Hennepin County Library

The Minnesota Regional Copper-Nickel Study is a comprehensive...

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:30:11 -0500

The Minnesota Regional Copper-Nickel Study is a comprehensive examination of the potential cumulative environmental, social and economic impacts of copper-nickel development in northeastern Minnesota. It was conducted from 1976 through 1978 by a special study team assembled by the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board. Funding for the study was provided by the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources.

The executive summary of the 5 volume, 36 chapter report presents some of the major findings of the Study. In addition, over 180 technical reports, extensive environmental monitoring data files, special sample collections, and other information resources compiled by the Study, remain available at Minneapolis Central Library.

The Minnesota Regional Copper-Nickel Study remains relevant today in light of renewed interest in the region by mineral resource development companies such as PolyMet and Twin Metals.

Thanks to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, many volumes of the Study are also available digitally.

SCHOOL VANDALS HURL INK, May 21, 1945 From Minneapolis Times: An...

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:29 -0500

SCHOOL VANDALS HURL INK, May 21, 1945

From Minneapolis Times:

An ink-throwing spree that emptied the contents of every ink bottle in the building on desks, files, floor, walls and windows was discovered today at Grant school, Twelfth and Girard Avs. N. Vandals apparently made entrance through a window of the principal’s office. Nothing was stolen and only breakage was of the ink bottles. Mrs. Molly Fleisher, clerk, surveys the damage to her desk.

History of Roosevelt Library Part II Roosevelt Library has...

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:30:30 -0500

History of Roosevelt Library Part II

Roosevelt Library has served a population of over 50,000 in its community. The photo above is the library in 1936. During World War II the library was essential, “Of vast importance in wartime is the library work with children,” wrote Roosevelt Librarian Gertrude Loehl. “With the mother a defense worker out of the home, more and more children look to the library as a place of warmth and amusement.”

The library in 1962 decided to experiment with purchasing paperback books for teens. Roosevelt was selected as the pilot location for the paperback project because of its proximity to a high school.

In 1973 the library building was modernized and a parking lot and air conditioning were added.

The library was designated a historic landmark in 1997.

In 2002 a new mixed used library at 38th Street and 23rd Avenue was endorsed by the neighborhood advisory team but uncertain economic conditions shelved that project. More plans for renovations were made in 2005 but those were also shelved and the Minneapolis Public Library Board voted to shutter the library in 2007 for budgetary reasons.

With the 2008 merger between Hennepin County Library and Minneapolis Public Library, Roosevelt was reopened. It closed for renovation in 2012.

Roosevelt Library will have a grand reopening at 9:30 a.m. on June 1st. Start your morning with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring elected officials and other speakers. Doors open at 10 a.m. Check out books, embark on a scavenger hunt, and explore your new library!

History of Roosevelt Library Part I Roosevelt Library opened in...

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:30:15 -0500

History of Roosevelt Library Part I

Roosevelt Library opened in 1922, housed in Roosevelt High School. On February 15, 1927, the Roosevelt Community Library opened it in own building. The branch was modeled after the East Lake branch, a simple one-story brick building with a “saw toothed skylight, like a factory which floods the room with light.” The lot, building and furnishings cost $28,000.

The opening day staff were:

Ada N. Whiting - Librarian

Eleanor Heimark, First Assistant

Volborg Sobba, Assistant

Lessley Chilson, Assistant

Wallace Petri, Page

Mina Jacobsen, Janitress

The library’s hours were 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-1 p.m on Saturdays. This quote from Theodore Roosevelt was included in Community Bookshelf article on the library, “After the church and the school, the free public library is the most effective influence for good in America.” It went on to state, “We hope we may justify this statement in this new neighborhood, and that the people will use our equipment freely for their enjoyment and education.”

pbsthisdayinhistory: May 14, 1804: The Lewis and Clark...

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:29:00 -0500

Painting Lewis and Clark on the Lower Columbia by Charles Marion Russell (1905)

A Map of Lewis and Clark's Track Across the Western Portion of North America from Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean", by Samuel Lewis, 1814.

