BOOK REVIEWS

Minnesota Politics and Government But, as the 1998 election proved, ’s political By Daniel J. Elazar, Virginia Gray, and Wyman Spano culture continues to evolve. That victory of the Reform (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999 . 259 p. Party was a warning to Republicans and Democrats alike. Cloth, $ 45 .00 ; paper, $ 25 .00 .) Celebrity Ventura’s election was a protest shot over the bow that pierced the hull of the two-party system. “We shocked the world,” crowed Jesse “The Body” In Minnesota, preprimary party endorsements and Ventura on election night. Many Minnesotans, watching state financing for legislative races reduce the impact of their new governor on television, responded in silent dis - money on elections. But the national trend toward weaker belief: “We shocked ourselves.” Ever since that November parties and money-dominated primaries is being felt here, 1998 night, political leaders in both major parties have too. It is reflected in the decline of the caucus system and reexamined history, the polls, and popular wisdom. They party endorsement and in TV-ad-based campaigns that have hoped these modern oracles would reveal the algo - bypass the parties except as places to raise money. These rithm that Ventura had used to win so that they could use changes mean there is less popular involvement and less it to steal his success. organization to hold politicians accountable. This is trou - Minnesota Politics and Government looks repeatedly bling: while party platforms may be irrelevant to the candi - through the lens of that election night. No magic formula dates, the platform issues are what attract the activists is revealed, but the authors’ insights into the state that whose involvement counters the influence of money. elected a , a Floyd B. Olson, a Rudy Included in this book are a thorough index and chap - Perpich, and an make the Ventura phenom - ters on the nuts and bolts of elections, political parties, enon more understandable. The story of Minnesota’s the legislature, the executive, the courts, lobbyists, local proud outsider, reformer tradition in American politics government, and the history and workings of state-Indian unfolds as an epic drama in which the election of the new relations. The text describes the interplay between the governor is but a small scene. personalities of leaders and the constitutional structure of Minnesota Territory was carved out of the Wisconsin state government. These chapters make this book a worth - Territory during the prelude to Civil War. Minnesota while investment for anyone seriously interested in engag - became a state in 1858 , dominated by the new Republican ing in the governmental and political life of the state by, Party. It was the first to send a volunteer regiment in for example, working on the passage of new legislation. response to President Lincoln’s call to rally behind the But, having defined Minnesota as a moralistic political Union. culture, this book unfortunately avoids examining the Throughout the nineteenth century Minnesota was political content of that culture. Left out are the aquifers geographically isolated from the mainstream of American of ideas that percolate to the surface in legislative reforms development. The first immigrants formed a frontier soci - and the organizations that turn out voters to make the ety with the shared moral principle, the authors write, of politicians listen: the human rights and civil rights efforts “serving the commonwealth.” Immigration brought the of Hubert Humphrey, grassroots lobby groups like the idealism of exiled European reformists to the state when it Minnesota Senior Federation, the labor and peace move - lacked an established system to tame their reform spirit. ments of the 1930 s and 1960 s, the family-farm movement Through wave after wave of nineteenth- and twentieth- (from the Farm Holiday to this year’s family-farm crisis), century immigration, Minnesotans maintained a belief in and the African American, Indian, and immigrant press. the desirability of communal provision of services and a The book also ignores the prochoice-prolife debate that “commitment to using community power to intervene in has been central to the state’s interparty and intraparty private activities for the good of the polity.” politics for three decades. And it glosses over the institu - Over the years, the authors continue, Minnesota tion of the precinct caucus that has allowed grassroots matured into a “moralistic political culture” that on many activists to overcome money and power in the election issues led the way for the nation in passing thoughtful process. In an era of front-loaded primaries, soft money, reform legislation. Even during the Reagan era, Governor issue-advocacy advertising, and independent campaign Rudy Perpich made national firsts: open school enroll - expenditures, Minnesotans’ continued practice of citizen - ment, charter schools, and post-secondary education ship is not a trivial topic. options. He pioneered concepts such as reinventing gov - In Minnesota the prairie fire of politics is still alive in ernment, judicial appointments of women, public-school Iron Range communities where voters turn out at rates choice, charter schools, health-care reform, and inter - exceeding 80 percent after community election-night nationalism. dinners. The soul of Minnesota lives in government

98 MINNESOTA HISTORY institutions, personalities, and parties. It speaks a lan - study Ojibwe names and language is important. Ideally, guage of issues and has maintained its political culture future editions or other works by the author will involve from Gettysburg to prohibition to human rights to pro - more consultation with some of the many Ojibwe speakers choice-prolife to education and health-care reform. It is whose language is being referenced. these and other issues that motivate popular participation Ojibway Chiefs is an important book. It is a convenient in politics and civic affairs and make Minnesota the moral - and approachable reference that will be of use and inter - istic outsider, the reform leader, that it is. Minnesota est to anyone curious about Ojibwe leaders in the nine - Politics and Government is strong on government but offers teenth century. Diedrich also shows great promise as a only a glimpse at the magic of Minnesota politics. future scholar of the Ojibwe. His 25 -page introduction provides great insight into the nature of Ojibwe leader - Reviewed by Mark Anderson, who is a native Minnesotan and ship, a subject yet to be fully explored in historical mono - a policy aide to Senator Paul Wellstone. He has been active in graphs. I hope that Ojibway Chiefs will provide not just a grassroots politics and government all his life. valuable resource but also a stimulus for future research and writing by Diedrich and others.

