
Following up my review of “Historic Photos of Minneapolis,” the greatest city ever, Turner Publishing Company just released
“Historic Photos of Minnesota,” and I thought that I would take a look through the brilliantly chosen black and white photographs. I have to admit some bias. There is only room in my heart for one state, Nebraska: home of my parents; they raised me in Lincoln. Minneapolis is now my home and it may be in Minnesota, but I will always be a Nebraskan-in-exile. With that said, I have left my first love, like the high school drum major I crushed over, and have entered into a passionate affair with Minnesota.
To be honest, most of my Minnesota experience is limited to the Twin Cities Metro, a failing I hope to remedy. Minnesota has much more to offer than the bright lights and the Minneapolis chain of lakes. It is easy to forget that there is more to Minnesota than Minneapolis and St. Paul. This is one reason why historical collections of regional photography are critical. They remind us that not only was the past important and fascinating, but that there is more to where we live than the tiny worlds that we construct for our families and for ourselves.
Looking through the collection, I found three historical worlds that have shaped the Minnesota that I love. The first of which is on page VI opposite the acknowledgements page, which depicts three visitors to Minnehaha Falls. Two women in elaborate hats and flouncy full-length dresses cross a wooden bridge just bellow Minnehaha Falls. Marks caption reads:
“Visitors to Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, a popular tourist destination after the publication of the epic poem ‘The Song of Hiawatha’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1855. Longfellow never visted the falls, but he was inspired by the stories of Mary Eastman and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft about American Indian culture and the imagery of the falls” (VI).
Armed with this new information, I’m reversely inspired having visited Minnehaha Falls several times to seek out Longfellow’s poem and the stories it has inspired.
The second photograph is on page 12, which shows the annual January ice harvest. The ice cubes look as if they are at least half a person in height and at least as wide. Ice is now something that we take for granted, freezers in every home. It has never occurred to me to wonder how ice was delivered and stored before freezers. Marks writes, “During the summer, ice was delivered, block by block, to homes and business for their iceboxes.” I don’t think that I will look at my refrigerator-freezer the same way again.
The third and final photograph that I want to mention is an “image from a civil defense campaign, Minnesota boys have traded in their fort house to dig a backyard bomb shelter,” on page 168. The scene looks like something out of the movie “The Great Escape.” A boy is popping his head out of hole in the ground, hosting up a bucket of dirt to his friends. It looking like this project is taking place in a section of someone’s Victory Garden. I wonder if they asked permission before breaking ground.
There are many more wondrous photos in to examine in the book. I was lucky enough to be able to contact Susan Marks to find out which ones she enjoyed most.
SMR: If you had to pick a favorite photo from the collection, which one would it be?
Susan Marks: I really like 3 photos. One spans page 86 and 87 - it's of two lumber camp cooks standing outside the lumber camp kitchen cabin. It's really a cool winter scene. Through my research I learned that camp cooks were so crucial to the functioning of the camp that cooks were paid twice as much as jacks. The food was abundant and reportedly delicious.
The second photo is on page 121 - it was taken in Gemmell MN during the Great Depression by a Farm Security Administration photographer, Russell Lee. Gemmell was once a thriving lumber town and by the time this photo was taken - the town had all but shut down. The mother/restaurant owner looks away from the camera with her hand in her head and another arm around her daughter who stares directly in the lens of the camera. The daughter has a look on her face that almost defies words.
The third photo is on page 30 - an overtly staged boxing match scene between members of the Minnesota Boat Club. It doesn't scream Minnesota, but it is compelling.
SMR: What is it about Minnesota that made you want to celebrate it though a collection of photographs?
Susan Marks: I was asked to write these captions and text for the book and I was thrilled because I've been researching and writing about Minnesota's history for a long time. Minnesota is a land like no other and it has everything to do with the considerable natural resources (The Mississippi River, lakes, farmland, rich mineral deposits, forests, etc) that attracted so many unique individuals and groups to this state.
Even though I’m originally from Lincoln, NE, I have come to love Minnesota. It might get down right cold, and we might get less than 60 full days of clear skies, but the people are compassionate and are source of hope in an otherwise dog-eat-dog mega cooperate machine. There is a loving sense of community that waits for anyone willing to step out side and embrace it. I wouldn't want to live any where else.
Marks, Susan. “Historic Photos of Minnesota.” Nashville, Tennessee: Turner Publishing Company
, 2009