Bøger udgivet af Minnesota Historical Society Press

This pioneering work focuses on excavations and discoveries at Little Rapids, a 19th-century Eastern Dakota planting village near present-day Minneapolis.

"At 7:00 a.m. on December 9, 1937, St. Paul firefighters battling an arsonist's fire in the abandoned Aberdeen Hotel discovered the badly burned body of a woman. The victim was soon identified as 31-year-old Ruth Munson, a waitress at the Union Depot--a "small-town girl" who had moved to the big city in search of a new life. Using original police records, Ruth's own diary and letters, newspaper accounts, public documents, and other primary sources, author Roger Barr meticulously retraces the investigation, as detectives examined Ruth's background, work history, relationships, and social life in search of clues to her killer. As they looked into her sexual relationships, the detectives uncovered hints of Ruth's secret, double life, which included legal but culturally taboo connections with Black men. Despite years of searching, police never caught the murderer. Their work was met with mistrust, silence, and denial among both white and Black people. Barr provides a careful examination of the missed opportunities, secrets, and racism that hampered the investigation" -- Publisher.

The Great Spirit challenges all the birds to a contest, and the gift of birdsong is born! This traditional story, told in both English and Ojibwe, explains bird behavior and where humans should go to hear the prettiest of birdsongs. When Mother Earth was very young and the Great Spirit had created all the beings, he noticed how quiet everything was. As he walked about the earth, listening to the sounds of the animals and the wind and the waters, some birds flying by caught his eye. He knew immediately what he needed to do. The Great Spirit held a contest so that each bird could earn the song that was just right for its species. He called together all the birds, from the smallest sparrow to the largest hawk, and told them the plan. Each would fly as high in the sky as it could, and when it returned to Mother Earth it would receive its song.>Eagle was certain his strong wings would help him fly highest of all and earn the prettiest song. But he did not know that, while the Great Spirit was talking, the tiny hermit thrush had snuggled into eagle's feathers to take a nap.> All the birds flew and flew, higher and higher, each descending when it was time to return--and each receiving its own special song. But which bird flew the highest? Which one received the prettiest song?> This treasured story, handed down through author Travis Zimmerman's family, features traditional knowledge from the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Grand Portage descendant Sam Zimmerman's vibrant illustrations showcase his stylized artistry and deep appreciation for feathered creatures. Marcus Ammesmaki's retelling in Ojibwemowin brings the story full circle, encouraging language learners to explore this age-old depiction of our natural world--and inviting all readers to cherish the gift of birdsong.

Black actress and activist Hilda Simms was a rising star on the stage and screen in post-WWII America until accusations of un-Americanism and communist sympathies derailed her career. Hilda Simms emerged as an actress at a time when segregation was deeply entrenched in Hollywood and on Broadway. Black performers were mostly relegated to bit parts, stereotyped characters, or comic-relief roles--if they were hired at all. After joining Harlem's American Negro Theatre in 1943, Simms became immersed in a vibrant community of African American performers, writers, and other artists. Over the next two decades, she helped to chart a path for Black actors who wanted to be considered serious dramatists and tell stories that spoke to the true experience of African Americans. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Simms attended Hampton Institute (now University) in Virginia before moving to New York City in her mid-twenties. She learned the ins and outs of the theater and dramatic acting from the all-Black theater group that produced such stars as Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. The ethos of the American Negro Theatre was to stage plays that foregrounded the everyday lives of Black people and portrayed with honesty the complexities of being Black in America.>Simms's big break came in 1943 when she landed the title role in the American Negro Theatre's adaptation of Philip Yordan's Anna Lucasta. The theater group took Yordan's story of a young woman from a middle-class Polish-American family and centered it around an African American family. It was a groundbreaking example of an all-Black cast performing a drama that did not center on issues of race. The play's popularity led to a move to Broadway, where it ran for two years to great acclaim, and performances in Chicago and London.>Simms went on to work in television and film, but despite the success, she struggled to land roles in which she could be taken seriously as a dramatic actress. She spoke increasingly openly about civil rights, and when she made sympathetic comments about the anti-racist policies of the Soviet Union, she gained the attention of the US Department of Justice. Her passport was revoked, forcing her to cancel plans to perform for American troops stationed in Europe. Effectively blacklisted from Hollywood, it marked the beginning of the end for her promising acting career.>Simms was an outspoken Black dramatic actress at a time when Black women--like Dorothy Dandridge, Fredi Washington, and Lena Horne--were beginning to break down barriers in Hollywood. Her rise to stardom was also concurrent with the emergence of Black actor-activists--as well as athletes and authors--who used their platforms to bring awareness to the injustice, violence, and denial of basic human rights that plagued Black Americans. She was at the forefront of the movement with the likes of Paul Robeson, Sidney Poitier, Ossie Davis, Alice Childress, and Ruby Dee, to name just a few.>Red Stained: The Life of Hilda Simms, the first full biography of her life and career, weaves primary research with a narrative style to tell the true story of Hilda Simms in the context of a nation gripped in the Cold War and a burgeoning civil rights movement. It is an examination of Simms's rise to fame, her drive to be a respected dramatic actress, and her efforts to create equal opportunities for people of color on stage, on the screen, and behind the camera.

