The Betsy-Tacy Society

The Betsy-Tacy Society Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from The Betsy-Tacy Society, Nonprofit Organization, 332 Center Street, Mankato, MN.

We raise awareness of Maud Hart Lovelace, celebrate her life and writing, and promote a legacy of friendship and community through sharing her stories and the real-life childhood homes of her beloved characters Betsy and Tacy.

Itโ€™s International Picnic Day! ๐ŸงบMake plans to bring a lunch to Lincoln Park (or the Betsy-Tacy bench!) and visit our Sho...
06/18/2026

Itโ€™s International Picnic Day! ๐Ÿงบ
Make plans to bring a lunch to Lincoln Park (or the Betsy-Tacy bench!) and visit our Shop (open Tuesdays and Thursdays 1-3) or tour the Houses (Saturdays 1-3:30โ€”or on a weekday if you make arrangements with us).
If you canโ€™t make it to Deep Valley, you can still keep it in your heart with the Betsy-Tacy cookbookโ€ฆ chapter 5 is Picnics! ๐Ÿ‘‡

https://shop.betsy-tacysociety.org/product/beyond-domestic-science-cookbook-/79

Check out this fun new resource on our website: a photo essay titled "We Walked to Little Syria!"https://betsy-tacysocie...
06/16/2026

Check out this fun new resource on our website: a photo essay titled "We Walked to Little Syria!"

https://betsy-tacysociety.org/resources

Follow along as three BTS Board members and the Executive Director (Michelle, Lani, Barb, and Jen) find their way to the area Maud so lovingly described in several books.

We had a blast โ€“ and we hope you enjoy reading about it!

A NOTE FROM JENI just sent the confirmations to everyone who's registered for this Sunday's discussion of ๐‘ฏ๐’†๐’‚๐’—๐’†๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐‘ฉ๐’†๐’•๐’”...
06/15/2026

A NOTE FROM JEN

I just sent the confirmations to everyone who's registered for this Sunday's discussion of ๐‘ฏ๐’†๐’‚๐’—๐’†๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐‘ฉ๐’†๐’•๐’”๐’š. It's going to be a fun one โ€“ among other things, we're playing a Lightning Round called Cab vs. Carney! I'm looking forward to it.

If you think you signed up but didn't hear from me, please check your spam and then, if needed, email me ([email protected]).

It's not too late to sign up! You can see and register for all our Zoom events here:

https://shop.betsy-tacysociety.org/shop/events/12

I also sent invoices to everyone whose BTS membership expires July 15. This (invoicing) is a new system we're using. I used to write a long, warm, chatty email, and this feels "colder" to me, but guess what? It's more effective! So โ€“ cold impersonal invoice it is! ๐Ÿ˜‚

I'm working on two publications right now: ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘บ๐’๐’„๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐‘น๐’๐’๐’Ž, which should go out to our YA members this week, and ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘จ๐’ˆ๐’๐’๐’š ๐‘ช๐’๐’๐’–๐’Ž๐’, which will go out next month. You won't want to miss a word! Please make sure your membership is up to date โ€“ and if you're not sure, just ask; I'm happy to look it up for you.

https://shop.betsy-tacysociety.org/shop/membership/2

Wishing you all a lovely week!

โŒโญ•๏ธ Jennifer D-K
BTS Exec. Director

06/14/2026
We LOVED learning about this annual Minneapolis event and thought our friends would enjoy it too! Many thanks to member ...
06/14/2026

We LOVED learning about this annual Minneapolis event and thought our friends would enjoy it too! Many thanks to member Janet A who brought it to our attention.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/06/06/thousands-celebrate-5th-giant-pencil-sharpening-on-lake-of-the-isles

Note: This is just on the other side of the block from where Betsy and Joe (not Maud and Delos) lived.

โœ๏ธโœ๏ธโœ๏ธ

On the first Saturday in June, a pencil party takes place at Lake of the Isles. Now in its fifth year, the event continues to grow.

Today's newsy bits:โ†—๏ธ Shirley Hou is starting a regional group of Betsy-Tacy fans in the Houston area called The Betsy-...
06/13/2026

Today's newsy bits:

โ†—๏ธ Shirley Hou is starting a regional group of Betsy-Tacy fans in the Houston area called The Betsy-Tacy Lone Stars, and we just emailed all the nearby folks in our database. Learn more about all our regional groups here:

https://tinyurl.com/4du6f2tt
. . and please reach out directly to the coordinator in your area if you'd like to learn more.

โ†—๏ธ There's still time to sign up for tomorrow's (Sunday, June 14) Writers Lounge, from 1 to 3 pm Central โ€“ a quiet cozy block of time to work on a project in the company of friends. We'd love to welcome you!

https://shop.betsy-tacysociety.org/product/drop-in-writers-lounge-june-sunday-afternoon-/1064?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=12

(We're using the same link all year for the Sunday afternoon sessions. If you already have it, no need to register โ€“ just come right on in!)

