BOOK REVIEWS

The American Farmer and the New Deal. By Theo­ me once again. I could see M. L. Wilson, that courteous gentle­ dore Saloutos. man from Montana, patiently trying to formulate and execute (Ames, Iowa State University Press, 1982. xviii, 327 p. farm policy within the spirit and the letter of the democratic $25.75.) process. I could see Mordecai Ezekiel, not so patiently trying to explain basic economic relationships to agrarian fun­ IN THIS BOOK the late Theodore Saloutos has provided a damentalists like ""Cotton" Ed Smith. And I could see H, R, marvelous study of agricultural policy formulation and execu­ ToUey trying against overwhelming odds to budd the Bureau of tion in the 1930s. The volume should be required reading for Agricultural Economics into the central planning organization all serious students of American farm policy. And farmers, farm of the USDA following the reorganization of 19,'38. With help leaders, and farm politicians could gain some much needed from Saloutos I could recall the triumphs, the bitter defeats, insights into the policy process from reading it, but with few and the endless frustrations involved in bringing the New Deal e.xceptions they won't, since they do not read publications like to American farmers. this. (Perhaps the Iowa State University Press should boil the book dovvTi and serialize it in a set of extension bulletins.) Reviewed by WILV.\B.DW. COCHRANE, professor of agricultur­ Saloutos' study is comprehensive in its coverage. He opens al economics at the University of Minnesota until his retire­ with a description and discussion of the severely depressed ment in 1981, an economist for several New Deal agencies economic conditions in which farmers found themselves in the during the 1940s, and author of The Development of Amer­ early 1930s. Then he examines the origins of the Agricultural ican Agriculture: A Historical Analysis (1979). He is presently Adjustment Act (AAA) in terms of ideas and personalities, the adjunct professor of agricultural economics at the University passage of the act, the staffing and launching of the programs, of California, Davis. the power struggles between the urban liberals and agrarian fundamentalists in the United States Department of Agricul­ ture (USDA), the battles for the disinherited — sharecroppers, tenants, and blacks — the implications of the Supreme Court ruling that declared the original AAA unconstitutional, the One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on elections of 1936 and the new policy orientation in the farm the Great Depression. Edited by Richard Lowitt legislation of 1936 and 1938, the special problems of the Great and IVIaurine Beasley. Plains, the battle for rural electrification, and, finally, an (Champaign, University of Illinois Press, 1982. xxxv, appraisal of New Deal farm policy. 378 p. $18,95,) This book is, however, more than a compendium of iso­ lated chapters dealing with different topics. It is a study that ""BELIEVE ME, last night, after two days of it, 1 felt like seeks to describe and analyze, hence to understand, the whole taking a bunch of the leading citizens of St, Louis county across New Deal process of policy formulation and execution as it my knee, one after another, and spanking them, " So wrote a related to farmers and the agricultural sector. The study de­ frustrated Lorena Hickok from Minnesota to Harry Hopkins in velops partly in a chronological sense and partly in a functional Washington, D.C, on December 10, 1933. sense. It comes to a clear, clean set of conclusions in the final An unconventional personality, with 16 vears of journalism appraisal. in Minneapolis and New York behind her, Hickok was hired in But Saloutos does not achieve perfection. Some of his writ­ 1933 by Hopkins, chief federal relief administrator, to travel ing is tortuously involved and hard to follow. He includes 15 the country and report to him privately on how the federal pages of ""Ding" Darling's cartoons from the 1930s that are relief programs were functioning. She toured virtually every dated and no longer amusing. Two, three, or four of them section of the country except the Pacific Northwest, sending selected for the points they make and interjected in the text at back long letters to Washington. These letters to Hopkins and the proper places would have strengthened the entire effort. some to her close friend, Eleanor Roosevelt, are reprinted Finally, except in Chapter 17, Henry A. Wallace remains a here with helpful, unobtrusive apparatus — introduction, shadowy figure throughout the study. We learn a lot more notes, and index. about the roles played by the many and varied Wallace lieuten­ Not intended for publication, the letters are anything but ants than we do about the role played by the secretary of dry reports. ""Dammit, I don't WANT to write to you again agriculture. tonight. It's been a long, long day, and I'm tired," is the begin­ These are minor points of criticism, however. I thoroughly ning of one letter from Winner, S.D. Hickok was often anec­ enjoyed this book; it made the New Deal years come alive for dotal. She was also pretty honest. At one point she reread her

Winter 1982 171 letter and added, ""I find it sounds confused. Well, Tm con­ working journalist, with sharp ears and a sure eye for the tell­ fused. I'm only passing on to vou what I hear." She heard a lot ing vignette. In effectively spare prose, she reported visiting a because she talked with all kinds of people. She interviewed Williston loan office, where she watched a Scandinavian farmer governors, bankers, and businessmen, and also auctioneers, seek credit after being ""hailed out again. " The agent taking the store clerks, and dirt farmers. She sat in relief offices listening application asked, "How are you fixed for the winter in food to applicants, accompanied social workers on their rounds, and and clothes for your family?' The man did not answer. Instead visited housewives in their homes. In subject she ranged free­ his eyes filled up with tears — which he wiped away with the ly, reporting on general mood and needs, on local administra­ back of his hand. The question was not repeated. " tion of relief on the area political scene, on the local reputation of cabinet officers and of President Roosevelt, and on radical Reviewed by ALAN GRAEBNER, professor of history at the Col­ activitv'. She paid special attention as well to the presence of lege of St. Catherine, who has a special interest in women's women in positions of influence and authority. history. These are letters, not finished monographs. One can follow as, when she gets more information, Hickok changes her mind or is further confirmed in her convictions on some point. Un­ like the reporters and writers who did in-depth pieces on spe­ A Priest in Public Service: Francis d. Haas and the cific regions, Hickok traveled over a wide area. Thus her re­ New Deal. By Thomas E. Blantz, G.S.C. ports have the disadvantage that one cannot watch the story (Notre Dame, London, University of Notre Dame Press, unfold in one place. On the other hand, her letters allow the 1982. 