• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Building Community, torical photographs—carefully discerning important details of the story they tell—is especially impressive. Keeping the Faith: German Catholic Throughout the book, I found myself trying to evalu­ Architecture in Rural Minnesota ate whether this group of vernacular buildings was distinct By Fred W. Peterson and unusual or typical of patterns we might discover else­ (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1998. 224 p. where in the rural landscape. Certainly, many of the build­ Cloth, $39.95; paper, $19.95.) ings and institutions which Peterson illustrates in this par­ ticular rural parish can be recognized in many other loca­ tions, often infoiTned by similar social expectations. In the OLD BUILDINGS AND HISTORIC LANDSCAPES can help tell concluding chapter he shows how this unified, dairying the story of who we are individually and communally. In enclave in Stearns Count)' reflects patterns of ethnicity, his latest book, Building Community, Keeping the Faith, Fred religious affiliation, and cultural relationships comparable Peterson continues a career-long commitment to examin­ to those we find in many other locations throughout the ing vernacular architecture and commonplace landscapes rural Midwest. This book celebrates the subtleties of a of rural Minnesota as reflections of cultural values. Peter­ distinct ethnic and religious tradition at a time when the son is a learned and thoughtful obsen'er whose work is well rural landscape is being re-engineered for efficiency and respected by academics; hence, this extensively footnoted obscured by sameness. volume vrill be useful to researchers of the built enriron- It seems that the only way this kind of research is likely ment, presen'ationists, historians, and rural sociologists. to be accomplished is as a labor of love. Fred Peterson Perhaps more importantly, Peterson considers historic clearly enjoys getting close to the subject matter of his architecture from perspectives that make sense to a much investigations, relishing the foodways, language, and broader audience seeking to understand social relation­ other customs as much as the buildings as artifacts. Peter­ ships based on what we observe around us. Casual readers son's book is refreshing in the way it treats conservative vrill appreciate the cultural-history orientation from which subject matter and the people who shared their knowl­ Peterson, an art historian, approaches a fascinating group edge vrith him in developing an intimate riew of their of "ordinary" buildings. heritage and faith. By treating common buildings and This book is a well-crafted analysis of a particular set of ordinary people vrith dignity and respect, Peterson cele­ farmhouses in Stearns County that express the consistent brates enduring social structures that are as meaningful values of an ethnically distinct rural community over time. as they are admirable. In his foreword, Peterson promises to show how conserva­ Peterson characterizes the organization of this book as tive cultural values are reflected in material culture and being like the brick houses it scrutinizes, vrith each chapter buildings constructed by German-American Catholic fami- built upon the foundations of the preceding parts. It is Hes from the 1850s through 1915. The book goes well tempting to extend his analogy further by considering the beyond descriptive analysis of simple buildings to pose unified and structurally sound walls of the farmhouses as a and help focus questions about cultural meanings that are metaphor for the kinds of communities that once thrived legible in human-made objects, like these commonplace throughout the midwestern countryside, communities houses. People ineritably make aesthetic choices, often where individuals saw themselves as useful and necessary without realizing or thinking very consciously about them. parts of a more unified and purposeful composite. This The red brick farmhouses built by German-American set- book shows how communities are often the product of tiers in St. John the Baptist parish surrounding Meire durable and carefully evolved traditions vrith origins in Grove, Minnesota, reflect a consen'ative aesthetic rooted remembered homelands. As we embark on a new century in orderliness, ritual, permanence, and religious faith. and new millennium, Peterson's latest book poses an in­ This patiently developed and readable text, well triguing framework for critical self-assessment. Today, what supported by suitable illustrations, rewards the reader factors and values bind together communities like Meire vrith both understanding and insight. The book's detailed Grove (or the community where you live)? Ideas introduced descriptions of house-plan arrangements and brick- in Building Community, Keeping the Faith are well worth con­ production processes may require more patience than sidering in terms of rapidly changing rural landscapes. W^e some casual readers are prepared to accord, but these can appreciate these brick farmhouses not just nostalgical­ details underscore the strong conclusions drawn in