take three more recent books

The Conservative Heartland: A Political History of the Open Window: The Lake Julia Postwar American Midwest edited by Jon K. Lauck and TB Sanatorium: A Community Catherine McNichol Stock (Lawrence: University Press of Created by Tuberculosis by Pat Kansas, 2020, 392 p., Paper, $29.95). This timely volume Nelson (independently published, examines how and why the Midwest has arguably become 2020, 283 p., Paper, $19.50). The America’s most contested political battleground. The editors’ history of the northern introductory essay and the 17 essays gathered here reveal sanatorium as told through the inter- how the roots of conservative victories in state legislatures twined stories of Dr. Mary Ghostley, and national elections in the early twenty-​first century reach Lake Julia’s superintendent from 1929 back across decades of political organization in the region, until it closed in 1952, and nurses, defined as nine states from the Dakotas to Indiana and Ohio. patients, and employees, including Deindustrialization, environmentalism, second-​wave feminism, mass incarceration, the author’s parents. debates over same-​sex marriage and abortion, and more played roles in transform- ing the prewar Republican Party into the New Right, a transformation associated Taconite: New Life for Minnesota’s with the Sun Belt but in which the Midwest, the authors contend, was an equally key Iron Range—​The History of Erie player. The sole Minnesota-specific​ chapter covers the “white working-​class revolt” Mining Company by the Erie Min- that led in 1969 to the election of Charles Stenvig as mayor of Minneapolis, but refer- ing Company History Project Team ences to Minnesota are abundant. (Duluth: St. Louis County Historical Society, 2019, 352 p., Hardcover, $45). Surgical Renaissance in the Heartland: A Memoir of Active and retired employees of the Wangensteen Era by Henry Buchwald (Minneapolis: Erie Mining Company (in operation University of Minnesota Press, 2020, 208 p., Hardcover, from 1940 to 2001) put in more than $24.95). After a stint in the air force, Henry Buchwald was 25,000 hours of volunteer time over recruited in 1960 by Dr. Owen H. Wangensteen to join the an almost six-​year span to document Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota. The the history of one of the world’s first culture of innovation Wangensteen created was a perfect fit and largest taconite mines and pro- for Buchwald, then a young surgeon who had chafed against cessing plants, with a research facility the rigidity of East Coast medical practice. The foundations in Hibbing and taconite demonstra- of open-​heart surgery, implantable infusion pump thera- tion plant near Aurora. The success pies, and other medical landmarks originated during the of the demonstration plant led to Wangensteen era at the U of M’s Medical School. In an entertaining and inspiring the construction and operation of a style, Buchwald evokes the personalities and character of the department during commercial mine and plant with an his time working with Wangensteen, 1960 to 1967, as well as telling his personal annual rated capacity of 7.5 million story. Buchwald attributes the freedom of thought and value of innovation that were tons of iron ore pellets processed crucial to creating the “Minnesota legacy” to the midwestern and western origins of from taconite ore. Beyond the book, Wangensteen, Richard Varco, C. Walton Lillehei, Richard C. Lillehei, and other pio- the Erie Mining History Project neering surgeons. includes a study guide, traveling exhibit, future permanent exhibit at Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify by Carolyn Holbrook the St. Louis County Historical Soci- (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2020, 200 p., ety, and scholarships. Paper, $18.95). In the face of adversity, prominent writer, arts activist, and teacher Carolyn Holbrook has created opportuni- The Soul of the Indian: An Inter- ties for herself at every turn. She started the Whittier Writer’s pretation by Charles A. Eastman Workshop in 1981 so she could take writing courses she (Ohiyesa), with new introduction couldn’t afford. To support herself and her children she rented by Brenda J. Child (Lincoln: Bison a typewriter, took out an ad, and started a secretarial service. Books/University of Nebraska Press, This essay collection traces, in direct and affecting prose, 2020, 156 p., Paper, $18.95). Fortieth-​ Holbrook’s path from troubled Minneapolis childhood to lead- anniversary edition of the Dakota ership positions in the Twin Cities literary community, where physician and writer’s classic explo- she now leads More Than a Single Story, a series of panel discussions and community ration of religion as he experienced it conversations for people of color and Indigenous writers and arts activists. during the late nineteenth century.

