SLAYTON — The Murray County Historical Society was among more than 40 organizations across Minnesota that were awarded state Legacy grant funds. The Minnesota Historical Society announced last week that the Murray County group received about $14,000 to help with developing a storage plan for their museum collections.

The Minnesota Historical Society said it is awarding a total of $610,846 in Historical and Cultural Heritage Small Grants, to a total of 42 projects in 23 counties around the state. The small grants, of $20,000 or less, are awarded quarterly to groups like nonprofits, educational organizations, government units and federally recognized Tribes. The grants are administered through a competitive process, the Minnesota Historical Society said.

A few of the projects receiving small grants were by groups in southwest and western Minnesota. The Minnesota Historical Society said the Murray County Historical Society was awarded $14,040 to hire a consultant to develop a collections storage plan. The plan would help the Murray County Museum best use its collections storage areas, and make items more accessible.

Two of the projects that received grants were from Lac qui Parle County. The city of Madison was awarded a $17,500 grant to make a conditions assessment of the Madison Carnegie Library. Madison’s library building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Lac qui Parle County Historical Society was also awarded $11,640 to develop a plan to digitize a large collection of historic photo negatives, which would allow the public more access to them.

In Worthington, the Nobles County Historical Society was awarded $6,667 for storage materials for a collection of bound newspapers, the Minnesota Historical Society said.