Guys Read at the Library — and Wherever

Children’s Book Week, May 7-13, offers a chance to poke around to discover some of what’s happening in the wonderful world of books for children..  The answer is LOTS is happening and a week offers a mere glimpse of some samples.

Guys Read in Hennepin County Library is one of scores of reading promotion initiatives sponsored by area libraries.  The HCL site is part of a national drive initiated by children’s author Jon Scieszka.   Guys Read is designed to draw attention to boys’ literacy and to motivate adults to help boys read more.  Scieszke is the nation’s first children’s laureate, officially called the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

Describing the Guys Read program Scieszka writes:

We can help boys read by letting them choose what they read.expanding our definition of “reading” to include nonfiction, graphic novels, comics, comic strips, humor magazines, newspapers, online text, getting boys to recommend reading they do like to other boys, providing boys with male role models for reading in school and at home.

The national Guys Read website offers these and countless other observations about boys’ reading as well as an extensive list of books that boys read and recommend.

The Guys Read program in Hennepin County Library is made possible by the Library Foundation of Hennepin County with support from Best Buy Children’s Foundation and the Ann and Jack Cole Fund.

 

For more information about the forty Guys Read sites in the HCL system check the Library’s website.

 

 

Musician/writer Dylan Hicks and Poet Dobby Gibson at the Northeast Library

Once again the Friends of the Northeast Library will sponsor a very special author talk on Thursday, May 17, 6;30 p.m. at the Library, 2200 Central Avenue Northeast.  The May program is a classic double-header:

Dylan Hicks, is a man of many interests, talents and faces. Readers who know Dylan Hicks are eagerly awaiting his first novel which is set for publication in May by Coffee House Press, a Northeast independent literary force.    Though difficult to categorize, Boarded Windows is already receiving national acclaim.  The novel reflects and spirit of Uptown Minneapolis in the Nineties.

One reviewer, Sam Lipsyte, writes “Do yourself a favor and read this smart, tender book.  The characters will  haunt you with their longing, and inspire you with their sweet, caustic wit.  Dylan Hicks knows his music and his prose is a song in itself.  He’s given light to the shuttered and boarded parts of life.”

The theme of the novel comes as no surprise to the many locals who know Hicks as a songwriter and musician. Earlier this year he released his first album in ten years. The book includes a free download of Sings Bolling Green, a soundtrack to the novel written and performed by Dylan Hicks himself.

Followers of popular culture know that in the past several years Hicks has melded his writing and musical talents as a prodigious writer.   He’s a familiar name as contributor to City Pages, a position he left to focus on Boarded Windows.

A search of the web discloses some intriguing information about Dylan Hicks’ life and interests.  His own website contains a forthright author statement that reveals much about Boarded Windows.  A lengthy conversation  with his colleague Brad Zellar goes into real depth about writing and music.  Zellar concludes with an intriguing observation that “there’s no Minneapolis novel.   Boarded Windows, Zellar writes “is the first book that I can think of that’s really steeped in Minneapolis, that really gets it.”  A question the author may address at the Friends program….

Joining Dylan Hicks on the program is Minnesota poet Dobby Gibson who will discuss his new collection It Becomes You, forthcoming from another independent press Graywolf Press in 2013.  The collection of poems is described as “meditative, lyrical, aphoristic, and always leavened with a wry wit.  The reviewer writes that “through Dobby Gibson’s poems you explore the divergent conditions by which we’re perpetually defined—the daily weather, the fluctuations of the Dow, the growth of a cancer cell, the politics of the day.”

Dobby Gibson’s first book of poetry, Polar, published in 2004, received the Beatrice Award and was a finalist for the 2006 Minnesota Book Award.  He is also the author of a second collection of poetry, Skirmish, published in 2009 by Graywolf Press.

Again, a web search will discover several interviews with Dobby Gibson, reviews and readings of his works of poetry.

The Friends of the Library programs are all free and open to the public.

Kudos to the MnDOT Library!

