These six brass stanchions with their velvet ropes tell a fascinating history of architectural styles and a Minnesota-based bank. They originally stood in the Northwestern National Bank building, which opened in 1930 in downtown Minneapolis. While the building has long since disappeared, [...]
A tour of the collections of the Hennepin Medical History Center By CAROL OELTJENBRUNS This article was originally published in Hennepin History, 2021, Vol. 80, No. 1. Go back in medical history by visiting this nearly hidden archive embedded inside the bustling [...]
Dorsey Willis draft registration. Ancestry.com. Mr. Willis was a Minneapolis resident for more than 60 years. A few weeks ago, I got a research request for anything regarding a man named Dorsey Willis, someone I knew nothing about. It wasn’t [...]
by David Leonhardt This article was originally published in Hennepin History, 2021, Vol. 80, No.1 The Terrace Theatre in Robbinsdale was open for nearly 50 years. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people worked there during that time — and made lasting memories, [...]
Southeast Minneapolis Council on Learning had a formula for better education that looked like this: (SEMCOL)NEW+LD+SEREADS=BE or SEMCOL/NEW+LD=BE. Math was not my forte, but one of those statements must be true. The SEMCOL records are currently being processed and organized to be added to our archival [...]
Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 22, 1918 The influenza pandemic of 1918 created tense disagreements in Minneapolis and perhaps no man found himself caught in the middle more so than Dr. Harry Guilford. Serving as the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Guilford led Minneapolis’s response to the [...]
Japanese Language School at Camp Savage and Fort Snelling shortened World War II and brought people together by Charlie Maguire During World War II, some 5,000 to 6,000 Japanese American soldiers, members of the US Army's Military Intelligence Service, were given [...]
Imagine the spiders that would’ve been in here! This is the men’s restroom from Lake Harriet Park in 1998 before restoration started. The Lake Harriet Restroom Restoration Committee (LHRRC) or Spiff the Biff took on the task of restoring both the men’s [...]
Edifices for Educators: Buildings Named for University Women By Claire Strom This article was originally published in Hennepin History Spring 1991, Vol. 50, No 2 Organizations have always found ways to honor the achievements of their members. The Catholic Church [...]
Fire safety pamphlet from the Women's Civil Defense Council collection. This flyer makes me think of those safety films we had to watch in grade school. I remember a long walk through the bowels of the school to sit crisscross [...]
