Tyler N. Taylor

Tyler Taylor is a Gale Fellow at the Minnesota Historical Society. Her research examines relationships between Native American and immigrant communities in and around Minnesota in the nineteenth century. Dr. Taylor holds a PhD in American Studies from the College of William & Mary.

How there came to be a statue of Leif Erikson on the grounds of the Minnesota Capitol

By Tyler N. Taylor

June 7, 2021

The memorial was part of the Scandinavian American community’s efforts to credit their ancestors — not Christopher Columbus — with the “discovery” of the Americas.

The complicated legacy of Knute Nelson, Minnesota’s first foreign-born governor

By Tyler N. Taylor

Nov. 2, 2020

The image of himself that Nelson cultivated — both fully Norwegian and fully American, a promoter of Norewegians as a desirable immigrant population — is reflected in the history of the Knute Nelson Memorial.