Collections Up Close

All this week we are celebrating the National Archives' release of the 1950 Federal Census by focusing on items from the 1950s in the MNHS collection!

This photo is labeled as "Baby Day," at Westminster Presbyterian Chinese Sunday School, Minneapolis, in 1950. It was taken by Bing Wong. 
To see a list of the names of people in the photo, visit:
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10778557&return=brand%3Dmhs%26imagesonly%3Dyes%26q%3Dbaby%26yearrange%3D1950-1959
 

All this week we are celebrating the National Archives' release of the 1950 Federal Census by focusing on items from the 1950s in the MNHS collection!

This photo shows Oscar Hagen, salesman for Investors Syndicate of America and Investors Mutual, standing by his automobile in 1952.

Learn more about the census here: https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1950

Ben's post:

"I'm so proud of what is (probably) my last acquisition for the MNHS Collections.

I admire Rachel King-Siert so much. Among many other things, she is an amazing textile artist with an almost unending amount of generosity. To me, this is a perfect acquisition, documenting what so many of us here in the Twin Cities -and Nationwide - have been feeling over the past two years.

During the pandemic, Rachel's friends, family, and community members were publicly taking action and protesting the murder of George Floyd. She pivoted from feeling scared and helpless to being in service to the community. She writes,

“I don’t usually make quilts; I DO hate wasting anything. My "2020 Craziness Quilt" was made with some of the scraps from the “frantic Rachel making thousands of mask” stage of 2020 COVID and protests in Minneapolis......The only thing I could think of to be helpful was to keep making masks and donating them… I know I made over 2000 masks but quit counting after that.”

I really believe this quilt, which was made with love and comfort for her family and friends, enriches the way we will talk about and remember these historic moments we've collectively been experiencing.

So much love and respect, Rachel."

Love, respect, and thanks to you too, Ben. 

Tomorrow, March 31, is the anniversary of the shootout between gangster John Dillinger and Saint Paul police at Lincoln Court Apartments, on the corner of Grand and Lexington.

Saint Paul was known as a haven for gangsters in the 1930s; so long as they did not commit crimes in the city, the authorities would look the other way.

John Dillinger and his girlfriend Evelyn “Billie” Frechette came to Saint Paul in March 1934 after robbing a bank in Mason City, Iowa and rented a room at the Lincoln Court Apartments.  The apartment manager grew suspicious of the couple, and reported them to the FBI. On March 31 two FBI agents, joined by Detective Henry Cummings of the St. Paul Police Department, knocked on the apartment door. Frechette stalled, an accomplice stumbled onto the scene, and a gunfight erupted. Dillinger burst into the hallway firing a machine gun and fled down a back stairway, but not before being hit in the leg by Detective Cummings.

Dillinger escaped and fled to Chicago; he was later killed there in an ambush on July 22. Detective Cummings, a 26-year veteran of the St. Paul force, retired shortly after the Lincoln Court shoot out. After he died, Cummings's heirs donated his Model 1905 Smith & Wesson Hand-Ejector revolver to the Minnesota Historical Society. This .38 gun is the very weapon Cummings fired at Dillinger on that fateful day. 

Learn more about Saint Paul’s gangster history here.