Reviewed by Dr. Anton Treuer, assistant professor of history at Ojibway Chiefs: Portraits of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and editor of Anishinaabe Leadership Oshkaabewis Native Journal. By Mark Diedrich (Rochester, MN: Coyote Books, 1999 . 189 p. Paper, $29 .95 .) Downtown: A History of Downtown Ojibway Chiefs is a welcome contribution to the pub - and Saint Paul in the Words lished reference material on Ojibwe history. Mark Diedrich has clearly done a great deal of digging in the of the People Who Lived It National Archives and the holdings of the Minnesota Edited by David Anderson Historical Society to pull together this collection of bio - (Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 2000 . 351 p. Paper, $ 29 .95 .) graphical sketches on important nineteenth-century Ojibwe leaders. Undergraduate students and the universi - Known by their glittering, zigzagging skylines, down - ty libraries that serve them will find this a useful resource. towns are the centerpieces of cities that beckon those in Diedrich’s biographical sketches vary in length from search of a new life, excitement, or their fortune. Histori - three to ten pages. They are accurate, concise, and well cally, downtowns were often the most visible symbol of a written. Concerns that Diedrich may have sacrificed his - city, the image that came to mind when a city name was torical accuracy by publishing this work himself can safely mentioned. Downtowns provided a myriad of destinations be set aside. However, the brief biographies presented and a variety of experiences. It is this variety that is here do not provide a level of analysis or depth of histori - explored in a collection of essays on Minneapolis and ographical discussion sufficient to make this work espe - St. Paul edited by David Anderson. cially important for graduate students and scholars of Anderson assembled more than 40 essays written by Ojibwe history. It is a reference work, just what the subtitle a wide-ranging group of authors over the last 150 years. says—portraits of Anishinaabe leadership. Among the noted writers included are Mark Twain, Language is an area where Diedrich could make some Brenda Ueland, and Patricia Hampl; the foreword is by improvements in this otherwise well-researched work. He the late Dave Moore. The essays are divided into sections relied heavily upon A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe on Minneapolis and St. Paul, each further grouped into for certain word forms. That was a fine choice, since this writings on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. dictionary is the standard reference for Southwestern Ander son’s introductory chapters for each city serve as Ojibwe dialects. However, Diedrich did not take the time frameworks describing physical development and changes to check language usage, the plural forms of participles, that occurred within the downtowns. The chapters pro - and the unique patterns of Ojibwe naming. As a result, vide valuable perspective for interpreting the following some Ojibwe words and names in his book are misspelled, essays, some of which are quite narrowly focused on an misused, or misinterpreted. Also, Diedrich admits to using area, a particular street, or even a single building. the Concise Dictionary as the basis for spellings of certain The strength of the book is its ability to portray the Ojibwe names but using other spellings when he was not two downtowns through the eyes of varied observers. A sure about the forms. It would be appropriate and benefi - number of reminiscences recall the lumber and flour cial for him to tell readers the sources for the different milling capital that Minneapolis became in the late nine - Ojibwe names and words he provides and stick to a com - teenth century. Among the keenest observers was Edward mon orthography. This work’s effort to embrace and Conant, who lived in Minneapolis throughout his 100

