Ernest C. Oberholtzer Foundation

Ernest Oberholtzer lived on Mallard Island in Rainy Lake for most of his adult life. We now maintain that island home as a living legacy. There are many facets to that legacy: his advocacy for wilderness, his friendship and respect for the local Anishinaabe people, his island and its 1930s buildings, his book collection, his love of music and the arts, his fine photographs and more. Mallard Island welcomes program participants for the summer weeks. We preserve Mallard as a place of tranquility, beauty and community.

Each summer about 130-135 people come to Mallard either to work hard to maintain the place or to join a group with a particular theme or program emphasis: nature, the arts, music, Anishinaabe traditions, language or history, and projects that use the Oberholtzer archives or library.