380 p. $25.00.) reader, from a single perspective, to compare the extent of suffering and of relief efforts in different sections of the coun­ THIS BOOK reports the life of a man born in the right place — try. What emerges is a picture of diversity that cautions against the Middle West — at the right time. His most notably pro­ easy generalization about the depression. Thus, Hickok speaks ductive years coincided with the decade of the 1930s, a time of the Iron Range: '"There's darned little destitution up here. of social change and of reform. He combined without contra­ The relief director thinks there is. He took me out to see diction religious and civil responsibilities, recognizing and dem­ some of his most destitute families. Then / told him about onstrating in action the concept of vocation as a way of life Bottineau county. North Dakota." that should include both kinds of service, along with social and Some 80 pages of this volume are devoted to letters from personal fulfillment. the Upper .Midwest, territory Hickok knew well from her Bishop Francis J. Haas by report was a direct and dedi­ youth and early career. To her eyes each state had different cated person. He was not acclaimed as a social philosopher of conditions and varying efficiencies in getting help to the poor. the quality of Father William Kerby, or as a transition thinker The most desperate needs were in North Dakota, but South like VIonsignor John A. Ryan, his teacher and colleague. Haas's Dakota was also a place of fear. "If the President ever becomes contribution was his leadership in interpreting the abstract and dictator, I've got a grand idea for him. He can label this coun­ sometimes remote principles of social justice presented by try out here 'Siberia' and send all his exiles here. . A more other scholars and thinkers; he restated these ideas so that they hopeless place I never saw. " could be understood by labor and some corporation leaders Vlinnesota's problems were less severe, but they were and could be reported by the press in language that the people, complicated, Hickok thought, by political infighting for control too, could understand and accept. Finally, he applied those of the relief apparatus. She was ambivalent about Floyd Olson, principles in practical ways. for she found herself attracted by his personality, but fearful of The period of the 1930s vvas a good time for both clergy and his ambition. Throughout she paid close attention to the Farm laity of the Roman Catholic church to be involved in social Holiday movement, whose leadership she scorned. She also reform. Reform was the mood of the times; it was especially was much concerned about rural communism (of interest in evident in the policies and programs of the New Deal, which light of Lowell K. Dyson's Red Harvest: The Communist Party were consistent with church teachings on the rights of labor and American Farmers, reviewed in the Fall, 1982, issue of and on social justice in general. Far from revolutionary, they Minnesota History). She suggested the government counteract were based on teachings that went back to Pope Leo XlII's Communist organizers by sending its own people to work their 1891 encyclical, '"Rerum Novarum, " and were restated in the way quietly through the countryside! early 1930s in Pope Pius XI s encvclical, "Quadragesimo No reporter is completely '"reliable, " in the sense of view­ Anno." ing things exactly as we would. The most the historian can On Catholic college campuses in most parts of the country hope for is to understand — and so allow for — the particular there were recognized experts in social thought and action. In slant of the observer through whose eyes one is viewing the addition to VIonsignor Ryan, who had moved on to Catholic past. There is enough in these candid letters to allow one to University in Washington, D.C, such Minnesota priests as evaluate Hickok's perspective. From our vantage point, she Virgil Michel at St. John's University in Collegeville and Fran­ was surprisingly insensitive about civil liberties and racial in­ cis J Gilligan of the St. Paul Seminary, the state's leading justice. She was contemptuous of both Left and Right. She was "labor" priest, played important roles. Among such eminent also refreshingly impatient with theories and protocol, often men and in agencies such as the National Catholic Welfare shrewd in her judgments, tough-minded about politics, and Conference, Francis Haas moved with special respect and im­ passionately concerned about people. portance. He was at the cutting edge, where social thought Above all Hickok took pride in being what she vvas, a hard­ became social action.

172 Minnesota History Blantz's volume is much more than a biography of Bishop policy gone astray. Ironically, termination spurred a trans­ Haas in the context of the history of his times. It says much formation of power structures and cultural awareness within about the New Deal years, and especially of the complexities the Vlenominee tribe, a transformation which ultimately and personahties of the Roosevelt administration. The author brought about the repeal of the Menominee Termination Act shows how much of that administration's success depended not in 1973 amid a near reversal of public and congressional atti­ on the passage of legislative reforms, but upon the thorough­ tudes toward Indian destiny. ness, the patience, and the dedication of persons like Haas, Nicholas C Peroff's book chronicles the transformations who were called upon to negotiate, to arbitrate, and to admin­ wrought by Menominee termination. It is both a detailed case ister New Deal programs. study of the causes and effects of termination within a particu­ Of special interest to Minnesotans is the chapter that tells lar tribe and an indictment of the policy as a whole. Based on a of Father Haas's role in the Minneapolis truckers' strike of host of public records and interviews, the book records the 19.34, a violent confrontation between management — orga­ somewhat bizarre political maneuvers that led to the Menom­ nized as the Citizens' Alliance — and organized labor that led inee Termination Act, the effects of the policy, and the rise of to a showdown and a landmark case in the annals of Minnesota DRUVIS (an acronym for Determination of Rights and Unity labor-management relations. This may be startling to those for Menominee Shareholders), a grass-roots organization that many, especially younger, residents of the state whose know­ protested and ultimately secured repeal of the act. ledge of such relations in Minnesota includes only the post- The proponents of termination do not appear in Peroff's World War II years, when the combination of new labor laws book as dogmatic politicians bent on destruction of Indian and enlightened management (operating under conditions of rights, but as well-meaning people who wanted to ""free " Indi­ general economic prosperity and in service and high technolo­ ans from a debilitating dependence on the government. Ter­ gy industries) gave the state a record of orderly and reasonably mination, they argued, was an opportunity for Indians to adopt satisfactory labor/management relations. the Yankee values of self-reliance and individual enterprise. Today corporate power in the nation is not any less con­ Through a confusion of Indian goals with the assimilationist centrated than it vvas in the prewar period of Father Haas, desires of black civ il rights groups of the same era, advocates however. Essentially the same powers remain, intact and orga­ spoke of termination as a way for Indians to achieve equal nized, their economic control unchallenged, their influence on status with other Americans — including the privileges of vot­ culture, education, politics, on the general development of the ing and paying taxes. state if anything, increasing, as they operate through their But all of this was based on a fundamental misunderstand­ foundations, special organizations, and committees. Methods ing of Indian cultural values and desires. Peroff argues that, in and purposes have changed, but there has not been any signi­ contrast to blacks of that era. Native Americans wanted cultural ficant diffusion of power. autonomy, not a slice of the middle-class pie. What outsiders saw in a negative light as dependence and lack of initiative Reviewed by EUGENE J, VICCARTHY, long-time congressman were actually persistent traditional values taken out of context and senator from Minnesota, who has taught economics and in a white world. Moreover, while national policy-setters were sociology at St. John's University and the College of St. Thom­ bent on the emancipation of the individual Indian, the Indians as. His most recent book is Gene McCarthy's Minnesota: themselves were set on a contradictory course — maintaining a Memories of a Native Son (1982), a compilation of poetry and collective tribal identity. All of these misunderstandings essays. formed a shaky foundation upon which to build a new national Indian policy. The effects of termination on the Menominee were docu- mentably disastrous. With federal funding for health and wel­ Menominee DRUMS: Termination and Restoration, fare lost, the former reservation became an ""instant pocket of 1954-1974. By Nicholas C. Peroff. poverty. The tribe's monetary resources were quickly drained (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. xiii, by administrative costs formerly borne by the government. 