When Minnesotans think of transportation we are inclined to think about highways, bridge safety, LRT, buses, Lexus lanes and potholes.  The work of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT)  and its network of regional outlets is behind the scenes.  And behind all that is the MnDOT library, 395 John Ireland Boulevard, a bustling hub of information housed at the MnDOT  building near the Capitol – a mighty little librry that opens the world of transportation-related data, research, digital archives, journals and more to hundreds of MnDOT employees who are working on a vast range of transportation issues – broadly defined to cover a multitude of topics.

The MnDOT Library is in the spotlight these days for an aggressive action campaign to showcase their resources and services.  One of the most prestigious awards in the library world is the John Cotton Dana award – and the MnDOT Library is a 2012 winner!  No small feat for a modest state agency library pitted again the super stars with gargantuan budgets and legions of professional PR staff.

The national award, to be conferred at the annual conference of the American Library Association, asserts that “the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) created the ‘moving knowledge’ campaign to convey updated space and resources and to improve outreach efforts.  The space redesign transformed the library from a ‘bland government’ look to a warm and inviting environment.

Much of the work on the outreach campaign was conducted by consultant organizations including Law Library Consultants, Kathleen Bedor, President, and Modern Design Group, Chris Foote President and Diane Foote Design Associates.

This is not the first award for the redesigned MnDOT library.   First, the library received an Award of Merit from the Minnesota Association. of Government Communicators.  That started the ball rolling – the next award was the 2011 Innovation in Action award from the Minnesota Chapter of the Special Libraries Association.

The MnDOT Library is sponsoring an open house and reception on Thursday, May 3, 10:00 AM-3:00 p.m.  Free and open to the public .  Contact the Library at library.dot@state.mn.us.

Alice Wilcox – There will never be another

She was an acquired taste.  She saw the possibilities and did what needed to be done to get there.  The possibilities included the Rosebud Indian Reservation and Bethany Lutheran College, from which I once looked up to see her imposing presence at the door

 

She knew it was not just books but knowledge and information and wisdom that were to be shared.   

 

Alice Wilcox was a grand lady – the scourge of some, the visionary of others.  Without her vision Minnesota’s libraries would not provide the access to learning  we take for granted.

 

Today we assume Minitex, the beautiful  system it has become.  Today we forget that it was Alice Wilcox who had the vision, if not the means, to make it happen. 

Celebrating the Givens Collection of African American Literature

As previous posts suggest, I find myself reflecting evermore on my experience as a novice librarian at District of Columbia Teachers College, a public inner city institution that has long since bit the academic dust.  What remains for me are vibrant images of a profound late 60’s learning opportunity for which I am increasingly grateful.

One poignant memory is of Walter Williams, collection development librarian extraordinaire, and the only man I’ve ever known who could speak fluently with a pencil tucked under his upper lip.

When the demise of DCTC was imminent Mr. Williams fought back by protecting his treasured collection of African American literature.  Experience taught him that these dusty – and presumably irrelevant — tomes would not survive the intrusion of the impending bureaucrats, more interested in efficiency and modernity than in preservation of the literary works of a people.   Day after day Mr. Williams would quietly comb the shelves, then stash the books in a secluded back room where they were relatively safe from the invaders.  I have often wondered if those rare treasures still grace some library’s  shelves and give life to priceless wisdom.

The images, the sounds, even the smells of those late 60’s days have filled my mind these past days since video producer Dan Bergin of TPT thoughtfully emailed me a link to his 1998 documentary on the Archie Givens Collection, a jewel in the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Though I’ve known about the Givens Collection, my ongoing quest to learn more about the literary and film legacy of Oscar Micheaux Legacy has led me to more intensive research.   What I had failed to understand was the depth of the collection.   The documentary offers a beautiful depiction of the Givens Collection as an entry point to  our African American literary legacy as well as a context that places  Micheaux, the Givens Collection and Mr. Williams’ work in context.