SUMMER 2000 99 years and worked for both T. B. Walker and Thomas in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Still, Lowry. Conant’s essay describes the movement of retail downtowns provided a great meeting ground, a civic space stores from Bridge Square, the impact of the lumber busi - shared by all because everyone needed the goods and ser - ness, and details of such downtown personalities as “Sid vices supplied there. the Rat-Man,” alongside other well-known Minneapolitans. In reminding us of the varied roles of the downtowns, To his credit, Anderson chose not only essays that David Anderson has assembled an excellent and readable recall the best of Minneapolis but included others that collection that offers insights into the hearts of Minne- reflect a more troubled past, including one on the 1934 apolis and St. Paul. truckers’ strike abridged from Charles Rumford Walker’s American City: A Rank and File History, and several that Reviewed by Garneth O. Peterson, AICP, Cultural Resources explore life in the old Gateway District before its destruc - Manager at BRW, Inc. in Minneapolis. Ms. Peterson is an tion through urban renewal. urban historian and city planner who has written extensively There are fewer essays about St. Paul, particularly the about neighborhoods and historic buildings in Minneapolis and nineteenth-century period. One, penned by Mark Twain St. Paul. in 1882 , calls St. Paul a “wonderful town” with the “air of intending to stay,” despite falling behind Minneapolis in population. The recollections of Alice Montfort Dunn offer a more personal understanding of life in nineteenth- century St. Paul and some insight into its inhabitants. The Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad: Many of the twentieth-century essays are brief, except for An Empire in the Making, 1862–1879 a series of columns written by Oliver Towne (Gareth Hiebert), a skilled observer of his home town. By Augustus J. Veenendaal Jr. Ultimately, the volume presents a more balanced treat - (De Kalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1999 . 178 p. ment of Minneapolis than St. Paul. Much more has been Cloth, $ 49 .95 .) written about St. Paul’s neighborhoods than its down - town, which may have limited the material available for The story of the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad is this volume. Downtown St. Paul’s character was, and is, one of the great epics of North American railroad history, largely derived from the original city plat and its relation - and the echoes of its spectacular success are still heard ship to the early topography of the site. An essay or two today in the recent merger of the Burlington Northern explaining this would provide some insight into St. Paul Santa Fe with the Canadian National and all of its and why it remains a confusing city for most visitors and American subsidiaries. The 1870 s and 1880 s found any metro residents who live outside of its bounds. Minnesota at the center of railroad building on the conti - Like most histories of either St. Paul or Minneapolis, nent. After many delays, work was started on the Northern this volume presents only a brief analysis of the last half of Pacific near Carlton (first called Northern Pacific the twentieth century. Both downtowns changed dramati - Junction) in the winter of 1870 . This was to be the second cally in those years, and although Anderson addressed transcontinental railroad in the United States, but its trou - those transitions in his introductory chapters, the essays bled financial and corporate history left it vulnerable to a regarding that time are limited. Perhaps as more urban more aggressive and skillfully managed rival. Rather sur - history of the last 50 years is written, that era will be better prisingly, that rival became the Saint Paul and Pacific, addressed in another volume. although in the early 1870 s it seemed more likely to dis - These are minor flaws, however. Taken as a whole, the solve in bankruptcy or at best to survive as an inefficient volume helps to recreate the sense of place that down - local railroad crippled by a lack of capital. Destiny inter - towns once provided. The bulk of these essays were writ - vened. Well, perhaps not destiny, but certainly a group of ten about the years before 1950 , when downtowns were highly motivated and resourceful men—James J. Hill, still the centers for shopping, business, and entertain - Donald Smith, George Stephen, Norman Kittson, and ment. The words of the writers over the years subtly John Stewart Kennedy. The story of how the bankrupt rail - remind us that people of every race, class, and age used to road was acquired by this group has been told many times. visit downtowns on a regular basis. Today, in an era of Excellent biographies now exist of all of them with the edge cities, in which suburbs have become their own exception of the old fur trader Kittson, and as recently as entities divorced from the central city, metropolitan resi - 1988 a major study was produced of the Great Northern dents can avoid ever traveling to downtown Minneapolis Railway, the successor to the Saint Paul and Pacific. or St. Paul. The daily connections between rich and poor, With so much already written, is there any need for young and old, and people of every race in downtown another account of this dramatic story? Augustus J. forced some measure of understanding upon those who Veenendaal’s book is distinctive in several ways. Quite shared the same civic space. Downtowns also saw their apart from his introductory chapters, which provide a use - share of strife when streets were the scene of civil unrest ful background to the need for, and development of, rail -