the ly but perhaps as a measuring scale for the kinds of values book's final two chapters. At times, the author necessarily that enable us to build and renew communities today. speculates about what the builders of these houses were thinking. His writing puts a human face on the details and Reviewed by Steve C. Martens, who teaches architecture and his­ circumstances of rural life. Peterson's ability to "read" his­ toric preservation at Nmth Dakota State University in Fargo. A 404 MINNESOTA HISTORY practicing architect with an abiding interest in the German- (though she has strong suspicions, as you will see). But American brick architecture of Carver County, Minnesota, he is she does know that Liggett beUeved he would be silenced uniting a book on Minnesota Cooperative Creamery buildings. for his muckraking and that her mother believed that Governor Olson was an accessor)' to the crime. In a sense, then, this book is her parents' testimony before the bar of history. For many of us, the Farmer- Stopping the Presses: Labor Party is a fascinating example of a strong radical The Murder of Walter W. Liggett group led by determined politicians-the most successful By Marda Liggett Woodbury such party at the state level in American histor)'. But (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998. 271 p. Woodbury wants to make sure that we never forget that Paper, $18.95.) for her mother and her father, at least, the party was littie better than a criminal racket. Here we get to a genuinely disconcerting feature of ON A COLD DECEMBER NIGHT in Minneapolis in 1935, this book. Because it offers her parents' testimony vrith death awaited Walter Liggett, a muckrakingjournalist regard to the Farmer-Labor Party, the book is also an seeking to expose corruption in Minnesota's Farmer- indictment. It is an indictment of all the people who slan­ Labor government. Unloading groceries from his family dered the Liggetts and of all the people who accepted the car, he was shot to death, literally in front of his vrife and slanders, either eagerly, for political reasons, or thought­ daughter, by an assailant seated in a car that sped down lessly, including all the scholars who lazily recycled the the alley next to their apartment building. slanders. Most important, it is an indictment of Floyd B. Ever since, this crime has been a mystery. The assailant Olson and the Farmer-Labor Party. Woodbury pictures identified by Edith Liggett, the author's mother, was Kid Olson as a mobbed-up politician who talked the radical Cann, a Minneapolis gangster (and later a big-time mob­ talk but who actually cared little for getting anything ster who associated vrith Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel). done. He simply wanted to get ahead and have a good But Cann was acquitted by a trial jury. After the murder, time vrith low-life companions along the way. Liggett's reputation was smeared by leading Farmer- In her shocking analysis of the Farmer-Labor Party Laborites, including Governor Floyd B. Olson, and by the and its famous leader, Woodbury claims that Walter Communist Party in its national newspaper—which led to Liggett's murder was not just a murder, but a political mur­ a successful libel suit and judgment against the author of der, the kind one expects to see in, say, Ciudad Juarez or the libellous articles and the publisher. Nonetheless, by Belgrade. Liggett had grown too persistent and too loud. the time the first serious histories of the Farmer-Labor Some people vrith a lot to lose, or, perhaps, brutally impa­ Party began to appear in print, Liggett was almost forgot­ tient vrith people they didn't like, decided to get rid of ten. The professional scholars who remembered him him once they learned that he couldn't be bought off or called him a blackmailer, in effect accepting the smear scared away from his determination to expose their cor­ against his reputation. rupt conspiracies. Liggett's daughter was determined that her father and In the riew of the Farmer-Labor Party offered here, mother not go into memory like that. Thus she offers, in its inner circle—Olson and a few trusted advisers—made part, a fond memoir of a very interesting couple and their three separate compromises vrith various pre-existing life in radical, grub-street journalism. Their kind of jour­ structures of power when they took over state government nalism hardly exists anymore, but for decades it was a in the 1930s. One pact was with the legitimate business major force in American politics. Historians of American class of the Twin Cities. Olson would give fiery speeches journalism vrill profit enormously from reading this book. but otherwise do nothing to create a legislative majority Through her reconstruction, 'Woodbury also lets the that could enact major policy changes. The second sell­ Liggetts give vritness to their lives before the murder, how out was to the illegitimate business class of the Tvrin they gradually became caught up in frightening events, Cities, namely, organized crime, of which there was plen­ and how they nonetheless sought to maintain their dignity ty.

Load more

  5

Copy Link