282 p. $19.95.) Eventually, the only solution to the tribe's fiscal crisis was selling off reservation land to whites for tourism development. FROM the early part of the 19th century. United States Indian The tribe itself fractured along factional lines. Reorganization policy has been aimed at one goal: the assimilation of the Na­ of its political structure resulted in a loss of direct self- tive American into mainstream American culture. Among the determination for all but a small elite. many governmental strategies adopted to further this goal, DRUMS, the organization formed in response to these none was so dl-starred as the policy of "termination, " Starting evils, was in some ways a classic 1960s protest movement. in 1954, Congress attempted to end the status of Indians as Founded by young, politically sophisticated, urban Menom­ wards of the government, to abolish their reservations, and to inee, DRUMS carried on a successful campaign of protest terminate the special protections and privileges guaranteed to demonstrations, political lobbying, and legal suits to under­ tribes in the treaties of the 19th century. In short, the federal mine the governing faction within the tribe and raise public government tried to get "out of the Indian business" for good. awareness of the failures of termination. The story of their The Menominee tribe of Wisconsin served as guinea pigs strategies, made clear by Peroff's explanation of the various in the federal experiment at deregulation of Indian life. As the divisions and political viewpoints within the tribe, is the live­ first tribe to be terminated, they served as a "pilot project." liest part of the book. For historians, their story is a model of United States Indian In the long range, Menominee DRUMS is not merelv an

Winter 1982 173 indictment of termination, but an indictment of the policies of naire bureaucrats who decided what kind of art their country­ assimilation that have been applied to Indians for over a cen­ men wanted)? The answers to this seeming enigma are sup­ tury. The ultimate irony of the Menominee termination experi­ plied in the words of artists. Treasury Section officials, and ence is that it resulted not in assimilation, as was intended, but interested (often perturbed) citizens, as well as in dozens of in a radicahzing of the tribe and a renewed sense of self- photographs of murals and mural studies. awareness and power. Readers who would quail at the obscurities of art-historical prose can take heart in Marling's decision to write in a casual Reviewed by CAROLYN OILMAN, MHS researcher and writer, style. Adopting a breezy and personal form of address, the whose Where Two Worlds Vleet; The Great Lakes Fur Trade author achieves a folksy quality well suited to the Main Street was published by the society earlier this year. content of her researches. Her tone also provides a foil to the stiff pronouncements of the bureaucrats whose correspondence she frequently quotes. While her commentary occasionaUy be­ comes cloying, Marling's range of references — from Life magazine to Walt Disney cartoons — places the murals in the Wall-to-Wall America: A Cultural History of Post- broad cultural context promised in the book's subtitle. Office Murals in the Great Depression. By Karal M^all-to-Wall America is not only a history of pictures or of a Ann Marling. federal program, but an analysis of the tastes, the hopes, the (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1982. xiv, tenaciously held beliefs of America in the 19.30s. Karal Ann 348 p. Cloth, $35.00; paper, $14.95.) Vlarling's strategy in adopting a casual 1980s tone to probe these mural images is a giant step toward serious consideration WE HAVE ALL been in these buildings. Buying stamps or of the paintings as historical documents and — despite the maihng packages, we may think of the post office as one more sometimes heavv' odds of art criticism and local opinion — as item in a hectic morning of errands. But perhaps we have been works of art. stopped on our rounds by an image high on the wall: the discovery of iron ore in the Chisholm post office or the pageant Reviewed by THOM.\S O'SULLIVAN, curator of art in the MHS. of steamboating in Grand Rapids, to name two Minnesota examples. These murals and many others are examined in a new cultural history of depression America, This absorbing study by Karal Ann Marling of the Universi­ ty of Minnesota sets forth the commissioning and creation of Finnish Diaspora. Volume 1, Canada, South Amer­ murals for post offices across America in the 1930s and 1940s, ica, Africa, Australia and Sweden; Volume 2, Funded by the Treasury Department's program of embellish­ United States. Edited by Michael G. Kami. ment for public buildings, the murals were not, as Marling (Toronto, Multicultural History Society of Ontario, emphasizes, ""WPA art" or rehef projects, but an attempt to 1981. 305 p., 319 p. $14.00, both vols.; $8.00, each.) secure the best American art within certain socially accepted standards of style and subject matter. These social standards THE Multicultural History Society of Ontario, under the pres­ often outweighed aesthetic standards. The process of adjusting idency of Robert F. Harney, has provided an important stimu­ the painter's style, ideals, and whims to the community's con­ lus to immigration and ethnic studies in the United States as ception of suitable art was itself a subtle diplomatic talent. The well as Canada. These hvo volumes constitute the proceedings records of these negotiations make this book a window into of ""Finn Forum '79," one of a series of ethnic conferences held 1930s life, just as the murals themselves were windows into an under the auspices of the society in recent years. Finnish Di- idealized local history, a.spora takes a global view; hence, the first volume deals with Wall-to-Wall America is a book Dr, Marling is uniquely the Finnish immigration to Canada and other places, while qualified to write. Her Greyhound bus odyssey to the post the second is devoted entirely to the United States. offices of ""mural America" is a research effort which may well Of the 380,000 Finns who emigrated overseas before 1930, become a part of art-historical folklore. Her extensive research the lion's share, upwards of 300,000, traveled to the United in the Treasury Section of Fine Arts records at the National States, while Canada with some 60,000 was a distant second Archives is outlined in a useful eight-page ""Note on Sources." choice until American restrictive policies in the 1920s Her book is, furthermore, a devoted study of a ""screamingly deflected Finnish immigration to the north. Australia, South terrible " art, banished until recently to the provinces of the Africa, and South America each attracted only a few thousand. discipline. This ""poor art for poor people" has been ignored (The chapters on these migrations serve primarily to explain and maligned, but Marling's detailed and bemused study will why the Finns did not choose those destinations.) The Finnish put these federal murals on the map as securely as the post diaspora was essentially