Mesmerized by the hour-long documentary, my thought now is to share the experience with others who, like me, reach for a focus to reflect on the passion of African American writers, from Frederick Douglass to Walter Mosely who, incidentally, will  be spending time this month  in this community.

My hope is that readers will take time to engage in the documentary as background to enriching the array of opportunities that are exploding in this community.   Of special interest are the Givens Black Books series, Penumbra Theatre’s series on Reshaping the Black Image on the American Stage, the rich agenda of reading and book groups in libraries, more inclusive curricula in schools and colleges, the  Minnesota African American Museum and Cultural Center and the enduring strength of the Givens collection.

So much to learn, so much to celebrate.   Decades after his heroic efforts, Walter B. Williams is smiling, a feat which he alone could accomplish with a pencil securely clutched under his upper lip.  I deeply hope the treasures he secured are intact – if not physically in some digital form that would have blown his beautiful mind.

Consumers Shape the Chain – Whether it’s food or information

An op-ed piece in the February 2 Star Tribune caught my eye and kindled thoughts of an initiative with which I was much involved a couple of decades ago.  Clay Johnson, writing in the LA Times examines the unhealthy information diet that threatens the American public.  He compares junk news “largely provided by conglomerates focused on the bottom line” with junk food which most folks realize is neither nutritious nor slenderizing. (One wonders if the LA Times is numbered among those conglomerates.)

Johnson’s point, well stated, is the principle that librarians have stressed for decades, peaking  in the 1980’s with the launch of an energetic campaign to highlight “information literacy” as essential to the core curriculum from cradle through college.  For the outset branding of that worthy campaign was unfortunate – stuffy, pedantic, boring.  Though Clay Johnson’s food analogy is more catchy. the idea behind the information literacy brand is sound:  Just as the way to avoid obesity is to be a smart consumer of food, the way to avoid ignorance is to be a smart consumer of information.

Whether it’s food or information, the key player is the consumer.

Arguing that the media should “chase us” Johnson urges information consumers to “consume deliberately, consume locally, consume close to the original source, consume less and produce more.”  He also warns that given 21^st technology, every click counts as it whets the appetite and informs the next move of the junk producer.

Today’s advocates for healthy diets stress the need for consumers to examine sources, processes, economic and political factors that influence the food chain.  Consumer education is imperative.

Similarly information literacy proponents stress the need to educate information consumers at an early age to grapple with the media and info deluge that technology has wrought.  They stress that information literate must be educated to analyze not just the information product but the information chain itself – the complex networks through which information is gathered, analyzed, organized, distributed, preserved, financed and more.

On the production side it takes human beings with time, skills and incentive to forge the information chain upon which the consumer depends and to which the end user contributes.  Whether it’s junk food or junk info, the responsibility rests solely with the consumer.

At the consumer end,  learners must experience, master, experience, practice and dissect the information chain in a learning environment that immerses each consumer in a rich information literacy curriculum.

 

Caveat discupulo – Caviat civitas popularis

Remembering Dorothy Porter Wesley, Librarian Extraordinaire

When Carter Woodson introduced the idea of Black History Week in 1926 his intent was to illuminate individuals, events, stories of African Americans that were generally unrecognized in common sources of information, including books, museums and libraries.  Though some dismiss what is now generally known as African American History Month I find this month a welcome opportunity to reminisce about great African Americans I have known  – or wish I had known.

Over the decades, an image of Dorothy Burnett Porter Wesley has flitted through my mind.   A bit of research has awakened me to the spirit of this visionary librarian whose indefatigable efforts have played a major role in assuring that the recorded history of African Americans is collected and preserved for posterity.

I never knew Dorothy Porter, but I remember her well.  She was Curator of the Moorland-Spingarn Collection at Howard University while I was a fledgling librarian at the public college across the street, what was then District of Columbia Teachers College.  During the 1968 upheaval following the death of Martin Luther King we were all operating in an interim mode, classes canceled, libraries closed, protests on campus.  Though its status as a federal building – coupled with the fact that there was no campus – left DCTC a relative sea of tranquility Howard became a rallying ground for student protesters.

