Manuscripts Collection
Gretchen Quie, Minnesota's First Lady from 1979 through 1982, was born in Waverly, Iowa, on August 4, 1927, the daughter of Ella and Sam Hansen. Before moving to Minneapolis in 1937, the Hansens lived in Harmony and Benson, Minnesota, where Sam Hansen was a school superintendent. Gretchen graduated from Central High School in Minneapolis in 1945, where she was vice-president of the senior class and art editor of the school yearbook. Also during her high school years, Gretchen's art work won first prize in a statewide poster contest.
Gretchen attended St. Olaf College between 1945 and 1948, where she studied art, edited the yearbook and literary magazine, served as vice-president of the junior class, and became acquainted with Al Quie. Gretchen left St. Olaf a year short of graduation to marry Al Quie in June 1948 and became a farm wife. For ten years the Quies farmed the family farm in Rice County, near Dennison, Minnesota. Besides driving trucks and tractors, feeding animals, tending gardens, canning, and cooking, Gretchen was busy rearing the eldest four (Frederic, Jennifer, Daniel, and Joel) of her five children. During these years, Gretchen Quie was also involved in church and civic affairs as a Luther League advisor and president of the Dennison Study Club.
In February 1958, Al Quie was elected Minnesota's First District congressman in a special election to fill the term of August Andresen, who had died the previous month. After Al Quie was re-elected to his own term in November 1958, The Quies moved to Washington, D.C. While being a congressman's wife was a very different experience, some things did not change. Gretchen was active in the Lutheran Church, participated in several congressional wives clubs, and was able to pursue her art interests. She designed a six-panel folding screen depicting the twelve Apostles, as well as a stained glass window, and assisted in the construction of ten banners for the national convention of the Lutheran Church in America. Gretchen also did volunteer work at a nursing home, delivered Meals on Wheels, and taught painting and arts and crafts, and in addition took classes on her own. She finished her B.A. in art at St. Olaf College in 1971, as well as classes at the University of Maryland (1970-1971), Montgomery College (1972-1974), and at the Antioch College Visual Arts Center in Columbia, Maryland (1975-1978). Her art work won some awards and over 50 of her paintings were sold. Also while in Washington, D.C., son Ben was born (1962) and Gretchen was president of the Montgomery Potters (1976-1977).
In 1978, after 20 years in Congress, Al Quie decided to run for Governor of Minnesota and was elected along with fellow Republicans Rudy Boschwitz and David Durenburger (the U.S. Senate candidates). As First Lady, Gretchen Quie tried to make the Governor's Residence more presentable and hospitable to all Minnesotans. Repairs and remodeling were started and public tours begun. A management committee for the Governor's Residence, now known as the Governor's Residence Council, was established and the Quies started a program called "Overnight at the Mansion" in which everyday people who met certain arbitrary criteria, such as a retired teacher with brown eyes or people having a phone number ending in three, were invited to dinner, entertainment, and an overnight stay at the Governor's Residence. While staying largely out of her husband's political affairs, Gretchen did have influence on the Quie administration in less direct ways as the host of this program and by bringing various other issues to her husband's attention. During her time as first lady, Gretchen wrote (or helped write) two books. One was an autobiography entitled In the Potter's Hand (Augsburg Publishing, 1981), and the other a book of recipes and anecdotes from past governors who had also resided at the governor's mansion, entitled The Governor's Table (Bolger Publishing, 1981).
The papers of Gretchen Quie are arranged into five series and date almost exclusively from the time she was Minnesota's First Lady (January 1979-December 1982). The first series is correspondence from 1979 to 1982 and is arranged into five sections; incoming correspondence, outgoing correspondence with original letter attached underneath, constituent case correspondence, Gretchen's letters to the editor, and incoming letters to the Quies at the time Al announced he would not seek re-election as Governor. Correspondence includes personal messages from political and family friends, as well as from members of the public who had met Gretchen Quie at some time and were making a comment or request.
The second series is Gretchen Quie's scheduling files and related correspondence documenting her public appearances during the campaign and as First Lady. Included are many events at the Governor's Residence.
The next two series relate to the Governor's Residence and to the Governor's Residence Council. They are very similar and there is some overlap, but minutes and other official documents of the Residence Council have been separated from the projects and events in which Gretchen Quie took a personal interest. Most of the documentation of the Governor's Residence Council is from its earliest years (1979-1982), though there is some documentation from 1983 and 1984, after the Quies had left the residence.
The final series is an alphabetically arranged set of subject files. In these files researchers can find biographical information and a few photographs of Gretchen Quie; awards and citations presented to her as First Lady, and some of her speeches and speech note cards. There is some correspondence concerning her two books, In the Potter's Hand and The Governor's Table, as well as booklets compiled by Mrs. Wendell Anderson on managing as a First Lady and by Iantha LeVander on various Governor's mansions throughout the country. Also included in this series are files documenting events during the Scandinavia Today celebrations during the fall of 1982 when royalty and others from the various Scandinavian countries visited Minnesota. Rounding out this series are some files on the 1978 gubernatorial campaign, a file listing the boards served on by Gretchen Quie, a priorities list from 1979, her First Lady's report from 1982, and a file on the Quies hosting a dinner for all the former governors at the Governor's Residence in September 1980.
These records are organized into the following sections:
Albert H. Quie papers are cataloged separately in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.
Albert H. Quie personal files as governor are cataloged separately in the Minnesota State Archives.
Records of the Governor's Residence Council are cataloged separately in the Minnesota State Archives.
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: 13,669; archives 983-112
Processed by: Richard W. Arpi, May 2000
Catalog ID number: 09-00320724