a North American phenomenon, and office buildings which often still house these icons of the Great the question that immediately comes to mind is "what differ­ Depression. ence did the border make? " Marling defines the dilemma of Roosevelt's New Deal in In his essay, Edward W. Laine asserts that ""the Finnish sponsoring contemporary art: how to reconcile the goals of a Canadian cultural identity is the product of its Canadian triumvirate composed of painter (chosen by national competi­ environment," but he does not elaborate on how Finnish tion), public (citizens using the post office in diverse regions of ethnicity might have developed differently north of the border. the country), and patron (a small corps of dedicated but doctri­ The other contributors, when they deal with the issue, empha- 174 Minnesota History bv Vlarianne Wargelin-Brown and Carl Ross. Histories of the size the simdarities of the Finnish experiences in Canada and Finnish stage in the United States and Canada, written respec­ the United States. Auvo Kostiainen, for example, stresses orga­ tively bv Timo Riippa and Taru Sundsten, are complemented nizational and personal contacts between Finnish radicals in by Sirkka Tuomi-Lee s delightful memoir of a theatrical family, the two countries, which in effect make it possible to speak of a ""Finglish" is the subject of expert and sympathetic treatments North American Finnish labor movement. For the most part, by .Marja-Liisa Martin and Pertti Virtaranta, however, the authors do not address this central issue. Orga­ nizing the volumes along topical rather than geographical lines Although humanistic approaches prevail in most contribu­ would have facditated such comparative analysis. tions, behaviorist methodology is represented by several The contributors to Finnish Dia.spora are from Canada, essays, Tom Sandhmd utilizes demographic analysis in his dis­ Finland, and the United States and represent a wide range of cussion of the emigration of Swedish Finns, as does Altti Ma- disciplines. Their 36 essays reflect the lively state of Finnish java in his account of post-World War II Finnish migration to migrant studies in all three countries. Among the contributors Sweden, Lennard Sillanpaa employs analysis of voting patterns are two pioneer historians; John Kolehmainen offers an in his study of Canadian Finnish political behavior, while evocative essay on the Finnish immigrant experience, and A. Vlichael Loukinen traces through network analvsis the migra­ William Hoglund provides an insightful piece on Finnish tion of second-generation Finns from Michigan's Upper Penin­ ""America letters." At the risk of being accused of chauvinism, sula to Detroit, The emphasis on mining and rural areas is one may note that Vlinnesota scholars dominate among Amer­ balanced somewhat by the urban history studies of Finns in ican participants. The Finns, many from Turku University, are Port Arthur and Duluth by Ahti Tolvanen and Matti Kaups, ably represented; especially worthy of note are essays by Keijo respectively. Virtanen on the Finnish return migration (about one in five In his essay, Kaups urges more attention to urbanism as an repatriated) and by Reino Kero on the migration of Canadian important component of the Finnish immigrant e.xperience. Finns to Soviet Karelia in the 1930s, Although there is the Decrving the ""utter void of studies concerning the urban ecol­ exception, such as the piece by J. Donald Wilson on Matti ogy of the Finns, " he contends that such studies, employing Kurikka and his efforts to estabhsh Utopian socialist settle­ quantitative methods, would provide the basis for '"the for­ ments, Canadian scholarship on the Finnish immigration mulation of a general theory of Finnish immigrant life and appears as yet to be in its infancy. institutions in urban United States and Canada, " Kaups also The preferred topic among the contributors to Finnish Di­ calls into question the common bias that informs most of the aspora is the radical labor movements among Finnish immi­ contributions dealing with the Finnish labor movement. The grants. While some traverse famdiar ground, other essays offer influence of socialism he describes as "a tragedy of the Finnish fresh research and new interpretations. Among these are Kos- immigrant experience, " which by directing the energies of the tiainen's study of the relationships between Finnish radicals in Finns into a ""deviant path of common good . that was not in the United States and Canada, George Hummasti's analysis of keeping with the mainstream of American thought and institu­ socialist leadership, and Riitta Stjarnstedt's discussion of Fin­ tions [rendered] the American transition more cumbersome nish women in the labor movement. I especially like the broad than it would have been othenvise. " scope of Arnold Alanen's essay, which delineates the ""unique " Finnish Diaspora offers a series of often fascinating mono­ response of the Finns to paternahsm and exploitation in the graphic studies. By and large, hovvev cr, they do not raise ques­ corporate-dominated mining region of Lake Superior, tions regarding the wider significance of the Finnish immigra­ Several writers comment upon the deep and persisting tion or of its place in the history of either Finland or North cleavage within the Finnish immigrant community between America. As noted, Matti Kaups does offer a critique and a "Church Finns " and ""Red Finns. " "VVhile the socialists receive challenge to his colleagues. Although none of the articles re­ extensive discussion, relatively little attention is devoted to spond directly, there is material aplentv' for formulating a reply those Finns who followed Christian rather than Marxist in these two volumes. teachings. In his fine essay on church and labor conflict in Inherent in its origin as conference proceedings, Finnish northern Michigan, Arthur Puotinen observes: "For too long, Diaspora lacks the quality of synthesis. It is left to the reader to two intellectual traditions in a particular ethnic community assemble from these fragments the mosaic of the Finnish im­ have been pitted against each other without an earnest analysis migrant experience. Anyone interested in Finnish immigration which permits each one to stand on its own merits." Puotinen to North America — and to Minnesota — is indebted to the provides an "earnest analysis" of the response of Finnish- Multicultural History Society of Ontario for this basic work. American churchmen to the ""labor question. Only two other The volumes are also available from the Immigration History pieces deal in depth with the role of religion in Finnish immi­ Research Center, 826 Berry St,, St, Paul, MN .55114; add grant life, that of Alan B. Anderson on Finnish settlements in $2.00 for postage and handling. Saskatchewan and that of Marvin Lamppa on the pietistic Laestadians in northeastern Minnesota. Reviewed by RIIDOLFH J. VECOLI, professor of history and Finnish Dia.spora does contain surprises, novel treatments director of the Immigration History Research Center at the of less known (at least to this reviewer) facets of the Finns in University of Minnesota. His own researches have focused America. Marsha Penti presents a well-crafted account based upon the Italian immigration to the United States: the chapter on oral sources of a Finnish community in the cranbcrrv- on "The Italians" in the MHS volume. They Chose Minnesota growing area of southwestern Massachusetts, while William (1981), is among his recent publications. Copeland re-creates the early Finnish setdements in Florida. Immigrant women receive their just due in perceptive essays