My clear recollection is of Dorothy Porter, all five feet of her, bustling about the Howard University campus snatching banners and bulletins and whatever memorabilia she could fetch to add to her massive African American history archives – books, photos, pamphlets, art and artifacts, whatever would preserve and share the stories.

Librarian that I am (it’s in the DNA) I googled to discover what had become of Dorothy Porter, that little dynamo etched in my memory as the quintessential librarian/archivist.  A quick search revealed that she had died in 1995, that her first husband, renowned artist and art historian James Amos Porter, died in 1970, and that later she married Charles H. Wesley, former dean of Wilberforce, who died in 1987.

More than this, I found exquisite quotes from Dorothy, snippets that verified my flashes of recall.  When Dorothy was first selected to compile the Howard collection in 1930 it was an unprecedented challenge to shape a library that reflected the lives and writings of Black Americans.  The need to capture the record, written and oral, was in its infancy.  Before Emancipation slaveholders forbade their slaves from speaking their own language and from learning to write or read.  As a result, most of Black history and stories was oral.

Pioneer librarian that she was, Dorothy began the process by rummaging through dusty old boxes that contained about 3000 books, pamphlets and other historical items that had been donated to the University in 1914 by Jesse E. Moorland, a minister and Howard alumnus and trustee.  She also dug through the 1600 piece Anti-Slavery collection donated to Howard in 1873 by New York abolitionist Lewis Tappan.

And thus was launched the first research library in an American university devoted to the history and culture of African Americans. The task of collecting written records of the Diaspora must have been daunting and dispiriting to young Dorothy Porter who is quoted as saying “I recall that not many years ago the African was said to lack all sense of history because African history was not available in the form of written language.”

Dorothy Porter seized the formidable challenge with gusto.  Later she admitted that she had to teach herself Black history.    Later she recalled:  I went around the (Howard) library and pulled out every relevant book I could find – the history of slavery, black poets – for the collection.  Over the years the main thing I had to do was beg – from publishers, authors, families.  Sometimes it meant being there just after the funeral director took out the bodies and saying, ‘you want all this junk in the basement?’

And thus began the story of Dorothy Porter Wesley who went on to become one of the most prominent curators and bibliographers of all that relates to Blacks in America and in the Caribbean.  The list of awards she received during her life and continues to receive posthumously is astronomical.  Among other tributes is the Dorothy B. Porter Reading Room in the Founders Library at Howard; during the dedication the presenter quoted historian Benjamin Quarles as saying “without exaggeration, there hasn’t been a major Black history book in the last 30 years in which the author hasn’t acknowledged Mrs. Porter’s help.”  Possibly the highlight of her professional career came in 1994 when President Clinton hosted a White House ceremony at which he presented her the Charles Frankel Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Though my heart told me that Dorothy’s legacy lives on I was overjoyed beyond words to learn that her lifetime of collecting African American history and culture is today preserved and shared at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC) at the Broward County Library in the Sistrunk area of Fort Lauderdale, an area that was once the heart of the city’s African American community.

The AARLCC is an amazing resource built on the vision of Broward County Library Director Samuel F. Morrison who saw the need for a rich research facility, cultural center and historical archive.  The development of the AARLC is a great story in itself.

At the start, Constance Porter Uzelac, daughter of James and Dorothy Porter, took a lead role.  When she moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1990 she initiated efforts to preserve and provide access to what she called “Mama’s stuff.”   As lasting tribute to her parents Uzelac , a former medical librarian herself, was for a time the custodian of the of the Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection which houses and makes available the bibliographic collection of her mother and the art and research of her father.

Today, the work of curating the Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection resides with the Broward County Library.  Housed within the AARLCC the Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection is home to over five thousand bibliographic treasures and memorabilia spotted and saved by Dorothy Porter Wesley.

