The Sybil Carter Indian Lace Association created employment for women on Minnesota reservations
Native lace makers earned good pay, but the organization held stereotypical and negative views of them and excluded them from leadership roles.
Kathryn R. Goetz
Founded in 1888, St. Peter Claver Church was Minnesota’s first African American Catholic Church
Archbishop John Ireland hoped to actively recruit more African American Catholics.
Even in the midst of a world war, the Minnesota State Fair went on
After the U.S. entered World War I, organizers reframed the event as a “Food Training Camp” that showed Minnesotans how to produce and conserve resources vital to the Allied war effort.
Better citizenship through folk schools: Tyler, Minnesota’s Danebod
Danebod is a Danish word meaning “one who mends or saves the Danes.”
Who was Betty Crocker?
Betty Crocker got her start not in the kitchen but in the advertising department of the Washburn Crosby Company of Minneapolis.
Munsingwear and the Minnesota underwear revolution
From long johns to girdles, the Minnesota company urged generations of consumers, “don’t say Underwear, say Munsingwear.”
As fewer Minnesotans worked the land, Farm Bureaus helped give farmers a voice
Minnesota’s first Farm Bureau formed in Traverse County in 1913.
The story behind the stories: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life in Minnesota and beyond
Laura Ingalls Wilder was sixty-five when she published Little House in the Big Woods, a novel for young readers inspired by her childhood in the Big Woods of Wisconsin.
Car engines take flight: the Pietenpol Air Camper
When Bernard Pietenpol started to build airplanes in his Cherry Grove workshop, he’d never actually piloted one.
Legacy of Fr. Hennepin looms large on the Mississippi
Fr. Louis Hennepin spent only a few months in Minnesota, but his influence is undeniable.
The Minnesota State Fair: Origins and traditions
In the twenty-first century, nearly 1.8 million people attend the twelve-day event every year, making it the second-largest state fair in the nation.
The most beautiful religious building on the Iron Range
Virginia’s B’nai Abraham congregation dedicated their brick synagogue in 1909.
Land for trees: The Timber Culture Act of 1873
When Congress enacted the law, many hoped that giving settlers deed to public lands in return for growing trees would reshape the environment of the West.
A sticky solution to a painter’s problem: the invention of Scotch tape
3M’s Scotch brand masking tape and cellophane tape were small inventions that became a consumer revolution.
The Western Minnesota town that wasn’t: New Yeovil
Despite high hopes, the settlement of New Yeovil crumbled soon after it began.
Grand Marais is home to Minnesota’s longest-lived art colony
What began as an eight-week summer course became a year-round art colony that unites the natural beauty of the North Shore with Minnesota’s vibrant artistic community.
U of M English prof Maria Sanford was one of first female professors in U.S.
Her exceptional teaching, notable public lectures, and active community leadership led many to call her “the best loved woman in the Minnesota.”
