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Grasshoppers in My Bed: Lillie Belle Gibbs, Minnesota Farm Girl 1877

Terry Swanson, Author and Peggy Stern, Illustrator

It is 1876—Christmas day—which just happens to be the eleventh birthday of Lillie Belle Gibbs. Her mother and father present her with a new journal. Now she must decide how to fill the pages. Grasshoppers in her bed, a smudge pot to keep the mosquitos at bay, the one-room schoolhouse…

A Natural Curiosity: The Story of the Bell Museum

Reviewer: Anne Field

A Natural Curiosity: The Story of the Bell Museum Lansing Shepard, Don Luce, Barbara Coffin, and Gwen Schagrin Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2022 400 pages; cloth cover/jacket, 310 color plates, $34.95 The Bell Museum, located on the edge of the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul…

March of the Governors, Governor #12, Knute Nelson

Paul Nelson and Tyler Taylor

Knute Nelson (1843-1923) spent two years as governor of Minnesota on his way to becoming a representative in the US Senate, where he served for twenty-eight years. Nelson was the first prominent Scandinavian-American politician in Minnesota and in the United States. He immigrated from Voss, Norway, to…

History Revealed: We Are Meant to Rise

Carolyn Holbrook, David Mura, Suleiman Adan, Marcie Rendon and Kevin Yang

We Are Meant to Rise With Carolyn Holbrook, David Mura, Suleiman Adan, Marcie Rendon and Kevin Yang History Revealed Series Program Date: Thursday, January 13, 2022 Video on YouTube In partnership with the East Side Freedom Library and the Roseville Library. We Are…

History Revealed: St. Paul: An Urban Biography

Bill Lindeke

St. Paul: An Urban Biography With Bill Lindeke History Revealed Series Program Date: Thursday, October 21, 2021 Video on YouTube In partnership with the Roseville Library and the East Side Freedom Library Author Bill Lindeke will share stories and research from his new…

The March of the Governors, Special Edition, The US Dakota War of 1862

Paul Nelson, Sydney Beane, Mary Lethert Wingerd, and Rebekah Coffman

The US Dakota War of 1862 was a unique event in Minnesota history. In his book, Massacre in Minnesota, the eminent historian Gary Clayton Anderson calls it “the most violent ethnic conflict in American history.” It was a calamity that we Minnesotans are still trying to deal with…

Confluence: A History of Fort Snelling

Reviewer: Matthew W. Wright

2022 Minnesota Book Award Winner Confluence: A History of Fort Snelling Hampton Smith St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2021 256 pages; hardcover; $34.95 The past six years have seen the publication of two new histories of Fort Snelling…

The March of Governors, Governor #6, Horace Austin

Paul Nelson and Ken Peterson

The second of four Minnesota governors from St. Peter, Horace Austin, was the state’s first governor to directly confront the increased power of railroads, the state’s most powerful business force. Noted for being honest and straight forward, Austin succeeded in regulating their rates after being reelected in 1871…

March of the Governors, Governor #5, William Rainey Marshall

Paul Nelson and Tom O'Connell

William Rainey Marshall could be said to occupy a prominent place in Minnesota’s list of founding fathers. He played a leading role in many of the seminal events that shaped the state’s early history. A strong opponent of slavery, he chaired the founding meeting of Minnesota’s Republican…