Little did I know back in 1968 that the powerhouse snatching the toss-aways of the protesters would leave the legacy that is the Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection at the AARLCC.  What I did recognize and remember so well is that Dorothy Porter was the diminutive model of a librarian.  Though the day-to-day of rummaging through basements, spotting what is rare, organizing, preserving, digitizing, cataloging is not dramatic, the results are a living legacy.  The record of human history and culture demands and deserves the sort of keen eye and intrepid stamina that Dorothy Burnett Porter Wesley demonstrated during those heated days in Washington, D.C.

Little wonder the memory was etched in my mind then and remains there now.

 

 

Cornerstones: A History of North Minneapolis Documentary Showing

The day is coming when my neighbors and I will be able to cross the Lowry Bridge to explore friends and family in  North Minneapolis – a good time to refresh memories and learn more about  the legendary history of the Northside community.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Daniel Pierce Bergin worked with the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC) and Twin Cities Public Television (TPT), to produce an hour-long documentary on just that topic.   The documentary “Cornerstones: A History of North Minneapolis” offers the viewer powerful stories of Northside life blended with themes of race relations, immigration and cultural changes through “place-based memories.”

Bergin will offer a public viewing and discussion of his documentary on Saturday, February 4, 2-3:30 p.m. at Sumner Library, 611 Van White Boulevard, at the intersection of Van White Boulevard and Olson Highway.  Bergin is a senior producer with a varied background including the documentary North Star: Minnesota’s Black Pioneers.  Other Bergin productions include Standing the Test of Time, the biography of architect Cass Gilbert, and a literary history documentary entitled Literature & Life: The Givens Collection.

Sumner Library opened its doors in 1915 is a vital player in the history of the Northside.   for nearly a century library has served the public through decades of change   Funded through the largesse of Andrew Carnegie, the Tudor Revival style building designed by architect Cecil Bayless Chapman was a showpiece as well as a citadel of learning in the working class neighborhood.

In the early days, the library served as unique place where the Jewish Community of the Northside congregated and came together to learn. The Sumner Library ensured the preservation of the Yiddish and Hebrew languages through their collection of books written in these dialects. This further enhanced the sense of community and oneness felt in the North Side neighborhood.  In time, the collection and the programs of Sumner have evolved with the changing demographics of the Northside.  The same spirit of service to newcomers is the distinguishing feature of Sumner today.Because Bergin will be on hand February 4^th to discuss and respond to viewers’ questions, prospective attendees may wish to preview the documentary in advance.  It’s been telecast and will be shown again on Sunday, February 26, 1:00 PM, and Wednesday, February 29, at 5:00 AM and 11:00 PM.  The documentary is also streamed on the web on several sites, including the TPT Cornerstones site.

For Dickens Fans It is the Best of Times

For devotees of Charles Dickens whose idea of winter is curling up with a good book this is the best of times!    Celebrations of the Bicentennial of Dickens birth, February 7, 1812, are in full swing round the globe.  Not to be outdone by our cousins across The Pond, Americans are putting aside the unpleasantness of the War of 1812 to rejoice at the delight – and the social awareness – he has generated over the many years that readers have endured, then embraced, his works.

Needless to say, the Brits are euphoric.  The story is that Dickens would have planned it that way.  According to Radhika Jones writing in Time Entertainment, Dickens had a hand in assuring that his works would endure.  Jones, managing editor of Time magazine and Dickens authority, writes that “I’m not just talking about writing great books, lots of people have done that.  It’s that he took a vested interest in his legacy and in the legacy of the publishing industry overall. “  Jones observes that Dickens anticipated “boom times” for fiction:

That was apparent just by virtue of the imitators, acolytes and outright plagiarists his writing inspired.  So it made sense that Dickens would do certain things to help keep himself at the forefront of the movement.  He cultivated an exceedingly local audience, across class lines; he fought for copyright and collective bargaining powers for authors; he managed his posthumous reputation to the extent that he could control it, by burning all his letters and by appointing a very close friend as his first biographer; he edited two consecutive weekly magazines and fostered rising talent, thus creating a circle of admirers and protégés (while effectively, self-publishing his own work, in the serial format that his success with Pickwick had made the standard for the era).