Winter 1982 175 The 400 Story. By dim Scribbins. upgraded and streamlined, powered the new trains. Later, (Park Forest, 111, PTJ Publishing, Inc., 1982. 231 p. the Minnesota 400 run went beyond Mankato to Rapid City, Illustrations. $.35,00; handling fee, $2..50.) South Dakota, and the train became known as the Dakota 400. During World War II and well into the postwar period of the 1950s, 400 service was extremely popular and filled a real EXCEPT for rail buffs and those of us who have been around need. Unfortunately, by 1960 patronage of the Minnesota- for the past half centurv or more, there are few people to whom Dakota 400 run had declined; the service was discontinued the word ""streamliner" would likely invoke much feeling of beyond Mankato during October, and the train was renamed nostalgia. It vvas during the mid-19.'30s that the nation s rail­ the Rochester 400. Patronage on even the Twin Cities 400 roads, perhaps in an effort to improve their public image as dropped so much by January, 1963, that the railway successful­ well as to increase their income from passenger revenues, ly petitioned to discontinue it as well as the connecting Roches­ coined this word to describe the new breed of high-speed (and ter 400. The action brought to a close almost a century of usually light-weight) trains that were being introduced. G&NW passenger service through southern Minnesota. All of The 400 Story beautifully describes one such fleet of trains this and much more is meticulously chronicled by author operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway, The Scribbins in this interesting book. More than 400 photographs original 400 vvas placed in service between Chicago and the and timetables relating to the 400 service enhance his work. Twin Cities on January 2, 1935. The steam-powered train, There is a color photo "sampler" at the back of the S'/i- by consisting of five heavy-weight cars, vvas scheduled to cover 11-inch volume that reveals the color scheme of the trains. the 400-mile run between Chicago and St. Paul in just 400 At times, the author's attention to minute detail may minutes, an average speed, including station stops, of 63 miles appear tedious to the average reader; however, it must be per hour. The top speed of the train in places often exceeded remembered that this constitutes part of Minnesota's heritage 100 miles per hour. Advertisements proudly proclaimed it as and deserves to be preserved for future historians. Since the "the fastest train on the American continent, ' and it vvas well demise of all of the 400 trains, the line behveen Winona and received in spite of competing service that same year from both Mankato has undergone considerable change. The big draw- the Burlington and Milwaukee roads, span over the Mississippi at Winona is no longer used, and the A new train, the Vlinnesota 400, connecting with the Twin magnificent old depot there has been razed. Other C&NW Cities 400 at Wyeville, Wisconsin, began to serve the cities of stations to the west have also been abandoned or demolished, Winona, Rochester, Owatonna, Waseca, and Mankato on June leaving little to remind us of the once important role of the 14, 1936. It operated with reconditioned equipment until now-vanished passenger train through this part of Minnesota. January, 1942, when due to heavy patronage by Vlinnesotans, an entirely new train consisting of streamlined, light-weight Reviewed by FRANK (FRANKLIN) A. KING, author of The Mis- equipment was installed. Two Pacific-type steam locomotives. sabe Road (1972) and Minnesota Logging Railroads (1981).

•NEWS & NOTES

TWO publications, diametrically Hall pointed out, have overemphasized runic knowledge, and who were opposed in viewpoint, update the the gossip surrounding the stone's recording their own every-day speech, irrepressible debate over \'iking discovery. "There is nothing in the fits the observable facts best." penetration of the North American language of the Kensington Stone, " he In "American Runes: From continent. In The Kensington says, ""that indicates the influence of Kensington to Spirit Pond, " an article in Rune-Stone Is Genuine (Columbia, nineteenth-century English or the April, 1982, issue of the/ournnZ of S.C, Hornbeam Press, 1982, 109 p., Scandinavian languages. Certain of its English and Germanic Philology, Erik hard cover $9.95, paper $7.95), Robert features, both linguistic and graphemic, Wahlgren traces the lengthy debate that A, Hall, Jr., following an extensive are specifically ancient, and unlikely to has raged over the Kensington linguistic analysis, concludes that there have been known to any except a most inscription, observing that the weight of is a "98% likelihood that the inscription learned nineteenth-century forger. The scholarly opinion — from linguists, of the Kensington Stone is . assumption of improvisation on the part historians, and archaeologists — has genuine. " He bases his argument on the of one or more runographers, who were been heavily against the authenticity of nature of the inscription, asserting that not professional rune-masters, in a the inscription with only three linguists the wording and lettering arc of a style group of fourteenth-centurv' voyagers dissenting: S.N. Hagen, William used bv 14th-century Swedes. Critics, stranded far from any source of detailed Thalbitzer, and Robert A. Hall, Jr. He

176 Minnesota History rejects, as he has on previous occasions, Waa-Pa-Shau (Wabasha), and Communications. Copies may be the hypothesis of O.G. Landsverk and Esh-Tah-Hum-Leah (Sleepy Eyes). The ordered from Student Publications, 111 Alf Monge, that a cryptogram lay buried paintings, completed in the early 1830s Murphy Hall, 206 Church St. S.E., in the Kensington inscription and that by the fashionable portraitist Henry Minneapolis, VIN .5.5455. "the oddities of the Kensington Stone, Inman, were used as the models for far from proving it a fraud, were the colored lithographs in Thomas L. FROM the vantage point of the 1980s best guaranty of its authenticity. " McKenney and James Hall's History of depression, H. Roger Grant's Wahlgren writes: "An eleventh-century the Indian Tribes of North America. paperback, Self-Help in the 1890s Norwegian or Icelandic priest who Inman's paintings have been in the Depression, becomes relevant as well as knew and used Arabic arithmetical Peabody Museum of Harvard interesting. Grant discusses community concepts would have been the product University for the past century. They gardens, labor exchange, co-operative of a quantum leap in Scandinavian were purchased with funds donated to stores, farmers' railroads, and cultural history, a leap spanning the society by the Bush Foundation and intentional communities as methods hundreds of years and one which, the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser 1890s people used to cope with their through extraordinary mischance, had Foundation. Thomas O'Sullivan hard times. He concludes with a brief left no record outside the pages of look at 20th-century self-help ventures. Monge-Landsverk. In brief it is only LUCILE M, KANE, senior research Vlinnesota figures into the chapter wishful moderns who fail to grasp the fellow at the VIHS, received the about co-operative stores with a absurdity of antique claims for Western History Association Award of description of the workings of the St. decimal-based numerals and dates on Merit "for distinguished contributions Paul-based People's Hard Times Supply Greenland or the American mainland." to the cause of Western History" at that Company, wliich in turn took a leaf The several small rune stones organization's 21st annual meeting in from the book of the Swedish discovered at Spirit Pond on the coast of Phoenix in October, In presenting the Cooperative Association that had Maine in 1971, Wahlgren finds, possess award, WHA president Mary Lee originated in the city in the 1870s. an "odd text in runes, a maip — an Spence cited Kane for her writings as People s Hard Times joined with a anachronistic feature in itself— of the well as her career as curator of co-operative grain elevator firm in local area, a rendering of the dates in