170 MINNESOTA HISTORY news & notes

Fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic Visitors to the History Center can plans are still being developed for Mill over spring and summer 2020 resulted take in special exhibits including First City Museum and additional historic in temporary closures of MNHS sites Avenue: Stories of Minnesota’s Mainroom sites, although it is unlikely that any will and facilities and layoffs of 216 staff out and Prince: Before the Rain, which have open in 2020. The updated list of what is of the 595 people who were employed in been extended to January 3, 2021. Entry open may be found at mnhs.org/media April, representing a 36 percent reduc- will be limited; advanced tickets are rec- /news/12106. tion in staff. ommended. Market House by D’Amico To ensure the health and safety of Over the summer, MNHS reopened café will offer grab-and-go items, and the guests, staff, and the community, MNHS , Lower Sioux History Center store is open. is limiting the number of daily visitors at Agency, Oliver Kelley Farm (on select The Gale Family Library at the historic sites and museums. Tickets can Saturdays), , and is being be purchased online or through the box the trail sites , reconfigured to accommodate in-person office at 651-259-3015. A limited number , and . researchers and will open later this year. of tickets will be available for walk-ups. The Minnesota History Center and the Look for more information, including MNHS is following recommendations trading post (retail store) at the Mille the opening date, at mnhs.org/library. from the Minnesota Department of Lacs Indian Museum opened October 1. MNHS is prepared to offer self-guided Health and the Centers for Disease Con- (The Mille Lacs Indian Museum, which tours at the State Capitol as soon as the trol and will adjust reopening plans as normally closes for the season at the end Minnesota Department of Administra- necessary. of October, will remain closed.) tion reopens the building. Reopening For the first time ever, MNHS’s annual meeting will be held virtually. The 171st annual meeting will be held from 6:30 letters to 8 pm, November 5, 2020. A panel Congratulations on two powerful stories in the Summer 2020 issue. Both “Something in the discussion about pivotal moments in Water: Brainerd’s Water Fluoridation Battle” by Paul Nelson and “‘In That Very Northern Minnesota history—150, 100, and 50 City’: Recovering a Forgotten Struggle for Racial Integration in Duluth” by Chad Montrie years ago—will be moderated by Kevin reflect the issues which continue to divide us into those who are comfortable with the sta- Maijala, MNHS interim deputy director tus quo, unhealthy or unjust as it may be, versus those who insist that we can improve both for learning initiatives. Panelists are our personal well-being and the well-being of the greater community. At the bottom lies Kate Beane (Flandreau Santee Sioux), fear: fear that fluoride in our water or measles vaccines might make us sick or that black or director, Native American initiatives, brown homeowners next door might lower the value of our property. MNHS; journalist Curt Brown, author Let’s hope that these timely articles help Minnesotans reflect more deeply and produc- of the Minnesota history column in the tively on how to move our lives, and the lives of our children, toward health and inclusivity. Sunday Star Tribune; and Brittany Lewis, I hope to see more articles of this sort, which by [reflecting on] past events, shed bright founder and CEO of Research in Action light on current emotional and divisive issues. and senior research associate at the —Dutton Foster, St. Paul Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Reader Tom McCarthy wrote to express his disappointment over use of the term “costume” to refer to the garment portrayed in the Curator’s Choice feature (Summer 2020, p. 51): “If an article were to be written about the history of Vikings football players’ ‘costume,’ I imag- Correction: The W. K. (not, as was pub- ine you would receive ample complaint. Please begin using gender equal language.” lished, W. H.) Kellogg Foundation did not Sondra Reierson, MNHS 3D objects curator and coauthor of the article, replies: “In and does not own the Kellogg Company, retrospect I should have used ‘uniform’ rather than ‘costume,’ as we are referring to the maker of breakfast cereals, as described clothing of athletes. Clothing curators regularly refer to ‘costume’ and ‘costume collec- in “Something in the Water: Brainerd’s tions’ in a non-gendered way, but this usage is museum jargon that should have been Water Fluoridation Battle,” p. 58, in the stripped from an article meant for public consumption. I fully understand that in this con- Summer 2020 issue. text the word ‘costume’ appears gendered, and I apologize for this oversight.”

