Starting in Fall 2026, Tanner Peters (‘27) leads a project to clean the Pioneer and Larsen Memorials under Destiny Crider, with help from college archivist Hayley Jackson.
Peters (’27) was tasked by Crider, Luther’s Fine Arts Collection Curator, as part of his work-study and academic discipline, to clean and study the Pioneer Memorial.
“The major plan with this project was – through a donor that gave us some funds – to clean the Pioneer Memorial with a specific product that eats away at the organic material without damaging the stone behind it,” said Peters.
The Pioneer Memorial, created in 1936, also includes the older Laur Larsen Memorial, completed in 1934. Both memorials recognize the founders of Luther College and include the names of students and faculty from Luther’s first academic year. The Laur Larsen Memorial, as the name suggests, is a dedication to Luther College’s first president. The more recent Pioneer Memorial commemorates the ‘founding fathers’ of Luther College, as Hayley Jackson put it.
“When they were building [the Pioneer Memorial], they were thinking of the pioneers of Luther,” said Jackson. “These were the people heavily involved in the creation and establishment of the college who helped support us in the early years and really laid the groundwork for Luther. Because, at that time Luther was still very tied to the Norwegian Lutheran Church, [the Memorial includes the founders] of that particular religious group as well.”
The memorial is located on campus near Koren and has been accumulating organic growth, particularly algae, over the years, obscuring the plaques and damaging the structure. The memorial is made of locally sourced materials, including limestone, which are vulnerable to weathering and other sorts of damage over time.
The organic growth is of particular concern to Luther’s collection curators.
“The green algae, the stuff that’s growing over the surface, when it grows and expands, it takes the rock with it,” said Crider. “The black [growth], not as much, but it is still a growth. But that green stuff, if you were to just spray it down and pull [the growth] off, it would take the surface of the rock with it.”
Limestone is incredibly porous, so organic growth can infiltrate deep into the structure, causing the rocks to break down. This poses a unique challenge for proper and thorough cleaning. To solve their problem, Crider reached out to an expert.
“I consulted with Stacey Gosling, who is part of the Winneshiek County Historical Society, and she does gravestone cleaning,” said Crider. “I consulted her about what kind of products can kill the algae growth without hurting anything.”
They settled on D/2, a biological solution that can be safely sprayed onto rock, where it will gradually kill any growth. D/2 is used by the U.S. Federal Parks Service for maintaining their monuments, and it isn’t harmful to the environment or human health.
Peters, Crider, and Jackson, alongside a group of students, applied D/2 to the Pioneer Memorial on Oct. 23. The D/2 is expected to gradually kill the algae over the months and eventually leave the memorial clean.
“We did two sprays of the solution, one in the morning and one in the afternoon,” Crider said. “We had mostly museum studies students participate and a few other volunteers, plus Haley and I. I’d say at least a dozen students came out that day.”
Crider discussed the outcomes of the spray treatment. “By the end of the day, there were these bright orange sections, and that meant the chemical was doing its thing,” she said. “Certain sections are going to look brighter because we attacked them with the scrubbing brushes, but [the D/2] is going to continue to kill the growth over the next several months. We have the plan to do one more round after winter to identify any problem areas and tackle [the growth] again.”
Crider and Peters are expecting the memorial to be clean by the coming spring, around April or May.
In the summer, they plan to present an exhibit on the Pioneer Memorial and its history for Nordic Fest. This task falls on Peters as part of his J-term, during which he will be committed to researching the history of the Pioneer Memorial.
“The big thing was to clean it, but also to do a little bit of history on the Pioneer Memorial,” said Peters. “Why was it there? Who built it? Who funded it to be there? [I wanted to] dig into a little bit about what’s hidden away under all the gunk and organic material.”
“The big plan was to then use what I discovered and build an exhibit located in the gallery in the Union to display the history of [the Pioneer Memorial], as well as any other relevant information that I might uncover when I get to the research process,” Peters said.
Jackson is aiding Peters’ research.
“Tanner’s going to come to the archives and actually do some research into our records, and gather history,” said Jackson. “[We want to know,] what was it like to actually fundraise? What were they talking to alumni about when they wanted to do it? How did we communicate with the builder and the sculptor? How was it celebrated? What was it marking? And so, we’re going to do some archival research and give the foundation background.”
Thus far, Peters, Jackson and Crider have determined that the Larsen Memorial was built for the late president’s 100th birthday. The Pioneer Memorial, which merged with the Larsen Memorial, was funded by the efforts of alumni for the 75th anniversary of Luther College.
“Alumni wanted to raise money for a big project, a big celebratory event. And so they raised money for the rest of this memorial that they combined with the Larsen Memorial and called it Pioneer Memorial,” said Crider. “It’s dedicated to the founding congregations, the pioneers who founded the college, people like Reverend Koren, Laur Larsen, H. Herman Preus; all of the people and all of the churches who either helped Luther financially or sent their students to come and study here.”
“It’s not meant to be a headstone or a tribute to people who have passed away tragically; it’s a celebration,” said Jackson. “And it’s really a nice place to picnic or just sit and enjoy the comings and goings.”
Crider, Peters and Jackson hope the exhibit and the newly cleaned memorial will draw in students to reconnect with the space and the piece of Luther history it represents.
“I think that the goal of cleaning the Pioneer Memorial and presenting it will inspire students across campus to know, ‘Wow, there’s an opportunity to be involved in this cleaning for the metal sculptures’,” Peters said.
“That’s my goal with this too, not only because it’s interesting to me and it’s something that helps build my understanding of the field, but it also allows for other students to see what possibilities lie with Luther College,” said Peters. “And that, maybe, will help inspire people to come out and do something to make things look nicer around campus.”