"Paddlers and hikers planning an excursion into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park--that storied region along the Minnesota-Ontario border made up of rock, water, and pine--usually conjure visions of sunny days, pleasant breezes, and starry nights. Though every guidebook advises being prepared, most adventurers escaping to these remote areas assume that all will be well. But even those who are thoroughly prepared--who wear their life jacket and scrupulously map their route and scan the skies for impending weather--may still encounter the unexpected. And in those cases, being ready for anything can mean the difference between a memorable trip and a life-changing, or life-ending, event. In Last Entry Point, experienced paddler and longtime regional journalist Joe Friedrichs gathers tales that involve tragedy or near-misses, interviewing people who confronted danger and walked away, as well as those whose loved ones died in the wilderness. He talks with search and rescue teams to learn what goes into finding those who go missing or who experience a medical emergency miles from help. In his explorations he considers what it means to step into the wilderness, to calmly troubleshoot problems as they present themselves, to survive a rapids or extreme weather when others in your party do not, and to be left behind when an adventurer in your life does not return home. These narratives of tragedies and hazards may seem calculated to warn BWCA enthusiasts away from their dreams, but in fact they are meant to encourage all paddlers and hikers to think through what could happen, and to be prepared for all contingencies so that, ideally, they return with their own tales that are memorable for only the best of reasons." --

"In Oskar's Voyage, the boat loads iron ore (and Oskar!) in Duluth, Minnesota. It crosses Lake Superior and Lake Huron. From Lake Erie, the boat unloads in Ohio, its ore bound for a steel mill. Then the boat sails back to Duluth to pick up more cargo."--Flyleaf.

A richly detailed, clearly written history that reveals both the changes the Ojibwa chose to make and the continuity within the culture they retained. It is a turbulent story of the tensions that shaped their integration of tradition and adaptation.

"Few questions in American history," writes Theodore C. Blegen, "have stirred so much curiosity or provoked such extended discussions as that of the authenticity of the runic inscription on a stone found near Kensington, Minnesota, in 1898."Swedish-American farmer Olof Ohman discovered the stone clasped in the roots of an aspen tree on a knoll above the surrounding swamp. His young son was the first to notice the strange letters chiseled into the rock face. Since then historians, geologists and runic scholars have entered the debate over the age and meaning of these carvings. Are they genuine 14th-century runes, evidence of a pre-Columbian Viking expedition to North America, or are they a clever 19th-century hoax? In this classic volume, Blegen untangles the circumstances surrounding the unearthing of the Kensington Rune Stone. Marshalling letters, affidavits, newspaper accounts and investigative reports, he lays out in authoritative detail the early history of this controversial artifact and investigates the background and character of Olof Ohman and other men involved in its discovery. He also describes the first cycles of investigation and dispute and devotes a chapter to the role of Hjalmar R. Holand, who acquired the stone in 1907 and was its chief defender until his death in 1963. Fourteen appendixes offer useful primary source materials and supply English translations where needed.This lucid text, together with its footnotes and appendixes, remains a cornerstone for further investigation and discussion.