manuscripts and state archivist. Zumbrota, which became the Farmers' modern (Arabic) style, and carved Mercantile and Elevator Company and AMONG the many craftspeople at the lasted until the 1920s. Minnesota is also depictions of certain objects, most 1981 Festival of American Folklife in notably a cluster of grapes and a sheaf of mentioned in connection with such Washington, D.C, were several farmers' railroads as the Duluth and grain, that are directly reminiscent of Ojibway who demonstrated traditional the Vinland sagas. " These inscriptions, North Dakota Railroad Company, which ways to build birch-bark canoes, hoped to link northwestern North he believes, comprise a latter-day hoax wigwams, and food vessels. Earl owing much to printed discussions of Dakota with Lake Superior at the Nyholm's brief essay in the festival's Minnesota port. This illustrated, the Kensington stone. "Two of its program booklet (published by the symbols," he observes, "" are found indexed, 163-page volume from the Smithsonian Institution) documents Iowa State Universitv Press (Ames, with these values nowhere in the world these building processes and supplies 1983) costs $ 11.95 plus $ 1.00 for postage but at Kensington and Spirit Pond, background information on the history and handling. Derived from Holand and the and the technology of the art. In simple Kensington Stone is the incomplete language, suitable for schoolchildren, understanding of the phonetic value off) he describes how and when the bark is FROM THIS VALLEY, by Clarice thorn,' which we therefore, with taken, how it is stitched, shaped, and Olson Adelmann (Staples, Adventure [linguist Einar] Haugen, transliterate as sealed, and how it can be decorated, A Publications, 1981, 124 p., $4.95), is the D. Kensingtonian are the travel brief bibliography/discography is author's account of growing up in directions, the anachronistic numerals appended, Vlinnesota's Red River Valley during and dates, and the reference to red the 1930s and 1940s. Adelmann was one slaughter. " SURVIVORS: Political Refugees in the of nine children of Scandinavian parents Whatever the precise meaning of Twin Cities (University of Minnesota whose goal was someday to be skidd-fri the Spirit Pond inscriptions (Haugen School of Journalism and Mass (free of debt) on the farm that they were concluding that most of the text cannot Communications, 1982, 36 p, $1..50 plus homesteading. The realistic account is be translated at present), Wahlgren .50(f postage and handling) offers readers simply and compellingly written. The finds the Maine coastal petroglyphs a personal accounts of the refugee author tells of Scandinavian manners "witty commentary on the perennial experience. Here are life stories of (the Uth commandment vvas, ""under no struggle between reason and credulity, Southeast Asian, Eastern European, circumstances shall you be forward"), of between our respect for evidence and and Russian Jewish emigres rare trips to East Grand Forks for a our desire to shape a flattering past. " accompanied by evocative pictures, a glorious malted milk, of saving money Russell W Fridley combination of photographs from family by foregoing Novocain in the dentist's albums and those taken for this book. chair, and of sermons considered THE portrait of the Ojibway chief Introductory pages on the meaning of successful because children left the Okee-Makee-Quid (The Chief That exile are followed by sections devoted Lutheran church in a state approaching Speaks), reproduced in color on the to flight, escape, and arrival in terror. cover of the Summer, 1982, issue of America, adaptation, and memory and Adelmann wrote the book so her Minnesota History, is one of four art identity. This visually lovely, moving children could understand her works recently acquired by the MHS. booklet was entirely produced by upbringing. The rest of us also can learn The other portraits acquired are the students at the University of Minnesota of a time too recent for history books. Dakota leaders Little Crow II, School of Journalism and Mass Peg Meier

Winter 1982 177 MANY collections of women's letters, Now that North Dakota, Iowa, and THE JACKET copy of America in the diaries, and other papers have finallv' Kansas (Joanna L. Stratton, Pioneer Twenties (New York, Simon and been mined as the treasure trove that Women: Voices from the Kansas Schuster, 1982, 585 p., $20.95) by thev' are, Tvvo recent publications show Frontier) have publications about Geoffrey Perrett calls this book "the the fruit of the labor, Elizabeth women on their frontiers, Vlinnesota, definitive portrait of an epoch " — an Hampsten, using repositories in North with its rich resources, should produce arresting assertion if indeed true. Dakota, produced Read This Only to a comparable entry into the field. Perrett says he covers more characters Yourself: The Private Writings of Sarah P. Rubinstein and incidents than did Frederick Lewis Midwestern Women. 1880-1910 Allen in Only Yesterday and offers the (Bloomington, Indiana Universitv Press, interpretation missing in that earlier 1982, 242 p,, $22,,50). Both the writings MINNESOTA FARMER: Ivcr O. Iver­ study. But alas, Perrett substitutes themselves and Hampsten's analysis arc son is a wonderful book put together by adjectives for analysis. fascinating. The author focuses on what his daughters, X'ivian and Gorinne, and In his attempt to describe the 1920s the women say, or sometimes do not published in 1981, It is for the most as a watershed between the Victorian say, about class and place, class and part their translation of the thoughtful and the modern worlds, he finds many language, and class and sexualitv', and informative ""America letters" their phenomena rooted in the post-World disease, and death. She examines one father wrote in Nonvegian to the news­ War I years. Readers with a broader family network and two individuals in paper Nordlands-Avis in Hemnes, Nor- frame of reference will quickly depth, according to the characteristics wav, from his Cottonwood County farm challenge such statements as she has found in a wide variety of in the second decade of this century. It '"newspapers had consisted almost letters. also includes postcards and photo­ entirely of news" at the turn of the graphs, some taken by Iver, that are century, and widespread advertising Glenda Rdey in Frontierswoman: used to illustrate manv' of the letters. The Iowa Experience (Ames, Iowa State first appeared in the 1920s. He also says University Press, 1981, 211 p., paper, Minnesota Farmer is also a family his­ that before consumer credit became $7.50) follows several themes. She tory, which begins with a biography of popular in the 1920s "houses were examines what it vvas like for women to Iver based on the numerous letters and about the only items that respectable move to the Iowa frontier, what kinds of other written records he left. A small people bought on credit," a statement homes and furnishings they had, and notebook in which "our parents re­ that is patently nonsense. how they spent their time while being corded the various episodes of this vaca­ Feminists will be upset by Perrett's technically ""not gainfully employed." tion " documents a trip to North Dakota saying that the 19th amendment passed She then shifts focus to black and in 1928, for example. The volume also after 30 years of labor. Seventy would immigrant women. In the absence of includes a length)' index with such intri­ be more accurate. Meridel Le Sueur's information on black women, she guing entries as bootlegging, breadbak- name is misspelled, and France gets discusses the abolition movement in ing, Copenhagen snuff, capitalism, more entries than women in the index. drought. Friendly Garden Club, gyp­ Iowa. There is disappointingly little Americans must wait for a definitive sies, and home-talent plays. material on immigrant women. Again treatment of the