100 MINNESOTA HISTORY roads in Minnesota, Veenendaal examines two subject Peoples of the Twilight: European areas in greater depth than any of his predecessors. The Views of Native Minnesota, 1823 to 1862 first is the role of the Dutch investors in the early financ - ing of the railroad, its restructuring, and refinancing By Christian F. Feest and Sylvia S. Kasprycki under Hill, and the second is the details of the railroad’s (Afton, MN: Afton Historical Society Press. 1999 . 315 p. operations, management, and equipment. Indeed, the Cloth, $ 125 .00 ) book will appeal both to those who are fascinated with the financial history of the rescue of this bankrupt local rail - Travelers were the first ethnographers, recording the ways road (“two streaks of rust” on the prairie) and those who of life of distant peoples in words, pictures, and the want to know that the railroad’s first locomotive, the objects they collected long before there was such as thing William Crooks, was a 4-4-0 with 62 -inch drivers, built by as anthropology. In the nineteenth century, Europeans Smith and Jackson of Paterson, . were among the most usefully observant visitors to the Veenendaal, senior research historian at the Institute Minnesota region, appreciating the manners and customs of Netherlands Research at The Hague, sheds particular of the resident Ojibwe and Dakota long before many light on the Dutch bondholders. Drawn into American Americans were capable of overcoming their prejudices. railroad financing by the lack of profitable investment Included in this book are descriptions of the travels of a opportunities at home, the Dutch became increasingly number of Europeans in Minnesota during the nine - active in the United States in the 1860 s when the Civil teenth century and their accounts of meeting, observing, War dampened the enthusiasm of the traditional British and interacting with Dakota and Ojibwe people. The first capital market. By 1864 Dutch investors were buying large half of the book consists of a narrative of 11 chapters. The portions of the Saint Paul and Pacific’s several bond second half, entitled “Illustrations,” contains 97 images issues. When the Panic of 1873 drove the railroad into with extended captions. receivership, along with many other American railroads, The narrative portion of the book details the back - the Dutch were left to salvage as much as they could from ground and experience of such well-known writers, artists, their investment. Saul Engelbourg and Leonard Bushkoff and collectors as Giacomo Costantino Beltrami, Joseph in The Man Who Found the Money: John Stewart Kennedy and Nicollet, George William Featherstonhaugh, Adolf the Financing of the Western Railroads (1996 ) have told part Hoeffler, Captain Frederick Marryat, Fredrika Bremer, of this story from the perspective of the New York banker and Henry Lewis. Also described are more obscure visitors representing the bondholders’ committee, but Veenen- such as Duke Friedrich Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg, daal has provided more information and insight into the Augustin Lamare-Picquot, Francesco Arese, Karl Scherzer, concerns of the Dutch bondholders themselves and their Johann Baptist Wengler, Charles L. von Berg, Aleksandr connections with James J. Hill. This makes more plausible Borisovich Lakier, Balduin Möllhausen, Johann Caspar their willingness to trust Hill, to accept his offer of new Wild, and Franz Hölzlhuber. Profiling the general philo - bonds in exchange for the old ones, and to agree to put sophical beliefs of these and other Europeans about Native up still more fresh capital in order to allow Hill to build Americans, the narrative section also describes native lives, sufficient new track to qualify for the state land grant. This including houses and villages, subsistence activities, war - information gives a valuable new insight into the incredi - fare, and material culture. Short chapters are devoted to ble story of the takeover of the railroad by the Hill group. pipes and pipe ceremonies, clothing, and body painting. As for the details of the railroad itself, the information The section of illustrations presents a variety of nine - about the