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FALL 2020 171 Exposed to voting early and often

our back pages Judy Schwartau’s par- ents took turns serving From the Bound Volumes of Minnesota History as election judges when she was growing up in the township of Featherstone, Minnesota. Judy remem- bers driving with them to Red Wing to deliver elec- Judy Schwartau tion results. She would watch as a county official wrote the results in chalk on a big board. “We’d have to keep reminding him to keep his sleeve out of the chalk,” Judy laughs. Little did Judy know that she would 1920 ▪ 100 Years Ago grow up to create the first election A story of “When Minneapolis Flashed as a Film Making Possibility” in the pioneer website for the city of Minneapolis, a period of the motion picture industry is narrated in the Minneapolis Journal for long way from posting results by hand February 29. From the very incoherent account it appears that “Hiawatha,” the first with chalk. dramatic production of “the independents,” was filmed in Minnehaha Glen in 1909, For more than 25 years, Judy with such present day stars as Mary Pickford and Thomas Ince in the company. worked to make Minneapolis elec- —“News and Comment,” Vol. 3, No. 6, June 1920, p. 383 tions run smoothly. She trained tens of thousands of election judges, sup- 1945 ▪ 75 Years Ago ported the introduction of new voting A pamphlet about The First Fifty Years of the Young-Quinlan Company of Minneap- technologies, and helped implement olis contains reprints of nine newspaper advertisements published in March, 1944, to mark the firm’s golden anniversary (1945, 11 p.). They deal with such events in its ranked-choice​ voting. history as the opening day, the fire that destroyed the company’s first store, and the “I don’t think people recognize building of its present home. —“News and Comment, Local History Items,” Vol. 26, No. 3, election officials as professionals who September 1945, p. 288 work not just two days a year but year-​ round,” Judy says. “We’re ‘wheels up’ 1970 ▪ 50 Years Ago for one of the most unforgiving dead- To mark the fiftieth anniversary of its founding in October, 1919, the League of lines that government faces.” Women Voters of Minnesota has published a small booklet entitled The First Fifty Honoring election workers is one Years. . . . The author, Margaret Fearrington Hargraves, traces the history of the reason why Judy decided to make a state organization, which predates the National League of Women Voters by several generous donation to the Minnesota months. Despite program and leadership changes through the years, Mrs. Hargraves Historical Society’s new online exhibit writes, the Minnesota league has retained its original purpose—to promote political “Votes for Women” www.mnhs.org responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government. /votesforwomen. The exhibit, created . . . The state league has maintained its relevance, according to the author, and is in partnership with the League of currently involved in election law reform and citizen education. —“News & Notes,” Women Voters of Minnesota, launched Vol. 42, No. 3, Summer 1970, p. 78 August 26, the 100th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth ▪ 1995 25 Years Ago Amendment. “Motherhood protection” was a polite name for a cause that was unmentionable and Judy sees the exhibit as reinforcing not entirely legal when the [Motherhood Protection] League [later, Minnesota Birth how much better the world is when Control League, forerunner of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota] first met in 1928. women, more than half the popula- Only 12 years before, the national movement’s outspoken leader, Margaret Sanger, tion, participate by voting and also had gone to jail for opening a birth-control clinic in an immigrant neighborhood in recognizes the election officials whose Brooklyn. Access to contraceptives was restricted under the same laws, more than a year-​round work ensures that voting half-century old, that governed obscenity. —“‘Motherhood Protection’ and the Minne- happens smoothly and accurately. sota Birth Control League,” by Mary Losure, Vol. 54, No. 8, Winter 1995, p. 359–70

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