In an age of letter press Dickens addressed head-on a host of issues that plague the digital world today – his blog would have gone viral overnight.

Still, it’s just as well Dickens didn’t spend his time online.  He would not have had time or the mental focus to write fifteen major novels and countless short stories – or to reflect on the social conditions of the day, the experience of poverty, child labor, misers and murders and abandonment that shaped his youth and led him to create his own world through fiction which, in the end, became his chosen tool for expressing his passion for social reform.

If, perchance, you’re too busy managing your own blog to re-read the complete Dickens you might want to follow the aforementioned Radhika Jones’ blog to be announced in the January 26 issue of Time.   Jones, who has published a bookshelf of commentaries on Dickens, will be post her thoughts on Dickens’ “ten best books.”

One of the several ways to keep up with all things Dickens during the bicentenary and beyond is to check David Perdue’s Charles Dickens Page. Quick to point out that he is not a scholar, Perdue is a Dickens enthusiast who shares everything you don’t even know you don’t know about the bicentennial celebrations, Dickens’ life, Dickens’ places (museums, gravesite and more), a Dickens photo gallery and links to information and blogs about Dickens.

The pedagogues at Britain’s National Schools Partnership have created a delightful learning tool, a curriculum based on Dickens’ works entitled What the Dickens,  geared to middle school teachers inculcating the skills of English and creative writing in the middle grades.

Even the Wall Street Journal is caught up in the Dickens tide.  The WSJ editors offer a thoughtful observation that may give pause to some of their readers:

Dickens is not safe, he is not ‘heritage.’  He is fierce, ferocious and formidable. No one has depicted the homeless with more sorrow and pity and terror than Dickens.  He depicted them from both sides: from middle-class safety, looking outward, and from their own point of view, looking at a world that seems to offer such richness and happiness to everyone else.  And then, as an act of mediation, he moves us between the two worlds so that we understand both. (quoted in blog)

If you are willing to “see ourselves as others see us” you must read “Dickens in America.”   Dickens was at the peak of popularity when we ventured on a sort of exploratory mission in 1842.  He returned on a Reading Tour in 1868.  Though he was welcomed at the White House he moved on to explore the cities and the peoplefrom Boston to St. Louis, Baltimore to Cincinnati, and beyond.  He shared his views on international copyright, visited prisons, traveled to the South to learn more about slavery, and criticized the American press for the dearth of coverage of local news.  His experiences and impressions of his 1842 tour are recorded in American Notes, now readable online.

This great essay describes his travels, his off-the-highway stops, and his observations, visiting and writing about the renowned and the ordinary people he met en route.  There will no doubt be those Americans who jet off to London or Portsmouth or Bath to drink deep of the Dickensian stream.   For the rest of us, there are countless  options closer to home.  Libraries in particular are sponsoring exhibits, readings, film fests and other Bicentennial events that explore all things Dickensian.

If you would like to share your take on Dickens with British bibliophiles, you should know about the Dickens Book Club at Foyles Bookshop, 113 Charing Cross Road where  each month Londoners will be able to plumb the depths of a Dickens classic with Alex Werner, curator of the Charles Dickens Museum.  Yanks are welcome to join in the discussion on Twitter or Facebook.  Check the Museum of London for details and links – and start reading Bleak House to be up to speed for the first discussion on February 6.

Closer to home, the Friends of the University of Minnesota Libraries is sponsoring a Dickens’ Pageant.  Anatoly Liberman, U of M professor, linguist and literary scholar, will discuss Dickens’ most memorable characters, the features that make Dickens unique, and the reason he remains a universal favorite.  The event is February 23, 4:00-6:00 p.m. in the Upson Room, Walter Library.  The event is free and open.

