Catalog
A Private Wilderness: The Journals of Sigurd F. Olson
Reviewer: Anne CowieA Private Wilderness: The Journals of Sigurd F. Olson Sigurd F. Olson; David Backes, ed. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2021 376 pages; cloth cover/jacket, 74 b&w photos, 1 map, $29.95 Sigurd Olson, a father of the movement to save the Boundary Waters in the Quetico-Superior…
Ramsey County History – Spring 2021: “Historical Sleuthing: Solving the Mysteries of Fort Snelling through Archaeology”
Jeremy NienowHistorical Sleuthing: Solving the Mysteries of Fort Snelling through Archaeology Author: Jeremy L. Nienow As a related write up to Matt Flueger’s “The Lost Barracks and the Twenty-Fifth US Infantry Regiment” article, author Jeremy Nienow shares a short history about the archaeological work at Fort Snelling over many decades. Nienow…
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 NelsonA 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…
Minnesota’s Geologist: The Life of Newton Horace Winchell
Reviewer: Paul NelsonMinnesota’s Geologist: The Life of Newton Horace Winchell Sue Leaf Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2020 280 pages; hardcover, 30 b&w plates, $29.95 Newton Horace Winchell deserves to be remembered. He was probably Minnesota’s greatest nineteenth-century scientist, a giant in not only geology but paleontology and…
Ramsey County History – Spring 2020: “Public Archaeology: Unearthing the Past in Ramsey County and Beyond”
Jeremy NienowPublic Archaeology: Unearthing the Past in Ramsey County and Beyond Author: Jeremy L. Nienow Over the past few years, archaeologists and cultural resource management consultants like Jeremy Nienow occasionally open their doors to amateur help. This effort, known as public archaeology, allows those interested in culture and…
A Life on the Middle West’s Never-Ending Frontier
Reviewer: Meredith CummingsA Life on the Middle West’s Never-Ending Frontier Willard L. “Sandy” Boyd Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2019 394 pages; hard cover; 22 b&w photos; $35 A Life on the Middle West’s Never Ending Frontier is a well-written and sometimes humorous and self-deprecating memoir by St. Paul native…
Ramsey County History Podcast #10 – Spring 2018: Minnesota Caves: History and Lore
Paul Nelson and Greg BrickMinnesota Caves: History and Lore No one knows more about subterranean St. Paul — the caves beneath our feet — than geologist and author Greg Brick. In his new book, Minnesota Caves: History and Lore, Brick describes the many caves, both natural and human-made, under St. Paul — their…
Ramsey County History – Winter 2018: “Terror Visits Fort Snelling: The 1940 Murder of Mary Jane Massey”
Steve LydonTerror Visits Fort Snelling: The 1940 Murder of Mary Jane Massey Author: Steve Lydon On the afternoon of July 13, 1940, thirteen-year-old Mary Jane Massey disappeared from the grounds of Fort Snelling, a quiet US Army base on the western outskirts of St. Paul. Mary Jane’s father…
Ramsey County History – Summer 2017: “Can America Be Bombed? The St. Paul Science Museum’s Answer”
Brian McMahonCan America Be Bombed? The St. Paul Science Museum’s Answer Author: Brian McMahon In the spring of 1941, the St. Paul Science Museum (predecessor to today’s Science Museum of Minnesota) opened an exhibit provocatively titled “Can America Be Bombed?” The museum’s president, Charles Lesley Ames, was alarmed…