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Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs, and Salvation of Cornbread Harris

Reviewed by Tom Eggum

Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs, and Salvation of Cornbread Harris Andrea Swensson Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2024 200 pages; cloth/jacket, 50 b&w illustrations, $22.95   Andrea Swensson’s Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs, and Salvation of Cornbread Harris is a biography of James Samuel Harris II (Cornbread Harris) and…

Ramsey County History Summer 2024

Haley Prochnow, Cherelle Swain, Christine Podas-Larson

Volume 59, Number 3: Summer 2024 Link to download PDF of full Ramsey County History Summer 2024 Articles in this issue: Rondo Recreation in the St. Croix River Valley, 1909-1977 Author: Haley Prochnow For some Minnesotans with a little extra disposable income, “summertime” can translate to “cabin time.”…

Violet Gould’s Operetta School

Christine Podas-Larson

The Violet Gould Operetta School presented Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore in 1959. In St. Paul Dispatch, June 2,1959, from the collection of Christine Podas-Larson. by Christine Podas-Larson To see this complete magazine article with endnotes and additional images, please view the PDF version. Read the companion piece…

Violet Gould’s Civic Opera Musical Circle

Mady Metzger-Ziegler founded the St. Paul Opera Workshop. Her son, Max Metzger, followed in his mother’s musical footsteps as an orchestra conductor. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society. Mady Metzger-Ziegler (1897-1979), mezzosoprano, was a featured performer in the St. Paul Civic Opera Association (Civic Opera) and its associated Pops concerts. She…

History Revealed: Defying the Silence

Julie Ayer

Defying the Silence: A Chronicle of Resilience that Saved the World-Renowned Minnesota Orchestra Julie Ayer History Revealed Series Program Date: Thursday, November 30, 2023 Video on YouTube In partnership with the East Side Freedom Library & Roseville Library In this extraordinary example…

Ramsey County History Summer 2023 – Honoring Minnesota First Regiment

John Guthmann

Volume 58, Number 2: Summer 2023 Growing Up at Fort Snelling Honoring the First Regiment of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry for Fifty Years Author: John H. Guthmann When seventeen-year-old John Guthmann took at summer job as a tour guide at Fort Snelling, little did he know that he’d get “hooked…

Ramsey County History – Summer 2005: “Growing Up in St. Paul: I Remember My Aunt: Frances Boardman—Music Critic, Who Covered an Archbishop’s Funeral”

Alexandra (Sandy) Klas

Growing Up in St. Paul: I Remember My Aunt: Frances Boardman—Music Critic, Who Covered an Archbishop’s Funeral  Author: Alexandra (Sandy) Klas Written by the niece of Frances Boardman, the memoir starts with the background of the family. Boardman graduated from Central High School and became a pioneering woman in…

Ramsey County History – Winter 2005: “Curtain Up in 1933: The Legacy of the St. Paul Opera Association”

Steve Trimble

Curtain Up in 1933: The Legacy of the St. Paul Opera Association  Author: Steve Trimble Inspired by a trip to Europe, Mrs. W. Homer Sweeney successfully spearheaded the creation of the St. Paul Municipal Opera. Opening in 1933, it was a “civic opera” that chose to present quality music…

Ramsey County History – Winter 2005: “Union Park in the 1880s—Band Concerts, Balloon Ascensions Once Lured 10,000 People in a Single Day”

Minnesota Junior Pioneers

Union Park in the 1880s—Band Concerts, Balloon Ascensions Once Lured 10,000 People in a Single Day Author: Minnesota Junior Pioneers In 1880, the Milwaukee Short Line Railroad opened up development in today’s Macalester, Groveland, and Merriam Park neighborhoods, then on the outskirts of St. Paul. Union Park, as it…