Lewis and Clark Expedition, 2004 200th Anniversary issue postage stamp

pbsthisdayinhistory:

May 14, 1804: The Lewis and Clark Expedition Sets Out to Explore the Louisiana Territory

On this day in 1804, the Corps of Discovery (more commonly known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition) left Camp Dubois near St. Louis, Missouri to explore the Louisiana Territory.

For $15 million, President Jefferson’s 1803 purchase of the territory had more than doubled the size of United States: 820,000 square miles for 3 cents an acre. Jefferson chose his personal secretary Meriwether Lewis to serve as commander of the expedition. Soon after, Lewis invited his former army comrade William Clark to share command. Nearly four dozen men comprised the original group.

Trace the Lewis and Clarke Expedition with Ken Burns’s timeline of the trip.

Top Image: Painting of Lewis and Clark on the Lower Columbia by Charles Marion Russell (1905). Middle Image: A Map of Lewis and Clark’s Track Across the Western Portion of North America from Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean”, by Samuel Lewis (1814). Bottom Image: Lewis and Clark Expedition, 200th Anniversary issue postage stamp (2004).

The Minneapolis Athenaeum has some writings by Lewis and Clark about the expedition. If you would like to see them you can have them paged from the Athenaeum vault by contacting Special Collections.

Gratia Alta Countryman (top) 1892 An image of Gratia (later...

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:19:00 -0500

Gratia Alta Countryman (top) 1892

An image of Gratia (later director of Minneapolis Public Library and founder of Hennepin County Library) soon after she was hired by Minneapolis Public Library, posing in the library art gallery with fellow MPL staff.

Although she was engaged to marry Horace Winchell he ended up marrying another woman. They remained friends until he died. Gratia later entered into a “Boston Marriage” with librarian Marie Todd from 1902 until Marie’s death in 1940. Gratia wrote this to Marie in 1901, “Thee says in a letter just received that thee is staking everything on the chance of being with me, and I know thee is coming for love’s sake. But not staking, dear, there is no gamble in loving, there are only profits…”

Marie noticed a homeless boy at the library in 1917, Wellington Wilson. He spent many Saturdays and most school days in the children’s area of the downtown library reading books. Gratia looked into his background and realized he needed a foster home and volunteered to be his foster mother. She wrote, “We have taken a homeless little boy to live with us. He is nearly eight years old and bright and affectionate. We have grown very fond of him in the four weeks we have had him…if he turns out to be as nice a child as he seems, I may possibly adopt him.” After his adoption in 1918, Gratia and “Aunt Marie” both raised Wellington. He later wrote,”In those years, my mother was the disciplinarian while Aunt Marie was the arbitrator. One might say my mother performed the masculine role and Aunt Marie the feminine.” Wellington Countryman later married and had a daughter, Alta Marie Countryman in 1939.

This information is drawn from Jane Pejsa’s Gratia Countryman: her life, her loves and her library.

todaysdocument: “I respectfully remind you sir, that we have...

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:46:21 -0500

todaysdocument:

“I respectfully remind you sir, that we have been the most patient of all people.”

-Letter from Jackie Robinson to President Eisenhower of May 13, 1958

After he retired from Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson went on to champion the cause of civil rights from his position as a prominent executive of the Chock Full o’Nuts Corporation.

Robinson had grown increasingly impatient with what he regarded as President Eisenhower’s failure to act decisively in combating racism. In this letter dated May 13, 1958, he expresses his frustration and calls upon the President to finally guarantee Federal support of black civil rights.

Read more at Featured Documents…

National Bike Month and Bike to Work Week May has taken us from...

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:30:28 -0500

National Bike Month and Bike to Work Week

May has taken us from winter to summer, just in time for National Bike Month and Bike to Work Week, May 13-17.

“Minneapolis, because of its fine roads, is an especially fine town for bicycles. The country is level, and for a person who gets but little exercise the bike is just the thing.” From The Minneapolis Tribune, April 26, 1903.

