Manuscripts Collection
L. A. (Laurence Alonzo) Rossman was born in Minneapolis on June 11,
1890 and grew up in Chatfield (Minn.). He graduated from Chatfield High School
in 1909 and from Carleton College (Northfield, Minn.) in 1914. He married
Elizabeth Aiton on February 21, 1916. Rossman published the
Rossman was interested and active in business and civic affairs, and was a tireless booster and promoter. A prolific writer, he authored, published, and distributed a host of pamphlets and essays setting forth his views on the development of highway transportation, conservation, forestry, papermaking, iron mining, and other issues that interested him. He was particularly enthused about the development and promotion of the inter-city motor bus industry.
Rossman's involvements were many and varied. He was an officer of the Minnesota Historical Society, a member of the Carleton College board of trustees, chairman of Governor Luther Youngdahl's Economic Development Council, a director and member of the executive committee of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, chairman of the Minnesota Highway Users Conference, a member of the Executive Committee of the Association for Amendment No. 5 (concerned with highway financing), chairman of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Mining Industry Committee, a Blandin Foundation
trustee, a director of the Ten Thousand Lakes Association, and a member of the National Association of Motor Bus Operators' Committee on Research and Planning. He was also associated for many years with the Greyhound Corporation as a consultant. These undertakings are documented in varying degrees in the collection.
The Rossman Papers consist almost entirely of bound,
chronologically-arranged documents organized by subject. They include
correspondence; published pamphlets (often referred to as "memorandums"),
typewritten essays, and speech texts; miscellaneous reports; newspaper and
magazine clippings; financial statements and data; agendas and minutes of
meetings; inter-city bus schedules (timetables); a few photographs; and various
other items. The collection focuses on Rossman's involvement in business and
civic organizations and activities, and his promotion of a variety of causes in
which he was interested. It does not document the publishing or operations of
the
There is biographical information about Rossman, including a copy of
the centennial edition of the
A variety of print materials by Rossman are in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection.
Greyhound Corporation annual reports are in the Minnesota Historical Society serials collection.
The
Copies of the Blandin Correspondence are also located at the Blandin Foundation and at the Itasca County Historical Society.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should
Accession numbers: 15,171; 15,457; 15,588.
Processed by: David B. Peterson, January 1997, September 1999.
Catalog ID number: 09-00042302
Includes a copy of the
Rossman correspondence with the president of Blandin Paper Company concerning the newsprint industry and other matters.
Relates to Blandin Paper Company and to the founding of the Charles K. Blandin Foundation.
Include minutes of the trustees and executive committee, as well as correspondence with president Laurence M. Gould and other college officials concerning fund raising activities and other matters.
Include minutes of executive committee meetings and correspondence with the organization's officials, bankers and savings and loan officials, and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (Washington, D.C.).
Includes compliments on Rossman's pamphlets and Herald-Review editorials, discussions about politics and legislation, newspaper publishing, the newsprint industry, highway transportation and finance issues, agriculture, mining and iron ore, conservation, taxes, inter-city bus transportation, education, fishing, deer hunting, the retirements of friends and associates, and the progress of the Rossman children at Carleton College. There are also letters concerning the struggling Arrowhead Canning Company (Grand Rapids, Minn.), Rossman's purchase of shirts from the Marshall Field & Company department store (Chicago), and the need for a sewage treatment plant at Grand Rapids. Correspondents include business executives; Carleton College president Gould; president J. L. Morrill and other University of Minnesota officials; elected officials, including United States senators Edward J. Thye and Hubert H. Humphrey, and Minnesota governors Luther W. Youngdahl, C. Elmer Anderson, and Orville L. Freeman; state agencies; newspaper publishers; the National Editorial Association; and a variety of friends and associates. There is also correspondence (1948) between Rossman and his cousin, Jessie Gould Hannon, concerning two diaries of their grandfather, Charles Gould, that Rossman donated to the Minnesota Historical Society (See the public catalog for their location).
Photocopies of a column published in the Grand Rapids Herald Review newspaper. The columns contain the publisher's opinions and observations about people, places, events, and organizations in the Grand Rapids area. Includes a subject and date index.
Documents Rossman's many years as a consultant to the Greyhound Corporation, particularly his research, writing, speaking, and related activities with regard to such issues as government regulation of the bus industry, fuel tax apportionment, fares, public relations, and larger buses. A March 13, 1956 letter from Rossman to Greyhound official R. A. L. Bogan explains the circumstances of his association with the company. The letters also discuss legislation, license fees, highway finance, the trucking industry, and competition from railroads. Correspondents include Greyhound Corporation executives; officials of Northland Greyhound Lines and other affiliated companies; the National Association of Motor Bus Operators; the National Highway Users Conference; trucking companies; and the Minnesota Motor Transport Association.
Includes bus schedules of Minnesota Motor Bus Association member lines (1924-1926), of the Northland Transportation Company (1926-1929), and of Northland Greyhound Lines and Royal Rapid Lines (1929). Many of these are published under the title Travel by Bus, a publication of the Minnesota Motor Bus Association.
A University of Birmingham (England) faculty member who researched and wrote an article ("Tracing the Hound") published in Minnesota History magazine (Winter 1985) about the history of Greyhound Bus Lines and its corporate roots in Hibbing, Minnesota. Includes a few photographs of early and later buses.
Retired board chairman; Greyhound founder.
Includes a Rossman photograph of an early (1916) bus and a Greyhound Scenicruiser bus (ca.1950).
Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 5; concerned apportionment of state excise tax on motor vehicles among trunk highway sinking fund; cities, villages, and boroughs; and counties. Rossman supported the amendment.
Includes copies of Rossman's pamphlet which he sent to business executives throughout the United States, his cover letters, and thank-you letters from recipients.
Includes correspondence, booklets, speech outlines, news clippings, and other material documenting Rossman's efforts to promote more sympathetic public opinion of the iron mining industry. Much of the material centers on tax-related issues affecting the industry. There is also some discussion of labor issues, Minnesota politics, the leasing of state iron mining lands, and other matters. Most of the correspondence is with mining company officials.
Includes Rossman's pamphlet, The Minnesota Iron Mining Industry (1948).
Includes a Rossman speech entitled "A Century of Red Iron."
Rossman's writings and speeches on business and industry, economic development, and related topics.
Includes information about management issues, particularly the dismissal of the Society's director, Harold Dean Cater (1954).
"A Non-Profit Organization for the Development of Sports in Minnesota."
A collection of typewritten essays (mid- to late-1930s?) on the virtues of studying various academic subjects.
Typewritten manuscripts and printed pamphlets. Themes include motor buses, railroads, taxation of transportation, Greyhound Lines, motor trucks, and highways. Most were written by Rossman. Includes A Romance of Transportation [1937]. Some newspaper clippings are also included.