post-World War I era. the author shifts her emphasis and The family is fortunate and unusual in Our counterpart to Robert Graves's discusses a few prominent women on having so much material, and they have study of England in the 1920s, The the Civil War home front and in the made e.xcellent use of it. For ordering Long Weekend, has not yet been temperance movement. She closes her information, write Gorinne Iverson, written. S.P.R. book with a brief analysis of frontier Eureka Farm, Rt. 2, Lamberton, Vlinn. myths and realities where Minnesotans .56152. can discover that lowans had nothing to A POPULIST Assault: Sarah E. Van De fear during the Dakota War of 1862. IN his attempt to reach juvenile Vort Emery on American Democracy, Both authors emphasize that women readers, Richard Erdoes in Native 1862-1895 (Bowling Green State viewed the frontier differently from Americans: The Sioux (New York, University Popular Press, 1982, 146 p., men and offer copious examples to Sterling Publishing Co., 1982, 96 $13.95, paper, $6.95) discusses and support their thesis. Thev' also stress p., $14.95) presents a brief and evaluates the life, goals, and careful both the importance to women of sometimes distorted account of the rhetoric of this hitherto little-known recreating a home similar to the one they history and traditions of the Dakota woman. Authors Pauline Adams and had left behind and of a network of people. Treatment of present-day life Emma S. Thornton chose their subject female relatives and friends. Letter focuses on the reservation with fleeting carefully, hoping to fill a void in writing and visiting were essential reference to the impact of urbanization. historical writing. Emery was a woman, occupations in these women's efforts to The book has a fine collection of a "second rank worker-leader," active in establish a place for themselves in a prints and photographs. An emphasis on .Michigan, a region often overlooked in new environment. pictures of beautiful children and Populist scholarship. Their Riley's book has great notes and landscapes, however, distracts the multidisciplinary study of her bibliography and a good index. reader rather than aiding the author's deliberately aims to expand "our Hampsten's book has short notes, no description of Dakota life. In his few awareness of a person, a time, an index, and no pictures. Riley chose only references to Minnesota, the author economic problem, a society and the portraits of activist women to illustrate unfortunately leaves the impression that ties of each to each." The authors' her work. Both authors would have the Dakota War of 1862 was causally interest in middle-rank leaders is also benefited from using a wide variety of related to other conflicts between the evident in their article, "The Person in pictures such as Lillian Schlissel did in United States government and the History: An Affirmation, " which Women's Diaries of the Westward Dakota people in the 1860s and 1870s. appeared in the Fall, 1981, issue of Journey. Mitchell E. Rubinstein this magazine.

178 Minnesota History SUMMER in the Spring: Ojibwe Lyric THAT popular theme, childhood in the ol a 123-page typescript recently Poems and Tribal Stories (Vlinneapolis, Midwest, has another representative. acquired by the MHS reference library. Nodin Press, 1981, 1.57 p., $6.95) is a Growing Up in the Midwest (Ames, Rock, an FHA intern at Fort Snelling in collection at once delicate and robust. Iowa State University Press, 1981, 215 1980-81, wrote the guide, not merely to In the sparsely beautiful poetry, the p., $12,9.5). Edited by Clarence A. the village of .Mendota, but to "the narratives that relate the customs and Andrews, whose Growing Up in Iowa entire region surrounding the beliefs of the anishanaabeg, the tales of (1978) was reviewed for this magazine in confluence [of the Mississippi and the trickster Naanabozho, and the Winter, 1979, this is a collection of Minnesota rivers] as well, including the pictomyths — enlarged copies of original short stories and poems about Minneso­ present day Fort Snelling State Park, drawings now in tlie Smithsonian ta, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri chil­ the Fort Snelling and Mendota Institution — one catches a glimpse of dren's experiences. Some of the 22 au­ Historical Districts, and the tip of the richness and complexity of thors are bitter, some are misty-eyed, Highland in St. Paul, " on behalf of "the traditional Ojibway life and philosophy: some are funny, some bring the special visiting teacher, tourist, or amateur ""The tales are not objective collections perspective of the recent immigrant. historian." It is documented, but not and interpretations of historical facts or There are three Vlinnesotans repre­ indexed, and contains a map of the pedagogical models. Stories are dream sented— VIeridel Le Sueur, Patricia sites, numerous photographs, and a circles, visual images and oratorical Hampl, and Garrison Keillor. The bibliography. gestures showing the meaning between selections make good reading for a lazy the present and the past: word cinemas afternoon. DULUTH-BORN mining engineer in the lives of the tribal people of the Arnold A. Gustafson has written a book woodland." ANYONE interested in farm machinery — Life: 1900 to 1981 (Vantage Press, These stories, which Gerald Vizenor will enjoy looking through C H. 187 p., $8.9.5) — about his career. He "edited and ree.xpressed, " first Wendel's 150 Years of International left Minnesota to work in the South and appeared in The Progress, an Ojibway Harvester (Sarasota., Fla., Crestline West in 19.34, but not before he had newspaper published on the White Publishing, 1981, 416 p.). The author worked for United States Steel Corp. Earth reservation. The editor's intended to "illustrate the history of the and Zenith Furnace Co. in Duluth and introduction places the material in its company through its products " and has for Pickands Mather & Co. at Rabbit historical and political context, and an included 1,900 illustrations, many from Lake and at the Mahnomen Vline, both appendix explains some of the the International Harvester archives on the Cuyuna Range. symbolism of the pictomyths. The book and previously unpublished. While the is handsomely produced, and the emphasis is placed on the farm tractor MORE than 5,000 annotated entries good-quahty paper, use of larger type business, the subjects range from balers document the Public Works History in to trucks and include refrigerators and for the lyric poems, and the placement the United States: A Guide to the war production. Wendel also gives a of the pictomyths enhance material that Literature, edited by Suellen M. Hoy brief history of the VIcCormick is intrinsically engaging. and Michael C Robinson and published Harvesting Machine Company and recently by the American Association others which merged to become for State and Local Historv (Nashville, ""TO THE MAKERS of American International Harvester Company. 1982, 512 p., .