operations, organization, and equipment pro - teenth-century engravings, reproductions of watercolors vides a vivid picture of how the Saint Paul and Pacific actu - and drawings—many in color—and color photographs of ally ran. Railroads have slipped so far from the experience some of the objects these travelers brought back. Many of of people in this day and age that this book is useful in the objects are from collections in Europe little known to helping contemporary readers understand the magnitude American scholars. Accompanying these images are detailed and complexity of this nineteenth-century enterprise. In captions that provide a great deal of useful information. short, this book will be a great help to all those who are Some readers will quibble with some of the choices the interested in the role of railroads in the opening up of authors made. It is unclear, for example, why Father Minnesota and in the building of James J. Hill’s Great Friedrich Baraga, mainly associated with the south shore Northern empire. of Lake Superior in and who spent little time in Minnesota, was included in the text, while Johann Georg Reviewed by Francis M. Carroll, now a Senior Scholar after a Kohl, the author of Kitchi-Gami, was not. Kohl traveled in career as professor of history in the University of Manitoba’s St. the 1850 s along the south shore of Lake Superior but also John’s College, Winnipeg. He has published widely on topics in went through Minnesota as readers of Minnesota History Canadian, U.S., and Irish history and reviewed the John S. (49 : 126 –39 ) will remember. Kohl’s descriptions of Kennedy book mentioned above for the Winter 1996 –97 issue of Ojibwe culture are among the most detailed and intelli - this magazine. gent of any nineteenth-century European traveler.

SUMMER 2000 101 Some of the illustrations seem poorly chosen. For Despite these major objections and the lack of an example, a number of the paintings are of Fort Snelling, index, there are many good features in this book, particu - St. Paul, and St. Anthony Falls, which seem not to fit the larly the quality of image reproduction and the detailed theme of the book. One of two images of Minnehaha annotation, which will assure that this book will be a use - Falls, a watercolor by Franz Hölzlhuber from 1859 , makes ful resource for years to come. more sense, given the portrayal of the Dakota encamp - ment next to the falls. The design of the book is attractive, even lavish. The Reviewed by Bruce M. White, an ethnographic historian whose edition is boxed and has a die-cut dust jacket, which some numerous publications include “The Power of Whiteness, or the readers may appreciate. So as to best reproduce text and Life and Times of Joseph Rolette Jr,” a prize-winning essay from images, type pages are printed on text stock and illustra - the Winter 1998 –99 issue of this magazine, and “The Regional tions are on coated paper in a separate section. While this Context of the Removal Order of 1850 ,” in James M. McClurken, layout may make sense in terms of book design or eco - comp., Fish in the Lakes, Wild Rice, and Game in Abun- nomics, readers would have benefited more from having dance: Testimony on Behalf of Mille Lacs Ojibwe Hunting text and illustrations together, for example, in the detailed and Fishing Rights (2000). chapter on body decoration.

NEWS & NOTES

THE SOLON J. BUCK AWARD for the College and ministering to Norwegian midtwentieth-century Republican best article published in Minnesota Lutheran families throughout south - Party dynamics and United States History during 1999 has been won by ern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. international relations. Included are Elizabeth Raasch-Gilman for “Sister- Doctrinal differences with the Norwe- correspondence and memoranda, hood in the Revolution: The Holmes gian Synod, coupled with some very speeches, campaign literature, sched - Sisters and the Socialist Workers’ public marital troubles (acrimonious ules and itineraries, awards and certifi - Party,” which appeared in the maga - lawsuits over his wife’s inheritance and cates, press releases, press conference zine’s Fall issue. then their separation) led to his even - transcripts, magazine articles authored The Theodore C. Blegen Award for tual expulsion from the synod. Shaw’s by Stassen, news clippings, scrapbooks, the best article by a Minnesota Histo - biography (Northfield: Norwegian photographs, sound recordings, rical Society staff member goes to Paul American Historical Assn., 1999 , 393 motion films, and video recordings Blankman for “Is It Really the Good- p., hardcover, $ 