In this riveting study, historian Merrill Jarchow explores the lives and practices of early farmers in Minnesota, offering a colorful illustration of Minnesota's evolution as an agricultural state. Issues with public lands and their sometimes curious disposal, experiments by ingenious farmers, harvests and markets, transportation, elevators and milling, political struggles, malpractices and legal reforms, buildings and agricultural fairs, advancing mechanization, and the growing understanding of farming emerge from details of farmers' home and living conditions and their social interactions. The tremendous human effort involved in adapting to the distinctive Minnesota farming environment is revealed in this comprehensive account of farmers' struggles, ordeals, and achievements. Separate chapters investigate dairying, mechanization, and bizarre agricultural experiments, and photographs, notes, and an index complete the important volume.

Minnesota's First Poorhouses County Poor Farms The Home for the Friendless Women of the Churches The State Expands Its Role Improving County Poor Farms Ethnic Groups Provide for Their Aged The Poorhouse under Scrutiny Red Ink and Midnight Oil The Questing Twenties From Great Depression to Social Security Standards and Shortages during World War 11 Regulations and Ration Books Progress in the Fifties Changes and Challenges Illustrations Reference Notes Index

Considered the most authoritative history of the state, the four volume set was first published in the 1920s.Volume 1: Carries the story to 1858.Volume 2: Includes detailed accounts of Minnesota's role in the Civil War and the Dakota War of 1862.Volume 3: 1865 through World War I to the mid-1920s.Volume 4: Special topics on iron mining, public education, Ojibway election procedures, a dozen outstanding Minnesotans and a consolidated index for volumes 1 through 4.

A definitive survey of Minnesota's vibrant printmaking scene in the first half of the twentieth century that features almost two hundred artists.

From frozen wastelands to visionary explorers, from frosty desserts to shimmering castles--cultural historian Karal Ann Marling weaves together fantastic and fascinating topics related to "hard, cold water."

MPR and TPT personality Cathy Wurzer provides a new introduction to this classic guide to the Arrowhead country.

A definitive exploration of Minnesota's changing environmental and human landscapes and how they have grown and developed over time.

A stunning collection of conservationist and explorer Oberholtzer's photographs and journal entries from his famous paddle to Hudson Bay.

Vital and colorful, witty and entertaining, full of the youth and vigor and optimism of the frontier, the weekly issues of St. Paul's Minnesota Pioneer from the spring of 1849 to the summer of 1852 reflect the robust personality of James M. Goodhue (1810-1852) and through him the world of the American frontier.Like most nineteenth-century newspapermen, Goodhue was part of an outspoken political and business community, and he cared little about hiding his opinions. He was the booster, praising his beloved Minnesota in extravagant metaphor; the politician, scourging his enemies with fury; the reformer, storming against evils of the day; the moralist, lecturing his readers on their ethics and manners; the city and state planner, offering practical ideas for the improvement of his city and territory; the prophet, envisioning the Minnesota of the next century; and the reporter, recording the life of the new territory. Goodhue's "piquant" personality was suited to the stormy early days of Minnesota.Woven throughout his life story are entertaining selections from Goodhue's writings in the Pioneer, the progenitor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Twenty drawings by druggist Robert O. Sweeny, who sketched Minnesota scenes in pen and ink on the backs of prescription blanks, show the Minnesota that Goodhue knew and helped shape in its first years.

History professor William Green unearths the untold stories of African Americans and contrasts their experiences with those of Indians, mixed bloods, and Irish Catholics.

In 1930 Fargo was a winner in a region where winning came hard. As the commercial center for the vast, sparsely settled Northern Plains, it grew even during the Depression, attracting hopeful entrepreneurs off the farm. In "Going It Alone," historian David B. Danbom shows how the city struggled to survive problems it could not solve by itself. A critical complement to Depression histories focused on federal policies and programs, this study demonstrates how Washington's initiatives for relief played out in a community of people born into a steadfast culture of self-sufficiency and independence.

