Renewal de-densified the Capitol’s front yard, making space for most of the commemorative works currently on view.    

The project, however, will not focus narrowly on the immediate postwar period. Instead, the project will place this history in a longer narrative of the Area’s development that reaches from geological time to the present. 

The project includes:

1. Narrative report written for a general audience: The narrative report should provide a discussion of: (1) environmental and social history of the current Capitol Area from geological time to early European settlement; (2) proto-urban renewal plans of the late 19th and early 20th century and their connection to St. Paul’s industrialization; (3) changes to the Area’s landscape and social fabric in the 1950s and 60s; and (4) the evolution of the Mall’s memorial landscape that periodizes the introduction of new monuments. 

2. Tour program: A series of scripted tours highlighting a selection of commemorative works and historically important sites featured in the narrative report. Tour design should accommodate guided, self-guided, in-person, and virtual modalities and may have a mapping component. Programming should aim to coordinate with tours of the Capitol building offered by the Minnesota Historical Society. One tour should be geared towards 6th grade students and align with Minnesota’s K-12 academic standards in social studies.

3. Analytical report and dataset: A study of existing commemorative works that establishes a common set of facts on every commemorative work installed in the Capitol Area, e.g., date of design, date of installation, materials, size of work, location, artist biography and influences, etc. 

4. Public outreach: A series of public events (e.g., workshops, talks, or outreach opportunities) geared towards continuing dialogue over past and future practices of commemoration in the Capitol Area.

The contract term is anticipated to last from April 2026 to June 30, 2027.  

Proposals must be received by 4:30 pm, Central Time, April 16, 2026.

Project Goals: 

Foster public awareness and promote education on the history of the Capitol Area, as a historic area, worthy of commemoration. 

Provide a comprehensive review of commemorative works at the State Capitol, which considers the memorial landscape from substantive, institutional, urban history, and design perspectives.  

Compile knowledge and offer suggestions on how future commemorative work practices on and off the Mall can be more sensitive to this history in both substance and design. 

Completion of the project will fulfill the CAAPB’s obligations for commemorative works outlined in Subpart 1 of the Standards for Commemorative Artwork (M. R. 2400.2703).

Resources:

Contact:

INQUIRIES REGARDING THE RFP: All requirements and information, as well as proposal delivery instructions are contained in the RFP. Please direct inquiries to: 

Jessie Hughes, Office Administrative Specialist
Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board (CAAPB)
jessie.hughes@state.mn.us 

Deadline for inquiries is March 30, 2026, at 4:30 pm, Central Time (CT).