• Clear Filters

Ramsey County History – Fall 2020: “A Doctor Ahead of His Time and the Trouble that Followed: The Sexual Life by Charles W. Malchow”

Ryan T. Hurt and Paul Nelson

A Doctor Ahead of His Time and the Trouble that Followed: The Sexual Life by Charles W. Malchow Authors: Ryan T. Hurt and Paul Nelson At the turn of the twentieth century, a progressive doctor named Charles W. Malchow, who worked at Hamline University’s short-lived Department of Medicine, wrote…

Ramsey County History – Spring 2020: “Women and Children First: The Volunteers of America and Louis W. Hill Build Fresh Air Rest Camp”

Eileen R. McCormack and Aine C. McCormack

Women and Children First: The Volunteers of America and Louis W. Hill Build Fresh Air Rest Camp Authors: Eileen R. McCormack and Aine C. McCormack In the early 1920s, Irving and Martha Starr, a married couple employed by the Volunteers of America (VOA) approached St. Paul businessman…

Ramsey County History – Winter 2020: “Ramsey County’s ‘Boy Problem:’ Snapshots of Boys Totem Town”

Bobbie Scott

Ramsey County’s “Boy Problem” Snapshots of Boys Totem Town Author: Bobbie Scott When Boys Totem Town, a detention home on St. Paul’s east side, closed its doors in 2019, administrators, teachers, judges, and several men who once spent time there as boys, gathered to remember. The facility opened…

The Life of Swede Hollow: a pictorial history

Reviewer: Bob Muschewske

The Life of Swede Hollow: a pictorial history Authors: Angela DuPaul and Karin DuPaul St. Paul, MN: Friends of Swede Hollow 115 pages; soft cover; 217 b&w photos and art; $18 In their 2019 book, The Life of Swede Hollow: a pictorial history, Angela and Karin DuPaul—a daughter and…

Ramsey County History – Summer 2019: “‘I’m as Restless as a Lion:’ The Aspirations of St. Paulite Ruth Cutler”

Johannes Allert

“I’m as Restless as a Lion:” The Aspirations of St. Paulite Ruth Cutler Author: Johannes Allert A young, affluent St. Paulite, Ruth Cutler searched for a purposeful life. A college-educated progressive, Ruth watched the world around her react to war, poverty, the suffrage movement, illness, and loss and responded…

Ramsey County History – Summer 2019: “One Hundred Years Serving New Americans: The Centennial of the International Institute of Minnesota”

Krista Finstad Hanson

One Hundred Years Serving New Americans: The Centennial of the International Institute of Minnesota Author: Krista Finstad Hanson 2020 Co-Winner of the Ramsey County Historical Society Virginia B. Kunz Award As visitors and clients open the doors to the International Institute of Minnesota in St. Paul, they…

Ramsey County History – Winter 2019: “Eliza Edgerton Newport and St. Paul’s Floating Bethel, 1891-1903”

Christine Podas-Larson

Eliza Edgerton Newport and St. Paul’s Floating Bethel, 1891-1903 Author: Christine Podas-Larson Eliza Newport knew how to get things done. The well-educated and well-connected St. Paul resident led many charitable organizations and community efforts throughout her lifetime, but one that was especially dear to her was the city’s Floating…

Ramsey County History Podcast #12 – Winter 2018: Crusade for Forgotten Souls

Paul Nelson and Susan Bartlett Foote

Crusade for Forgotten Souls Podcast Link In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Minnesota led the nation in reform and modernization of the treatment of the mentally ill. But it didn’t last. Author Susan Bartlett Foote has told the story, a story at the same time inspiring…

Ramsey County History – Summer 2018: “‘Dr. Nellie:’ One Physician’s Experience at the Front in the Great War”

Johannes R. Allert

“Dr. Nellie:” One Physician’s Experience at the Front in the Great War Author: Johannes R. Allert Nellie N. Barsness (1873–1966) was the first woman from the State of Minnesota to graduate from the University of Minnesota’s medical school (1902). She then set up her practice in St.