Through hundreds of photographs and entertaining commentary, veteran author Dave Kenney offers a virtual tour through 150 years of events and movements that shaped the culture and landscape of the Twin Cities. The first complete history of Minneapolis and St. Paul published in two decades, "Twin Cities Album: A Visual History spans their ramshackle beginnings as cross-river rivals to their thriving metropolitan partnership today. Early photographs show ghosts of nineteenth-century city life--shopkeepers loading oxcarts on downtown streets, St. Paulites riding the first streetcars. Fascinating images of automobiles and airplanes reflect the technological boom of the first decades of the 1900s. Photos of former GIs with their young families reveal a changed Minnesota after World War II. Images of the early local television programs give way to those of dramatic protests at the University of Minnesota during the 1960s. Photographs of a new Guthrie Theater and the christening of the first skyway in Minneapolis reveal the evolving face of the cities in the 1980s and 1990s. Labor strikes and block parties, Kent Hrbek and Garrison Keillor, Native American sit-ins, lost architectural gems, new immigrants, the demolition of Rondo, riverfront flour mills, shows at First Avenue: these soaring images together comprise a collective portrait of the neighborhoods we call home.

A handsome and critical addition to the library of every historian, genealogist, and Civil War buff, this rare two-volume set is the official record of Minnesota's participation in the Civil and Dakota Wars. Published in two parts in the 1890s and written by the men who fought in battle, "Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars contains regimental rosters (names lists with ages, muster dates, transfers, and remarks) as well as detailed narratives describing the wartime service of each regiment, battery, battalion, and brigade--their marches, campaigns, battles, surrenders, wounded lists, furloughs, reenlistments, and return to Minnesota. Letters, telegrams, and descriptions related to the development of the Dakota War, including dispatches written from the field, offer a personal face to this wartime history. Included for the first time is a 144-page index to all the regimental rosters, making this an invaluable research tool. Together, these volumes are the essential reference for Minnesota's troops and their campaigns.

Between 1862 and 1867, eight wagon trains carrying at least 1,400 people set out from Minnesota for the gold fields of Montana. These carefully edited letters and diaries trace their progress, revealing their day-to-day experiences, their success-or lack of it-in finding gold, and their lives in bustling mining settlements. "Private dreams of quick fortunes in El Dorado and public dreams of commercial empire and national greatness" moved the emigrants, writes Helen McCann White in her introduction, which places the three-month expeditions in their broader historical context and interprets their significance for the development of Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Montana. An appendix identifies more than 850 members of the trains.

This thought-provoking study of the Progressive movement traces its rise and decline in Minnesota, its link with the Granger, Farmers Alliance, Populist, and Nonpartisan League traditions, and the tragic divisions created by World War I-especially the loyalty issue.Progressivism focused the nation's attention on attempts to reform its political and economic systems. Against this backdrop of national and internationsl events, historian Carl H. Chrislock records the rise and decline of the movement in Minnesota, where Progressivism had many links with earlier Granger, Farmers Alliance, and Populist traditions. Clearly written and thought provoking, this book also tells the stories of the Bull Moose campaign of 1912, strikes on the Mesabi Range, and the painful divisions of loyalty before and during World War I.

Between 1816 and 1823 Stephen Harriman Long headed five expeditions that traveled 26,000 miles from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains and from the headwaters of the Canadian River in New Mexico to Lake Winnipeg in Canada. This book deals with two of his northern journeys-the only two for which the explorer's personal journals are known to have survived. The 1817 journal describes Long's trip up the Mississippi River to the Falls of St. Anthony at present-day Minneapolis and back down the river to Fort Belle Fontaine on the Missouri. The 1823 journal covers Long's last major exploration, from Philadelphia west across present-day Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and back along fur trade routes in Manitoba and Ontario, through the Great Lakes and newly opened parts of the Erie Canal.The journals reveal the writer's classical education and scientific knowledge. They also reflect the man himself-efficient, logical, concise, meticulous, persevering-a man cheerful in the face of physical discomfort but intolerant of incompetence or irresponsibility on the part of his men.

With humor and insight, E. W. Davis tells the story that begins with the discovery of then-valueless taconite on Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range in 1870 and several decades of attempts to process taconite commercially. Davis details the ups and downs of the exciting, decades-long research effort that resulted in a workable extraction method, followed by frustrating attempts to form the concentrate into small pellets. Finally, Davis describes building the first successful commercial processing plant at Silver Bay in the 1950s and the contributions by various companies to the birth of the industry. Along the way insider Davis recounts the founding of the three new northern Minnesota taconite towns, Babbitt, Silver Bay, and Hoyt Lakes.