29 .95 ) does a master - that highlight Stassen’s gubernatorial hue Press?” also from the Fall issue. ful job of putting the controversy and and presidential campaigns, his role in This year’s judges were Jane Lamm accomplishments of this pioneer post-World War international diploma - Carroll, assistant professor of history at Christian educator into perspective cy, and his involvement with civic, pro - the College of St. Catherine, a previ - and weaving them together in a form fessional, and religious organizations. ous winner of the Buck Award, and of novel-like quality. The book is also Although the bulk of the collection William Keyes, project manager for the invaluable for the insight it provides relates to Stassen’s career before leav - historical society’s new St. Anthony into the ecclesiastical infighting that ing the Eisenhower Administration in Falls museum. Each award includes a took place among Lutheran church 1958 , the papers also document his prize of $ 600 . and educational leaders over issues continued work in politics and interna - that, to this day, can stir hurt feelings. tionalism throughout the second half BERNT JULIUS MUUS: Founder of —Robert L. Phelps of the century. Stassen’s interest in St. Olaf College by Joseph M. Shaw international relations is also reflected chronicles the life and times of this THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL in a substantial amount of material “flinty pioneer pastor,” a principled, SOCIETY is pleased to announce the concerning his participation in various intellectual, practical, tough, moralis - opening to research of the Harold professional and religious associations. tic, and dedicated man whose saga Stassen Papers, a manuscript collec - The collection consists of 212 cubic includes much personal and profes - tion documenting the life and career feet with materials from the 1910 s to sional conflict. The Norwegian of the former Minnesota governor, 1999 , organized into seven series: Per- Lutheran pastor, who emigrated to presidential contender, naval officer, sonal Papers; Campaigns and Politics; Goodhue County in 1859 to serve United Nations charter delegate, and Naval Service; United Nations; Eisen- Holden congregation, spent 40 years Eisenhower cabinet member. hower Administration; Organizational in that capacity while also founding The principal strengths of the col - Memberships; and Engagements, the school that became St. Olaf lection lie in its representations of Speeches, and Publications. An inven -

102 MINNESOTA HISTORY tory describing the collection may be is now the Ramsey County Historical white-collar workers in schools and accessed through the Society’s website: Society’s Gibbs Farm Museum. offices. The reader encounters the http://www.mnhs.org/library/ early struggles for the eight-hour work - findaids/ 00202 .html. READERS FAMILIAR with the Little day as well as the negotiations for House on the Prairie series will enjoy equal pay, safe working conditions, FROZEN MEMORIES: Celebrating a learning more about the author’s later and family leave. This book also chron - Century of Minnesota Hockey (Minneapo - years in John E. Miller’s Becoming icles the bitter strikes at Allis-Chalmers, lis: Nodin Press, 1999 , 176 p., cloth, Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Woman behind Kohler, Case, Oscar Mayer, and Ray-O- $22 .95 ) features more than 300 histor - the Legend (Columbia: University of Vac. Drawn largely from the State ical photos and a narrative that covers Missouri Press, 1998 , 306 p., cloth, Historical Society of Wisconsin collec - topics dear to the hearts of avid hockey $29 .95 .) Historian Miller, who has tions and the state’s AFL-CIO archives, fans. Author Ross Bernstein briefly written on other facets of Wilder’s life, the book’s illustrations are themselves traces the evolution of skates, pucks, delved into letters, Wilder’s unpub - fascinating documents of work and and the game’s early years in Minne- lished autobiography, and other docu - unionism in the state. What this vol - sota. He examines the state’s most out - mentary sources to weave this detailed ume demonstrates is the importance standing college and university teams, portrait of her 63 years in Mansfield, and vitality of labor’s legacy in the the 1960 and 1980 Olympic teams Missouri. He skillfully shows how the Upper Midwest. —Gregory M. Britton (dominated by Minnesota amateurs), beloved author blended personal ex- and the state’s professional teams in perience and artistic license to create BUILT BY A SWEDISH IMMIGRANT their heydays. He also profiles the cen - her stories, as