There are various opportunities to get your bike out on those fine Minneapolis roads. Take a historic Minneapolis tour by bike, or travel through time with these Minneapolis bicycle photos. Preserve Minneapolis will also be rolling out historic bicycle tours for the summer. Pictured above is Mrs. Bradshaw of the Minneapolis Junior League taking a Girl Scout troop on a bicycle hike at Lake of the Isles on September 1, 1947.

Minnesota History Day 2013 results On Saturday, May 4th,...

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:30:20 -0500

Minnesota History Day 2013 results

On Saturday, May 4th, students from all over Minnesota came to the University of Minnesota to compete in the State History Day. There are junior and senior divisions in the following categories: exhibit, website, documentary, performance and paper. One of us judged Junior Individual Documentary and was blown away by the expertise of the middle-schoolers in creating the videos and choosing their topic. The above pin was swag for judges and participants, a re-creation of the First Minnesota Volunteers trefoil. If you want to learn more about the First Minnesota and the Civil War, Minnesota Historical Society opened a new exhibit. They are always looking for volunteer judges - if you are interested in judging next year, bookmark this webpage for the fall.

We always enjoy History Day season and Hennepin County Library’s History Day Hullabaloo - we had some great researchers come in and use Special Collections. Congratulations to all the winners and participants. First and second place winners are eligible to go to National History Day in College Park, MD.

An exhibition of works by landscape photographer Chris Faust...

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:30:16 -0500

An exhibition of works by landscape photographer Chris Faust opened Tuesday, May 7th in the Cargill Gallery on the 2nd floor of the Minneapolis Central Library. The exhibition features the cyanotype photographs of scenes along the upper Mississippi river by the late 19th century photographer Henry Peter Bosse juxtaposed with contemporary photographs by Faust. A number of additional photographs of the river by Faust are are included. Several works by Mark Twain and related maps and images from the Library’s collections will be featured with the Faust exhibition. The exhibition runs through June 22nd.

Joseph Kimball, Piano Tuner and his grandson Ric Johnson The...

Mon, 06 May 2013 14:30:15 -0500

Joseph Kimball

Ric Johnson and Grandpa Kimball

Joseph Kimball, Piano Tuner and his grandson Ric Johnson

The Minneapolis Newspapers Collection (formerly the “Times Morgue File”) is a huge collection of photographs and news articles from Minneapolis newspapers from 1920-1950 housed in the Special Collections dept. Most of the file is about individuals. On a recent tour of the dept with other Hennepin County Library staff, IT Specialist Ric Johnson wondered if there might be a file in this collection on his grandfather, Joseph Kimball. Sure enough, there was a folder with two excellent black & white portraits and several news clippings.

Minneapolis resident Joseph Kimball was a blind piano tuner and concert baritone who performed as far away as New York. When Joseph died in 1939, his daughter (Ric’s mother) was only 16 years old. The family had no photographs of Joseph as Ric’s mother was the only sighted member of the family. “This was the first time my brother, sister and I had ever seen him,” said Ric. “I spent an hour and a half with my mother and heard more about her father then I’d ever heard before. She didn’t know about those articles and doesn’t remember him going to New York… but she was only 4 years old.”

mn70s: Rock-Throwing Co-op Occupier, Minneapolis, 1975 Tensions...

Sun, 05 May 2013 09:26:00 -0500

mn70s:

Rock-Throwing Co-op Occupier, Minneapolis, 1975

Tensions between two factions in the rapidly expanding Twin Cities food cooperative movement escalated into open hostilities on May 5, 1975. A group calling itself the Co-op Organization (CO) took over the People’s Warehouse, a cooperative food distribution center located in Minneapolis’s West Bank neighborhood. The CO was a politically motivated group focused on empowering the working class. Their opponents were idealistic “hippies” who just wanted to provide healthful and socially-responsible alternatives to the big grocery stores. The CO’s occupation of the People’s Warehouse, while tactically successful, was a strategic blunder. Its whole-foods opponents responded to the takeover by boycotting the warehouse and establishing an alternative food distribution system. In the months that followed, CO activists occasionally resorted to violence and intimidation in their attempts to take control. They did not succeed. In the end, they just came off as a bunch of Marxist bullies.

Photo via Minnesota Historical Society

Here is some more on the co-op wars available at the library.