$49.00; $39.00 to things, writ and wrought, past and members of the American Public Works present," Thomas J. Schlereth dedicates MARITIME disasters in the Great Association and the Public Works a new anthology from the American Lakes have claimed an estimated 10,000 Historical Society; and $36.75 to Association for State and Local History ships over the last 1.50 years. James P. members of AASLH). The bibliography (AASLH). Material Culture Studies in Barry's new work. Wrecks and Rescues covers the historical development America (NashviUe, 1982, cloth $22.95, of the Great Lakes: A Photographic of planning, engineering, and paper $15.00, 10% discount for AASLH History (San Diego, Howell-North administration, as well as subjects such members) pulls together a wide variety Books, 1981, 126 p., $15.00), tells the as irrigation, flood control, roads and of essays. It contains 25 articles divided story of those catastrophes from an early highways, urban mass transportation, into three major groups: theoretical, sinking in 1679 to a stranded British energy, and parks and recreation. methodological, and practical. Essays freighter on Lake Vlichigan in 1978. by Schlereth, "a leading authority on Readers who have weathered a THE CHURCH and History: A Guide the use of artifactual evidence in northeaster on Vlinnesota's north shore for Archivists and Historians is a historical research, " frame his will not be surprised to learn that Lake spiral-bound publication of papers selections, which range from Peirce F. Superior entries in the book's index presented at a 1980 seminar sponsored Lewis' ""Axioms for Reading the outweigh those of the other Great by the Minnesota Humanities Landscape: Some Guides to the Lakes. The volume contains more than Commission at Concordia College, St. American Scene," and ""Death's Head, 125 black-and-white photographs and Paul. The 107-page volume, edited by Cherub, Urn and Willow, " by James provides notes and a bibliography. Glenn W. Offermann, can be extremely Deetz and Edwin S. Dethefsen, to "Tin useful to any person or organization Can Archaeology," by Robert Ascher, "M'DOTA Historic Sites, with contemplating putting together a Henry Classic's ""Folk Art," and '"An descriptions concerning ownership, history of a congregation. The late Indiana Subsistence Craftsman, " by location, access, historical significance, Ernest R. Sandeen, Macalester College Willard B. Moore, recently returned to & present status, with special emphasis history professor, here combined his the MHS as a biographies project on Sites Hitherto Unknown, written long-standing interest in religious researcher. The 419-page volume has a under the auspices of the Vlinnesota history with a later enthusiasm for local detailed index but a dismaying lack of Historical Society in the year, 1981, by history to provide a thoughtful illustrations, given its subject matter. Richard F. Rock,'' reads the title page theoretical underpinning for any such Winter 1982 179 effort. '"Use the occasion of the writing sources include records of businesses is the opening one by James I. of history to think seriously about what and fraternal organizations, newspapers, Robertson, Jr., for "The Bloodiest Day: it means to live in community because photographic collections, and less Antietam " section. Other famous battles you have to be living in a community to well-known census schedules. Porter covered are Fredericksburg, be writing any kind of a history," said gives the locations of all his sources and Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, for Sandeen. Other papers consider indicates what other information they which introductions were written by, congregational record keeping, contain. The volume, indexed by name, respectively, Peter J. Parrish, Frank E. producing a congregational history, art, is available from the author at P.O. Box Vandiver, and William A. Frassanito. architecture, and artifacts in church 134, Center City, MN 55012. The picture approach for each is to history (which contains information on show the terrain and landmarks, some documenting early Jewish settlers in of the significant participants, camp Minnesota), developing a resource unit VIINNESOTA'S former senator, scenes, and then terrible carnage. Eugene J. McCarthy, provides an on local church history, and a panel Dudley T. Cornish offers a good discussion on how to relate to the local evocative look at his home state in a new book entitled Gene McCarthy's essay on the roles of blacks, including congregation major movements in contrabands and soldiers, under Union the church and society, including Minnesota: Memories of a Native Son (Minneapolis, Winston Press, 1982, 137 arms, as do James M. Merrill on the immigration, Americanization, blockade of southern ports and and the role of women. As users of p., hard cover, $12.95, paper, $6.95). The volume is a comfortable Charles P. Roland on "The South at congregational histories well know, they War. " A chapter on "Washington at are often the only published sources for combination of prose and poetry, and McCarthy's ingredients are as diverse as War " includes a picture of "Minnesota their towns or neighborhoods, and more Row, " a block named for the house of religious groups should be urged his own career. He writes of his ethnic heritage, his family and children, and Henrv M. Rice, Minnesota senator until strongly to document themselves in this 1863.' way. It is good for the congregation, his home town of Watkins, where he The MHS audio-visual library good for the cause of bringing history played first base for the Great Soo furnished several pictures for the book, home to those who make it, and good League. The author also touches briefly among them a view of the steam frigate for researchers who need to know the on politics and offers his memories of "Minnesota. " Another MHS picture of kinds of things congregational histories Hubert H. Humphrey, whom he calls President Lincoln visiting Major can tell. The Church and History is "a politician too good to be vice General George B. McClellan's camp avadable for $5.00 plus $1.00 for president. " after Antietam, however, suggests the postage from Dr. Glenn W. Offermann, editors should have researched the Director, The Church and History THE ONGOING six-volume pictorial original source and obtained a print Seminar, Concordia College, St. Paul, coverage of the Civil War, generally there. Kenneth Carley MN 55104. entided The Image of War: 1861-1865, reaches the halfway point with The GENEALOGISTS, Swedish historians, Embattled Confederacy (Garden City, EDWARD E. HILL is the compiler of and residents of Chisago County will N.Y., Doubleday, 1982, 464 p., a Guide to Records in the National appreciate Robert B. Porter's efforts in $39.95). A project of the National Archives Relating to American Indians compiling A Guide to the Historical Historical Society and edited by (1982), developed from papers Records of Chisago Lake Colony William C Davis, the series will offer presented at a National Archives Minnesota (Center City, 1982, 253 p., some 4,000 photographs, half of them conference on research in the historv of $9.95 postpaid; overseas orders add hitherto unpublished, by the time of its Indian-white relations. The 467-page $5.00). The spiral-bound book contains scheduled completion in 1984. reference tool is available for $13.00 extensive lists of names mentioned in Like other volumes, the latest one from the Superintendent of Documents, county, township, village, church, and benefits fi-om able introductory essays U.S. Government Printing Office, cemetery records. More obscure by Civil War scholars. Among the best Washington, D.C. 20402.

OUR CHANGING TIMES? in 1841 a versatile early citizen of the Minne­ sota country, Dr. Charles W. W. Borup, wrote to New York "to purchase a newly invented instrument . . . the intention of which is preventing the cold air from affecting the lungs. It consists in a kind of mouth covering . . . through which the air is drawn into the lungs. It is to be had in the principal apothecary shops in Broadway." More than 80 years later the good doctor's order was dismissed in these pages as a "curious ancestor of modern quack appliances." Today, nearly 60 years after this assessment, we note the proliferation of cold-weather masks, described by one manufacturer as making it "easier to breathe during outdoor winter activities" since they warm and moisten inhaled air "even in subzero temperatures." Shades of Dr. Borup.

180 Minnesota History Copyright of Minnesota History is the property of the Minnesota Historical Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. Users may print, download, or email articles, however, for individual use.

To request permission for educational or commercial use, contact us.

www.mnhs.org/mnhistory