Catalog
March of the Governors, Governor #16, John Albert Johnson
Paul Nelson and Ken PetersonJohn Albert Johnson Podcast Link Minnesota’s sixteenth governor, John Albert Johnson, was our fourth from St. Peter. He had a “rags-to-riches Horatio Alger life.” The son of Swedish immigrants, he quit school at age twelve to support his mother and siblings. Self-educated, he eventually became a newspaper…
March of the Governors, Governor #15, Samuel Van Sant
Paul Nelson and Tom O'ConnellSamuel Van Sant was Minnesota’s fifteenth governor—the first to serve in the twentieth century and the first to occupy the current capitol. After three years of combat duty in the Union cavalry (1861-1864), Van Sant joined the family steamboat business in LeClaire, Iowa. In 1883, he moved…
March of the Governors, Governor #14, John Lind
Paul Nelson and Fred JohnsonThree-term US congressman John Lind, a traditional Republican with a stream of populism coursing through his veins, made a major political course change in 1894. Unhappy with Republican policies, Lind, the first Swedish-American elected to Congress, opted not to run for a fourth term and quit the…
History Revealed: Swedish Foodways & Immigration
Patrice JohnsonSwedish Foodways & Immigration with Patrice Johnson History Revealed Series Program Date: Thursday, May 19, 2022 YouTube Video From Spam to Tater Tot hotdish, Minnesotans have their unique and diverse traditions centered around food. Join author Patrice Johnson as she explores how Swedish immigrant…
Ramsey County History – Spring 2022: “Six Decades Making Music and Memories: Minnesota Boychoir”
Barbara W. SommerSix Decades Making Music and Memories: Minnesota Boychoir Author: Barbara W. Sommer Sixty years ago, father and son—Morris M. Nilsen and Morris A. Nilsen—wished to give back to their community, and, so, they founded the Morris Nilsen Boys Choir, featuring the high treble voices of young, male singers. In the first…
Ramsey County History – Spring 2014: Book Reviews
Ramsey County Historical SocietyBook Reviews Tim Mahoney, Secret Partners: Big Tom Brown and the Barker Gang (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2013). Arthur L. Norberg, Computers and Commerce: A Study of Technology and Management at Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company, Engineering Research Associates, and Remington Rand, 1947–1957 (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2005).
Ramsey County History – Spring 2022: “The Man and the Can: Patrick J. Towle and the St. Paul Origins of Log Cabin Syrup”
Matthew M. ThomasThe Man and the Can: Patrick J. Towle and the St. Paul Origins of Log Cabin Syrup Author: Mathew M. Thomas In 1888, after a grocery business failed in Chicago, Patrick J. Towle relocated to St. Paul with a new focus on packaging and selling a single product—maple-flavored syrup. Settling on…
Ramsey County History – Spring 2022: Grasshoppers in My Bed: New RCHS Children’s Book Coming in May – Kickoff Event at Gibbs Farm
Ramsey County Historical SocietyGrasshoppers in My Bed New RCHS Children’s Book Coming in May Ramsey County Historical Society is pleased to announce the much-anticipated launch of a new children’s historical fiction book, Grasshoppers in My Bed: Lillie Belle Gibbs—Minnesota Farm Girl—1877 by author Terry Swanson and illustrator Peggy Stern. Written…
March of the Governors, Governor #13, David Marston Clough
Paul Nelson and Matt WrightDavid Marston Clough was a lumber baron and politician who served as Minnesota’s Republican governor from 1895 to 1899. Born in New Hampshire in 1846, he moved with his family to Spencer Brook Township, Minnesota, in 1857. He was successful in the lumber business and moved into politics,…