Carpenter Park Dedication, St. Louis Park, May 4, 1940 Girl...

Sat, 04 May 2013 14:30:12 -0500

Carpenter Park Dedication, St. Louis Park, May 4, 1940

Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts from Fern Hill School helped dedicate Carpenter Park in St. Louis Park by planting trees in 1940.

Here is what the St. Louis Park Historical Society’s city park history page says about the park:“Carpenter Park: 3001 Raleigh Ave. at Minnetonka Blvd. This was one of the earliest parks, located on the site of the current City Hall. When the owners of the Park Theater purchased 27 acres from farmer Simon Kruse, 13.53 acres were (99-year) leased for the park. [Another account is that land was donated by the Carpenter family. Bertram W. Carpenter was a fruit farmer who goes back to at least 1910 in St. Louis Park.] Steps were installed just west of the theater doors and to the south of the east parking lot. The steps led down to the WWI memorial built by the WPA (since moved further into the park). One of the park’s first activities was an outdoor dance, the first in 1949. Where City Hall now stands was a large flower garden, maintained until the mid 1950s. Seven tennis courts were built in August 1964. Of Lay-Kold construction, they were built for $31,000 by the Carlson-Levine Construction Co. Four of them were removed to make room for Police Headquarters. Current acreage is 12.99. Skippy Field was created at this site in 1952, named for its sponsor, Skippy Peanut Butter. Elmer “Shorty” Dale was instrumental in building Skippy Field for Park’s Little League. Facilities include a concessions/storage building, two ballfields, soccer field, and batting cages. The minor league Little League field was named for Shorty and rededicated in 2002.”

“Revisiting Twain’s Mississippi.” See the river’s immense...

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:30:32 -0500

“Revisiting Twain’s Mississippi.” See the river’s immense grandeur in prints of Henry Bosse’s spectacular 19th century blue cyanotype photos of Mississippi River sites associated with Mark Twain. The prints are matted alongside prints of modern-day photos of the same sites by St. Paul photographer Chris Faust.

Exhibit opens May 4, runs through June 22. Hours are the same as the library: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

Cargill Hall Gallery, 2nd floor, Hennepin County Library – Minneapolis Central, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis.

On May 7, 7-8 p.m., local author John Anfinson (“The River We Have Wrought” and “River of History”), a historian/cultural resources specialist with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, will speak on the history of the Upper Mississippi River. Photographer Chris Faust also will talk about Henry Bosse, and how he (Faust) used his training as a biologist when re-photographing the river from the same vantage points as Bosse more than 100 years later.

ADMISSION:
Exhibit and event are free.

FUNDING:
Funded by Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, sponsored by the Council of Regional Public Library System Administrators and presented in collaboration with the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography.

MORE DETAILS
Henry Bosse took hundreds of photos of the Mississippi River while working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is considered the leading 19th century photographer of the river. Cyanotype is an inexpensive photographic process that prints in blue and was used by engineers.

Bosse’s cyanotypes were published in large-format albums titled “Views on the Mississippi River Between Minneapolis, Minn., and St. Louis, Mo., 1883-1891” and are now in the permanent collections of some of the most prestigious museums and art centers in the U.S., including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Chris Faust, whose modern-day photos are also featured in the exhibit, said Bosse’s technique for creating his oval cyanotypes was unique and inventive for the time.

“Bosse made an 11” X 14” glass plate negative of the image, made a paper oval and put it on top of the negative, then sandwiched it with blueprint paper and put it in the sun to produce the print,” Faust said. He thinks Bosse made his own blueprint paper with chemicals that were inexpensive and available to him as a draftsperson.

“It was a very convenient and cheap way to make prints right away, essentially using blueprint paper and archival map drawing paper,” Faust said.

Faust is a landscape photographer best known for his panoramic landscape photos. His photos have been exhibited at museums and art centers and in private collections around the country, and illustrate several books, including “Nocturnes: Night Photographs.” He teaches courses on photography and media at Brown College in Mendota Heights.

