In Wabasha, a collector puts his passion for all things eagles on full display
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In every corner of Minnesota, there are good stories waiting to be told of places that make our state great and people who in Walt Whitman’s words "contribute a verse" each day. MPR News sent longtime reporter Dan Gunderson on a mission to capture those stories as part of a new series called “Wander & Wonder: Exploring Minnesota’s unexpected places.”
Preston Cook believes you can’t have too many eagles.
Several times a week, items featuring eagle imagery are delivered to his Wabasha home. He’ll prop the latest object on his desk and enjoy it until a new arrival captures his interest.
“If it’s got an eagle on it, I buy it,” he said.
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What began nearly 60 years ago as a hobby for a 19-year-old Army draftee took wing as Cook, now 78, became a successful California real estate developer. With some 40,000 pieces in the multimillion-dollar collection, he started looking for a place where it could land.
After searching sites from Alaska to the Atlantic coast, Cook found what he was looking for in southeastern Minnesota. He donated the collection to the National Eagle Center on the shore of the Mississippi River in Wabasha — and then he moved to town.
Today, the Eagle Center gallery displays about 250 items from Cook’s collection ranging from military weapons to beer mugs and political memorabilia.
There’s a large plaster eagle from the 1941 inauguration of President Franklin Roosevelt. Cook spent years negotiating to buy the eagle and other related items. There’s a display of news stories about eagles carrying away babies, something Cook calls “fake news” that has persisted for decades despite there being no documented cases.
In the early years as a soldier and student he collected affordable postcards and stamps. He still has the buttons from his military uniform, stamped with an eagle. He continues to buy 1,000 to 2,000 items each year, growing the collection daily.
“I saw a movie in 1966 called A Thousand Clowns, and it had one line in it. ‘You can’t have too many eagles,’” Cook recalled. “And that inspired me. So I left the movie theater thinking, ‘I want to collect eagles.’”
He recently purchased a Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to Gen. Colin Powell.
Another recent acquisition: a faucet with a bronze eagle as a handle.
“I collect willy-nilly,” he said. “I see something that I don’t have, or I don’t think I have, or I see a better copy of it, a better image of it, in better condition and I’ll buy it.”
The eagles have landed
Cook developed a relationship with the staff at the National Eagle Center over nearly 20 years before deciding to donate his collection to the center in 2017.
In an archive building across the street from the center, fine art hangs on the walls alongside posters from the Grateful Dead and vintage tin signs. Stacks of boxes contain thousands of items waiting to be cataloged.
Cook finds people are sometimes puzzled by his passion for eagles, assuming he collects the real thing, which would not be legal. “I collect eagle imagery,” he said. “I collect the symbol of our country and how it’s used in all these different ways.”
This eagle imagery display is a change for the National Eagle Center, which opened 25 years ago with a focus on the ecology, biology and natural history of eagles.
Director of advancement and marketing communications Ed Hahn thinks the collection expands the reach of the National Eagle Center.
“That creates a dynamic experience. Hopefully when you come here you’re going to see new stuff and learn new stuff that you didn’t see before,” said Hahn. “Not only is it an excellent exploration of eagle imagery and iconography in our culture, but it’s actually a really interesting exploration of American culture.”
Cook has plans for dozens of displays built from his trove of eagle imagery.
He’s also on a mission to get national recognition for the bald eagle, which, surprisingly, has never been officially designated.
“I was looking for an entry of when the bald eagle became our national bird. I couldn’t find it,” said Cook, who like most Americans assumed the bald eagle was the national bird.
He proposed legislation that he hopes Congress will pass this year designating the eagle the national bird.
“It is a symbol of patriotism, it’s a symbol of power, independence, liberty,” he said. “It is our national symbol, and hopefully soon to be our national bird.”
Meanwhile, he’s busy buying items for the next big exhibit.
“2026 is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” said Cook. “It’s going to be a big celebration nationwide. We’re going to do a big exhibit in 2026, so I’m starting to work on that. So I get to keep buying, which is fun, because I love buying.”