Government Records
F. William Stohr and Art Nyhus, the Commission's field representatives, served as liaisons to the county Centennial committees. They traveled over 150,000 miles visiting committees to make suggestions, build enthusiasm, and advise in planning, preparing, and executing local events. They also worked closely in the development of the Speaker's Information Bureau, the promotional filmstrip "Everybody Ready? Let's Go!," and the twenty-one issues of the monthly Centennial Bulletin, and coordinated the September 1957 St. Paul clinic for county chairmen and seven regional clinics in January 1958.
The subject files document the many activities and responsibilities of the representatives and include correspondence with the Commission, the county committees, and vendors and donors; statistics; lists of county chairs and committee members; legal and financial documents; and monthly reports. They cover such varied topics as county Centennial buttons and stationery, the Centennial calendar, clinics, county appropriations, a county fair competition and relations with the Minnesota Federation of County Fairs, 1957 legislation allowing counties to appropriate money for Centennial events, the Centennial float schedule, commemorative Red River Trail oxcart trek, Miss Centennial Minnesota, Statehood Week, and the Centennial Train.
The county files, organized alphabetically by county name, document both the activities of the county Centennial committees and special Centennial events and projects in each county, including festivals; pageants; pioneer recognitions; fine art events; nationality events; county fairs; Centennial publications; radio, television, magazine, or newspaper special coverage; and women's committee activities. They include reports, correspondence, schedules, brochures and programs, contest forms, publications, press releases, budget and financial data, newsletters, statistics, and clippings.
These records are organized into the following sections:
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 number(s): None, 988-156
Processed by: Charles Rodgers and Cheri Thies, October 2003
Catalog ID No.: 0900323720
RLIN ID No.: MNHV1696-A
Correspondence with the Commission, the county committees, and vendors and donors; statistics; lists of county chairs and committee members; legal and financial documents; and related documents kept by Stohr and Nyhus.
Correspondence and order and sales statistics for a program where the counties could order reduced price custom designed Centennial buttons through a Commission and Midwest Badge and Novelty Company agreement.
Includes several versions of the 1958 statewide calendar of events.
Lists of attendees, discussion topics, and press releases documenting the seven regional clinics held in January 1958.
For county Centennial committees.
Informational letters sent by the Commission to county chairmen.
Lists of attendees, press material, handouts, and planning correspondence from the September 27-28 county chairmen's meeting.
Details the Minnesota Federation of County Fairs Centennial Committee and a 1958 competition among 64 county fairs based on the overall incorporation of the Centennial theme in all phases of the fair.
Mainly regarding 1957 legislation providing counties could appropriate money to their local communities for Centennial events.
Includes the 1957 reservation book, master schedule (two versions), and correspondence.
Includes the 1958 reservation calendar, sample correspondence, and policy statement.
Contains minutes of the Jaycee Statehood Centennial Program "Brainstorming Committee" (1957) and the official "Proposal for Jaycee Participation in the Minnesota Statehood Centennial Program" (May 4, 1957).
Form letter to mayors of cities and villages forwarding the official Centennial proclamation (copy included) to fill in and post in their communities.
Mainly to and from Stohr concerning county meetings, visit schedules, relations with the county committees, and a general plan for field activities.
One August 1956 anonymous report and monthly reports from Stohr (January-August, October-November 1957) and Nyhus (July, September, October, December 1957).
Correspondence, press releases, schedules, and related materials documenting the 45 day trek of Delmar Hagen and his oxcart along the Red River Trail, beginning July 20, 1958 at the Marshall County Fair. The trek was sponsored by the Marshall County Centennial Committee.
Includes contract between the Miss Minnesota Pageants sponsor group, the Minnesota Jaycees, and the Commission; Miss Centennial Minnesota Diane Albers' official entry form; schedules; candidate list; blank forms for candidates; and the pageant program (January 30 - February 2, 1958).
Signature sheet for out-of-state visitors to the 1957 Commission booth.
Mainly seating charts for various banquets, lunches, and reviewing stands.
Correspondence with the Syndicate Printing Co., Minneapolis, covering county committee stationery orders.
Planning materials, schedules, lists of county train chairmen, invitations and press materials for the inaugural trip, and correspondence with the various railroads concerning track usage.
Script of a production written in 1953 by the University Elementary School fifth grade pupils and available for use throughout the state during the Centennial.
Files kept for each county documenting both the activities of the county Centennial committees and special Centennial events and projects in each county, including festivals; pageants; pioneer recognitions; fine art events; nationality events; county fairs; Centennial publications; radio, television, magazine, or newspaper special coverage; and woman's committee activities. Included are reports, correspondence, schedules, brochures and programs, contest forms, publications, press releases, budget and financial data, newsletters, statistics, and clippings.
There are separate folders for North and South St. Louis County.