โ†—๏ธ It's the last day of our 25% off doll sale on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BetsyTacySociety?ref=shop_sugg_market

Beautiful dolls, great prices. Happy shopping!

๐ŸŒž Wishing you all a perfectly grand Saturday!

๐ƒ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ? The second Friday in June is National Movie Night!From The National Day Calendar: "Movies have been bringi...
06/12/2026

๐ƒ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ? The second Friday in June is National Movie Night!

From The National Day Calendar: "Movies have been bringing people together for over 100 years. The movie stars and the stories entertain us, connecting us while we create memories."

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ด๐’‚๐’‹๐’†๐’”๐’•๐’Š๐’„ ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’“๐’†, ๐’๐’๐’˜ . . . ๐’‚๐’„๐’„๐’๐’“๐’…๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’ . . ๐’‚ ๐‘ฏ๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰ ๐‘ช๐’๐’‚๐’”๐’” ๐‘ท๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’† ๐’๐’‡ ๐‘จ๐’Ž๐’–๐’”๐’†๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’• ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ผ๐’‘-๐’•๐’-๐’…๐’‚๐’•๐’† ๐‘ด๐’๐’—๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐‘ท๐’Š๐’„๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’† ๐‘ฌ๐’๐’•๐’†๐’“๐’•๐’‚๐’Š๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’•, ๐‘ฌ๐’”๐’‘๐’†๐’„๐’Š๐’‚๐’๐’๐’š ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐‘ณ๐’‚๐’…๐’Š๐’†๐’” ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’“๐’†๐’ . . . ๐’‰๐’‚๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’†๐’ ๐’‹๐’–๐’”๐’• ๐’‚ ๐’”๐’‰๐’๐’“๐’• ๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’‡๐’๐’“๐’† ๐’‚๐’ ๐’๐’“๐’…๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’“๐’š ๐‘ญ๐’“๐’๐’๐’• ๐‘บ๐’•๐’“๐’†๐’†๐’• ๐‘บ๐’•๐’๐’“๐’†.
. . . ๐‘จ๐’‡๐’•๐’†๐’“ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’Š๐’ ๐’‘๐’Š๐’„๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’˜๐’‚๐’” ๐’‚๐’ ๐’Š๐’๐’๐’–๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’… ๐’”๐’๐’๐’ˆ. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’“๐’ ๐’˜๐’‰๐’ ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’š๐’†๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‘๐’Š๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’”๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ, ๐’‚๐’” ๐’„๐’๐’๐’๐’“๐’†๐’… ๐’”๐’๐’Š๐’…๐’†๐’” ๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’‚๐’”๐’‰๐’†๐’… ๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’„๐’“๐’†๐’†๐’.

โ€” from โ„๐•–๐•’๐•ง๐•–๐•Ÿ ๐•ฅ๐•  ๐”น๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ค๐•ช

Those "colored slides" were known as Magic Lantern Slide Shows, which you can learn more about here:

https://www.magiclanternsociety.org/

Want to see what Betsy saw? Enjoy this YouTube video of our wonderful Maud Hixson and a Magic Lantern Slide Show from 1914:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80TMGG7PjE&list=RDb80TMGG7PjE&start_radio=1

Now, what is that gorgeously haunting song Maud is singing?

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’…๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’ "๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ณ๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐‘ณ๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐‘ป๐’“๐’‚๐’Š๐’" ๐’˜๐’‰๐’†๐’ ๐‘ฑ๐’๐’† ๐’…๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’†๐’… ๐‘ฉ๐’†๐’•๐’”๐’š ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‘๐’๐’“๐’„๐’‰, ๐’Š๐’๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’• ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’‚๐’“๐’Ž ๐‘ฑ๐’–๐’๐’† ๐’…๐’‚๐’“๐’Œ๐’๐’†๐’”๐’”, ๐’”๐’„๐’†๐’๐’•๐’†๐’… ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’‰๐’๐’๐’†๐’š๐’”๐’–๐’„๐’Œ๐’๐’†.

"๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’†'๐’” ๐’‚ ๐’๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐’๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’“๐’‚๐’Š๐’-๐’‚-๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ
๐‘ฐ๐’๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’๐’‡ ๐’Ž๐’š ๐’…๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’Ž๐’”. . . ."

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’‚๐’” ๐’Š๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’๐’‡ ๐’…๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’Ž๐’” ๐’๐’๐’˜, ๐‘ฉ๐’†๐’•๐’”๐’š ๐’•๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’•. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’–๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‘๐’‚๐’”๐’• ๐’”๐’†๐’†๐’Ž๐’†๐’… ๐’•๐’ ๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’• ๐’•๐’๐’ˆ๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“.
๐‘บ๐’‰๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’‡๐’†๐’†๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ฉ๐’Š๐’ˆ ๐‘ฏ๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’…๐’๐’˜๐’ ๐’‚๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ช๐’“๐’๐’˜๐’… ๐’…๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’†๐’… ๐’‚๐’• ๐‘ป๐’Š๐’ƒ'๐’” ๐’˜๐’†๐’…๐’…๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’Š๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’„๐’‰๐’๐’„๐’๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’†-๐’„๐’๐’๐’๐’“๐’†๐’… ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’”๐’†.