Contact Lanaya Stangret, stangret@umn.edu  or RSVP online or at 612-624 9339, by February 16.

Time spent re-reading the classics or discovering Dickens’ lesser known works remains the ideal way to share Dickens’  thoughts and his bicentenary – for independent readers, and book clubbers who grapple with his issues or who just enjoy a good read.  A good place to start is the following list of Dickens’ books accessible on the shelves of libraries or available through inter-library loan.

Librarian and volunteer Ruthann Ovenshire who is preparing an exhibit of Dickens’ fiction at the Minneapolis Central Library has kindly provided this list of titles familiar and often new to readers who want to celebrate the Dickens Bicentennial in a proper way that would greatly please the author who cared a good deal about his legacy.

Fiction by Charles Dickens

Barnaby Rudge : a tale of the riots of ‘eighty

Bleak house.

A Christmas carol and other stories

David Copperfield

Doctor Marigold’s prescriptions

Dombey and Son

Great expectations

Hard times

The haunted house

Hunted down

Little Dorrit

Martin Chuzzlewit

Mrs Lirriper

The mystery of Edwin Drood

Nicholas Nickleby.

The old curiosity shop.

Oliver Twist

Our mutual friend.

The Pickwick papers

The poems and verses of Charles Dickens;

The poor traveller

The posthumous papers of the Pickwick Club

Short plays from Dickens for the use of amateur and school dramatic societies;

The signalman & other ghost stories

Sketches by Boz. Illustrative of every-day life and every-day people.

Somebody’s luggage

A tale of two cities.

The uncommercial traveler

Nonfiction by Charles Dickens

A child’s history of England.

Household words; a weekly journal 1850-1859

The life of Our Lord

Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi

Pictures from Italy with American notes (one volume)

Speeches.

And Now the Facts about Native Americans in the Minnesota Legislature

With the Legislature headed to town for the session that opens Tuesday, January 24, I find myself thinking and fretting about issues of transparency and open government.  At the same time I am intrigued by the changes in legislative composition that result from recent elections, including the election of Kari Dziedzic to replace Larry Pogemiller as Senator from my legislative district.

On the way to learning more about the history of similar legislative turnovers I returned to my hands-down favorite legislative resource, the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.  Their resources and service are astounding – and the website supported by the LRL staff is a constant and totally reliable source of fascinating information.  Today I found this treasure I just have to share, partly to stem the free flow of misinformation and, even more, to share a good story about the Minnesota Legislature – a unique history that deserves to be known.

The following is taken directly from the Legislative Reference Library website,12/7/2011.  Though it was clearly posted before the final election, the facts are relevant, timely and prescient in light of the election results:

Minnesota Legislators of Native American Descent

Attorney Susan Allen won the DFL primary in District 61B. She will face Nathan Blumenshire in a special election on January 10, 2012, to fill the seat of Jeff Hayden, newly elected to the Senate. If elected, Allen would be the first woman of Native American descent to serve in the Minnesota Legislature.

Some news outlets have noted that Senator Skip Finn was the first Native American to serve in the Senate, and even the first Native American Minnesota legislator. Wrong on both counts!

There was at least one member of the Minnesota Legislature who was Native American who served in the Senate long before Skip Finn. Senator Henry G. Bailly served in the first state legislature (1857-1858). For years people have been inaccurately reporting that Sen. Finn was the first to serve in the Minnesota Senate. Bailly also served in the Minnesota Territorial Council, the predecessor to the Minnesota State Senate. 

In addition, there were a few House members who had Native American ancestry who also served before Finn. As we do more research, it’s more than possible that we will find other former members who had Native American ancestry. Here are the members we’ve found, so far, who are members of minority groups (there are probably more that we haven’t found yet). Self-Reported Minority Legislators Use the drop down box to limit the list to Native Americans.

Note:  If you do make your way to the LRL website, take a few minutes to poke around this digital treasure trove – you never know what you’ll need to know and share with your representative during the months to come – it’s likely accessible through LRL.