well as how her daugh - with “a genius for making money and tury’s leading players and gives a year- ter’s editing shaped the final product. the house-proud soul of a Småland by-year account (including photos) of farmer,” a famous Minneapolis edifice the popular state high-school tourna - HISTORIAN William E. Lass relates is the subject of an engaging new 80 - ment. Briefer sections deal with in-line yet another chapter in the life of fron - page publication, The American Swedish and women’s hockey. This is a must- tier entrepreneur Joseph R. Brown in Institute—Turnblad’s Castle (Minneapo - read (or browse) book for readers “Nebraska City’s Steam Wagon,” pub - lis: ASI, 1999 , paper, $ 19 .95 ). The interested in Minnesota’s notable con - lished in the Spring 1998 issue of gray limestone residence at 2600 Park tributions to the sport. Nebraska History. A jack-of-all-trades Avenue was constructed in 1904 –08 by who came to Minnesota as an army Swan J. Turnblad, controversial pub - THE LIFE of Jane DeBow Gibbs, a musician in 1820 , Brown later turned lisher of the Svenska Amerikanska young girl when she was brought to fur trader, newspaperman, politician, Posten, once the nation’s most widely the land that would later become Min - and consummate promoter. Convinced circulated Swedish-language newspa - nesota in 1834 , is told in Jane Gibbs: that steam wagons would revolutionize per. Author Anne Gillespie Lewis Little Bird That Was Caught by Anne E. overland travel, he planned to demon - profiles aspects of the myth-veiled Neuberger (St. Paul: Ramsey County strate the machine’s superiority by send - Turnblad’s life and family. Then she Historical Society, 1998 , 238 p., cloth, ing one from Nebraska City to Den ver. tells the story of the 33 -room mansion, $15 .95 , paper, $ 6.95 ), a novel for The story of mishaps and Nebras kans’ now on the National Register of His- young readers. Brought west by mis - involvement in the scheme also fleshes toric Places, that has served Minnesota sionary Jedediah Stevens and his fami - out the character of the man known to as an historic house and museum of ly when caretakers decided that her ail - contemporaries as “Joe the Juggler.” Swedish culture. She describes the ing mother and burdened father could home’s architecture and furnishings, not care for her, five-year-old Jane Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A including the beautiful porcelain grew up among Dakota people, sol - Labor History Anthology, edited by kakelugnar (tile stoves) and exquisitely diers, and missionaries at Minneapo- Darryl Holter (Madison: State Histo- carved woodwork, and answers popu - lis’s Lake Harriet. She made Dakota rical Society of Wisconsin, 1999 , 294 lar house-tour questions such as “How friends, learned their language, and p., cloth, $ 45 .00 , paper, $ 24 .95 ), is an much did the house cost?” Excellent- was given the name Zitkadan Usawin, impressive collection of nearly 100 quality contemporary and historic pho - Little Bird That Was Caught. The selections from articles and books, tos fill the attractive publication. Swed- story, based on historical accounts and labor newspapers and pamphlets, even ish visitors will appreciate the book’s people, concentrates on Jane’s child - oral interviews—all detailing the rich dual-language photo captions and the hood experiences and friendships. An and complex history of Wisconsin’s 11 -page book summary in Swedish. epilogue briefly tells of her moves with workers from the midnineteenth cen - For orders, phone 612 -871 -4907 . the Stevenses from Lake Harriet to tury to the present. This abundantly present-day Winona, Wisconsin, and illustrated large-format book portrays “HISTORIC DISTRICTS usually Illinois, where she married Heman the many faces of the state’s labor become historicized districts,” notes Gibbs at the age of 20 and returned to movement—from early loggers and David Hamer in History in Urban Places: the newly created Minnesota Territory. dairy farmers to the men and women The Historic Districts of the United States The Gibbses settled in Ramsey manufacturing hosiery and batteries, (Columbus: Ohio State University County’s Rose Township on land that automobiles, and paper, as well as Press, 1998 , 277 p., cloth, $ 52 .50 ,