โ€” from ๐”น๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ค๐•ช'๐•ค ๐•Ž๐•–๐••๐••๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜

Maud sings this beautiful number on her marvelous CD ๐•ƒ๐•š๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•–๐•Ÿ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•—๐• ๐•ฃ ๐•๐• ๐•ฆ๐•ฃ ๐•Š๐• ๐•Ÿ๐•˜, available in our Shop:

https://shop.betsy-tacysociety.org/product/listening-for-your-song-cd-by-maud-hixson/31?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=4

So, what shall we watch tonight? It's been suggested that ๐•„๐•–๐•–๐•ฅ ๐•„๐•– ๐•š๐•Ÿ ๐•Š๐•ฅ. ๐•ƒ๐• ๐•ฆ๐•š๐•ค is the most Betsy-Tacy-like movie of all. Do you have a different nominee?

Happy National Movie Night!

Magic Lantern Slide Show from 1914 with recording from the CD "List...

06/11/2026

A question for the Sistren: Prompted by the recent discussion of how to pronounce Delos and Jabez, our new Sun editor is contemplating an article on Betsy-Tacy words that we mispronounced when we read them as children.

For example:

โ–ช๏ธED Jen said "berry-bond" for "beribboned" โ€“ and still has to look up the pronunciation of "triumvirate" before she uses it

โ–ช๏ธJennifer H of HarperCollins pronounced "victuals" phonetically instead of "vittles" (likely a common mistake! what a weird word)

โ–ช๏ธEditor Theresa thoroughly mangled "Episcopalian," saying "ep-uh-scopp-uh-lun"

How about you? Leave a comment or email Jen ([email protected]).

(Maud certainly increased our vocabularies, didn't she!)

A NOTE FROM JENA few fun things today:I just posted my latest "All Roads Lead to Betsy" video on YouTube โ€“ I hope you'll...
06/10/2026

A NOTE FROM JEN

A few fun things today:

I just posted my latest "All Roads Lead to Betsy" video on YouTube โ€“ I hope you'll check it out and subscribe to our channel. I was so excited to see that we now have more than 400 subscribers!

https://youtu.be/W07kiCZVSZw

Also, our 25% off sale on Etsy runs through June 13. If you've been contemplating a doll purchase, whether for yourself or someone else, this is an *excellent* price.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BetsyTacySociety?ref=shop_sugg_market

And finally: My co-host Rosa and I have pulled together a gorgeous plan for Part 2 of our ๐‘ฏ๐’†๐’‚๐’—๐’†๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐‘ฉ๐’†๐’•๐’”๐’š discussion โ€“ you won't want to miss it! And I'm *really* looking forward to this Sunday's Writers Lounge, during which I plan to finish ๐•‹๐•™๐•– ๐•Š๐• ๐•”๐•š๐•’๐• โ„๐• ๐• ๐•ž, our publication for YA members โ€“ which means that this is a grand time to renew or purchase a YA membership or even get a YA for Adults membership of your very own!

See (and register for) all Zoom events here:
https://shop.betsy-tacysociety.org/shop/events/12

Purchase or renew a membership here:
https://shop.betsy-tacysociety.org/shop/membership/2

Busy-busy in Betsy-Tacy Land! AND I LOVE IT.

โŒโญ•๏ธ Jennifer D-K
BTS Exec. Director

On Saturday, we're celebrating World Doll Day with a 25%-off sale of Madame Alexander dolls in our Etsy shop! The sale r...
06/04/2026

On Saturday, we're celebrating World Doll Day with a 25%-off sale of Madame Alexander dolls in our Etsy shop! The sale runs till June 13. Check out the beautiful dolls โ€“ Scarlett O'Hara! U.S. First Ladies! Marc Antony, Juliet, Little Lord Fauntleroy! (and several models clearly auditioning for the role of Flossie's Head ๐Ÿ˜…):

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BetsyTacySociety

This is a ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ price, and all proceeds benefit the Betsy-Tacy Society!

Dolls, of course, make us think of Margaret โ€“ and guess what? Today, June 4, is National Hug Your Cat Day! We know Margaret would approve. (If your kitty is not the hugging kind, a gentle pet or nose boop will do just as well ๐Ÿฉท ๐Ÿˆโ€โฌ›).

Learn more about the ๐ฌ๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก ๐›๐ž๐ง๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ of feline friendship here:

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/celebrations/national-hug-your-cat-day-june-4

Dolls! Kitties! Science! There's always something to celebrate in Betsy-Tacy Land. ๐Ÿ˜Š

Address

332 Center Street
Mankato, MN
56001

Telephone

+15073459777

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