Collecting pieces of Minnesota's past for the future
About
The Minnesota Historical Society preserves and makes available a wide range of materials chronicling Minnesota's history and culture. The goals of the Collections Department are to collect and preserve; provide access and interpretation; and engage in education and outreach. This blog is a tool to share these stories and let people know what is happening in the department.
New Year Pow Wow button
Today's collection item is this button promoting a New Year Pow Wow celebrating the start of 1992. It is likely from the White Earth Reservation.
ID: 2003.88.12 (Accession Number)
Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10300061
U of MN Gophers at the Rose Bowl
The Minnesota Gophers men's football team plays in the Pinstripe Bowl today. As we cheer them on, we share this video clip of the on-field celebration after another bowl game - the 1962 Rose Bowl, which the Gophers won 21-3 over the UCLA Bruins. From the KSTP archive.
ID: 15044 (Video Clip Number)
Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10489254
Handbill for New Year's Eve concert
Today's New Year's party promotion is for a 1981 concert featuring a number of Minneapolis musical mainstays of the era. Were any of you there that night?
ID: 2003.92.19 (Accession Number)
Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10157253
Celebrate New Year's Eve
New Year's is almost here! This week we will highlight some New Year's Eve party promotional materials from our collection, starting with this 1940 poster for a dance hosted by the Credjafawn Social Club, one of the oldest Black social clubs in the Twin Cities.
ID: GT5.3 a1 (Locator Number)
Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10465817
Kwanzaa doll
Happy Kwanzaa! Today is the first day of the annual seven-day celebration of Black culture. This Kwanzaa doll was made in about 2012 by Minneapolis artist Phyllis Chatham.
ID: 2017.160.2 (Accession Number)
Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=11470859
My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy
December 23 is the birthday of famed Minnesota poet and activist Robert Bly. We share this book of poetry, a copy of his 2005 work My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy.
ID: PS3552.L9 M9 2005 (Library Call Number)
Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10460360
Blizzard Footage
Snow is flying, but it's far from the first time in Minnesota history! Today we share this video of B-roll from the KSTP archives of a 1965 blizzard, complete with abandoned cars, kids playing, and snowplows coming to the rescue.
ID: AV2006.41 (Accession Number)
On the Shortest Day
Today is the winter solstice — the shortest day of the year. So we share On the Shortest Day, by Laura Sulentich Fredrickson and Laurie Caple, from our collection of children's books, You can get your own from the MNHS store!
ID: 9989780338604294
Link: https://mnpals-mhs.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01MNPALS_MHS/ge68j0/alma9989780338604294
Hanukkah menorah
The Jewish religious celebration of Hanukkah began last night at sundown. This menorah in our collection features two tablets representing the Ten Commandments, flanked by lions representing the Lion of Judah.
ID: 2016.5.1 (Accession Number)
Link: https://hubs.la/Q01w4rbY0
Gopher State
This political cartoon is from 1858. This cartoon answers the age-old (okay, actually 164 year old) question – why are we the Gopher state? This very cartoon started it all.
One of the first acts of the legislature of the new state was to amend the brand new constitution, enabling them to issue credit and loan $5 million (or $ 137,000,000 in today’s dollars) to railroad interests. While some were against this, most people supported the amendment: it passed with 25,023 votes in favor and 6,733 against.
This cartoon is clearly in the nay column. It shows a railroad car full of bondholders being pulled by nine striped rodents with human heads, representing the legislators (many of whom also had a stake in the railroads). The issue of business looking for money never gets old, does it?
Why gophers though? A good theory is that gophers were a major nuisance to homesteaders in the western, prairie-part of the state – the same place the railroads were going.
The artist is R. O. Sweeny from Saint Paul; this was published as a broadside when the issue was being debated. From the messy ordeal of state development, we got both the railroads and our nickname.