SUMMER 2000 103 paper, $ 19 .95 ). Exploring the nexus Minnesota over the last two decades. MINNES OT A of urban history and preservation plan - ning, the book seeks to place historic HAMM’S BREWERIANA collectors HIS TORICAL districts in their authentic urban con - and readers interested in St. Paul’s SOCIETY text. Included are several Minnesota Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood will districts such as St. Paul’s Irvine Park enjoy Louise’s Legacy: Hamm Family OFFICERS and Historic Hill District and Minne- Stories, edited by Moira F. Harris apolis’s Warehouse District. (St. Paul: Pogo Press, 1998 , 160 p., Richard T. Murphy, Sr., President paper, $ 15 .95 ). The book contains a Martha H. Kaemmer, Vice-President AN AMBITIOUS FAMILY HISTORY, previously unpublished, insider’s look Donald C. McIlrath, Vice-President A Slice of American History, 1623 –1956 , at the lives and personalities of by Carol M. Fuller (White Bear Lake, Theodore and Louise Hamm (who William C. Melton, Vice-President 1999 , 207 p., paper, $ 15 .95 ) chroni - made many of the company’s business Eleanor C. Winston, Vice-President cles the lives and concerns of the decisions) by granddaughter Louise Bruce W. Bean, Treasurer Benjamin F. Fuller family, focusing on Muller. Photographs, a selection of the generations living in Minnesota. newspaper accounts about the early Nina M. Archabal, Secretary Readers interested in the temperance days of the brewery, and early brewery

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL and suffrage movements will appreci - newspaper advertisements round out ate the letters and activities of Metta the volume, which is Pogo’s fourth to Arnold C. Anderson and Frances Fuller Victor. Others will focus on Hamm subjects. Lowell C. Anderson find the story of the rise and fall of Charles W. Arnason the Willard and Fuller families’ West EDITOR Nancy Owen Nelson presents Annette Atkins Lawn stock farms in Mankato and an in-depth look at a regional writer in Sharon L. Avent Redwood Falls of interest. Copies may The Lizard Speaks: Essays on the Writings Gretchen U. Beito be ordered from the author at 2641 of Frederick Manfred (Sioux Falls: Center Diane Berthel South Shore Boulevard, White Bear for Western Studies, 1998, 229 p., Brenda J. Child Lake 55110 . paper, $ 15.95 plus $ 2.50 postage and Tobin Dayton handling). Essays are grouped into Charlton Dietz TWENTY-FIVE MINNESOTA four sections that examine Manfred’s Roland P. Dille WOMEN are the subjects of editor early works, his “Buckskin Man” series, Carl B. Drake, Jr. Heidi Bauer’s The Privilege for Which We his later novels, and his legacy. As edi - James S. Gri ffin Struggled—Leaders of the Woman Suffrage tor Nelson writes, the essays suggest Jean L. Harris Movement in Minnesota (St. Paul: Upper Manfred’s “developing vision of voice, Marshall R. Hatfield Midwest Women’s History Center, and place, and the ways in which these Karen A. Humphrey 1999 , 176 p., paper, $ 12 .95 ). Intro - elements would figure into his creative Lucy R. Jones duced by Barbara Stuhler, the volume process.” Copies may be ordered from Lois E. Josefson contains short profiles of trailblazers, the Center, Augustana College, Sioux Martha H. Kaemmer early feminists, suffragists, and radical Falls SD 57197 . Sylvia C. Kaplan twentieth-century militants such as David A. Koch Myrtle Cain. Fred Perez The revised and reissued Women of Peter R. Reis Minnesota—Selected Biographical Essays, REMINDER: Handsome, sturdy Raymond A. Reister edited by Barbara Stuhler and Gret- slipcases, open at the back for Kennon V. Rothchild chen Kreuter (St. Paul: Minnesota maximum protection and conve - Janet R. Shapiro Historical Society Press, 1998 , 448 p., nient storage, keep your back Eugene C. Sit paper, $ 15 .95 ), contains longer essays issues of Minnesota History within Paul A. Verret on more than a dozen important easy reach on your bookshelf. Eleanor C. Winston Minnesotans including ethnographer Each container hold eight issues. Frances Densmore, writer Maud Hart The maroon-colored cases are EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS Lovelace, and U. S. Senate candidate embossed with the magazine title , Governor Anna Dickie Olesen. New material in- and come with a gold-foil transfer Mae Schunk, Lieutenant Governor cludes updated information on women for marking the year and volume in the legislature and more than 100 number on the spine. Available for Mary Kiffmeyer, Secretary of State brief biographies of women active in $9.95 (MHS member price, $ 8.96 ) , Attorney General public life ranging from Loyce Houl- plus tax and shipping from MHS Judith Dutcher, State Auditor ton and Winona LaDuke to Leeann Press ( 651 ) 297 -3243 or 1-800 - Wai-hing Chin and Jane Hodgson. 647 -7827 and in the Society’s Carol Johnson, State Treasurer A thoughtful concluding essay chroni - museum store. cles women’s accomplishments in

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