Faust said his modern-day images in the “Revisiting Twain’s Mississippi” exhibit “are more of a conversation on present day landscapes. The diptychs are made from relatively the same location as the original cyanotypes. I say relatively because for most of the locations, the physical place has either eroded or is under water.”

Faust said he has had a long fascination with the Mississippi. “I’ve always lived close to the river. It’s a dynamic landscape and fertile for image making. I’ve always photographed the clumsy marriage between natural forces and human intervention.”

For the exhibit, images by Bosse and Faust were scanned, printed side-by-side on one piece of paper and matted together.

Dependable Tire Co., 2604 Lyndale Avenue S., 1961 (courtesy of...

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:42:13 -0500

Dependable Tire Co., 2604 Lyndale Avenue S., 1961 (courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society)

Now home of the French Meadow Bakery and Cafe, the new owner of the CC Club. City Pages this week features a great oral history of the CC Club (previously the CC Tap).

Henry Mack, Minnesota African-American Civil War Veteran Henry...

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:30:00 -0500

Henry Mack, Minnesota African-American Civil War Veteran

Henry Mack (1836-1945), a longtime resident of the North side community in Minneapolis, was born into slavery, later escaped his master and eventually served in the Union Army during the Civil War. After moving to Minneapolis, he was a familiar figure on the North side and became one of the longest lived Civil War veterans, living to the astounding age of 108. Author and military historian Stephen Chicoine will be giving a talk on Mack’s life at the Minneapolis Central Library (Doty Board Rm, 2nd floor) on Saturday, May 4th at 1pm. The event is free and there is no need to register.

Persian Palms Tavern, 109-111 Washington Ave. S. (photos via...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:29:49 -0500

Persian Palms Tavern, 109-111 Washington Ave. S. (photos via Minnesota Historical Society)

This Gateway bar was recently noted by author Neal Karlen as hangout for local Minneapolis mobsters such as Kidd Cann.

In Lost Twin Cities, Larry Millet wrote, “Not all of its drinking establishments were rotgut dives, and some—such as the Persian Palms nightclub—attracted a middle-class clientele searching, often with considerable success, for a taste of sin.”

How to see Minneapolis and St. Paul, Summer 1901 This brochure...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 20:30:24 -0500

How to see Minneapolis and St. Paul, Summer 1901

This brochure was distributed by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad. Included were maps of the cycling routes in the Twin Cities.

“In Minneapolis most popular trips include Kenwood Parkway, the boulevards around Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun and Harriet and across to Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling, Minnehaha Park, Portland and Hennepin Avenues, and the east river bank from Washington to Marshall Avenue. The trip to Lake Minnetonka over a fine pathway is very popular and easy.”

“In St. Paul the most popular trips include boulevard[s] around Lake Como and trip to White Bear and Bald Eagle lakes; Summit Avenue to Minneapolis and Cleveland Avenue to Fort Snelling, reached also by West Seventh, and South Robert Street to South St. Paul. University Avenue path also connects the cities.”

theparisreview: “She thought of the library, so shining white...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:54:00 -0500

theparisreview:

“She thought of the library, so shining white and new; the rows and rows of unread books; the bliss of unhurried sojourns there and of going out to a restaurant, alone, to eat.” —Happy Birthday, Maud Hart Lovelace

Quote from Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. Image Credit Old Mankato, MN Public Library, aka “Deep Valley Library”

This Carnegie library is still in use, housing the Carnegie Art Center. The Maud Hart Lovelace Award Winners were announced this week. Here is more on the library in the Deep Valley books and our holdings of Maud Hart Lovelace’s works.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts Library A “Special...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:30:35 -0500

Minneapolis Institute of Arts Library

A “Special Collections” library in Minneapolis that you may not know about is the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Art Research and Reference Library. Housed in the Institute’s beautiful new Target Wing, the Library boasts a collection of nearly 60,000 volumes, 120 art periodical subscriptions and 200 object files. Best of all, it is open to the public! Collections are available for use in the Library’s reading room. Reference service is available either in-person or by phone. The Library is open Tuesday through Friday, 11:30-4:30. Call (612) 870-3200 for more information, or visit http://library.artsmia.org.