Organizer and Athlete Kathryn Hogg Spurs Women’s Footy Surge in TC’s

Women who are wondering how to keep in shape – physically and socially – during the winter months to come should meet Kathryn Hogg and her plans for indoor Footy during the months to come.

Hogg is a self-identified “computer geek” who writes software for electric utilities, a mom, a catalyst, an awesome organizer and an importer – of an amateur sport that is gaining traction in Minnesota.    She is a prime mover in importing the Australian sport of Footy, more specifically women’s Footy, to the U.S. and to Minnesota.  She is patient to explain a bit about Australian Football to the uninitiated:

Australian Football is a fast paced exciting game that is played with a ball similar in shape but slightly larger than an American football.  It combines elements of soccer, basketball, ultimate, lacrosse, and even volleyball.  Points are scored by kicking the ball between goal posts at either end of the field.   The ball is advanced by hand passing or kicking.  Hand passes are similar to an underhand serve in volleyball and the kicks are similar to punts in American football.  Unlike soccer you can catch, grab, or pick up a ball.  Some of the most exciting and elegant plays occur when players are catching balls in the air which makes it exciting to play or watch and leads to the fast paced, high scoring nature of the game.

Hogg credits the rules as well as the players for the growth of Footy.

In general I like team field sports but I dislike offside rules.  To me, Aussie rules is the purest form of all the ball sports.  You use your hands and feet, no offside, and the ball is always live.

She compares Aussie Footy rules to the rules of Ultimate in which she is also an avid participant.  She recently told a reporter that “the appeal of ‘footy’ lies in what it is…fast-paced, competitive, with an emphasis on teamwork on and off the field and what it isn’t: It’s not rugby, as many assume, and it’s not violent, because it has tackling rules that prohibit American football-style collisions.”

Though Hogg was born in Australia, her parents moved back to Scotland when she was just nine months old so it’s difficult to connect the dots, but then again who knows?  The first evidence of her affinity for the Aussie sport is manifest years later when she settled in Minnesota.

As the story goes, back in 1980 Hogg started watching ESPN’s coverage of Aussie Rules Footy.  Over the years, as women began to be taken seriously in the sports world, Hogg decided to see if women were playing Aussie Rules Footy.

Hogg reports that her early Internet searches for women playing Footy led her to the “Victorian” Women’s Football League and to the USAFL site.  Using the chat forums of the US site she suggested that a women’s clinic should be held at the 2003 nationals.  A California Footy enthusiast saw that post and took it a step further by organizing teams to play in the inaugural women’s match in the US.

“The Orange County Bombshells and an all comers team played in Kansas City in October 2003.  The Bombshells routed the opposition by 44 points,” she remembers.  Recalling that “ruck” Hogg reflects “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, the most memorable thing about the first women’s match was just being part of something new, and I guess scoring the first goal in American women’s Footy.”

From that humble beginning women’s Footy, has come into its own, much to the credit of Hogg.  She is a founding member of the women’s team of the Minnesota Freeze Australian Rules Football Club and of the Women’s League which joined with the men’s club to co-found the Minnesota Australian Football Council to foster both men’s and women’s Footy.

At the end of March 2005 US Footy announced that Hogg had been elected to the board unanimously in the newly created position of Women’s Portfolio with the intention of furthering the development of Women’s Australian Football in North America.  She; is also one of few women Minnesota Women plays on the U.S. national team competing in Australia’s International Cup tournament.

In 2011 the Minnesota Freeze Women’s Team fielded 25-30 players in its first year as an organized local women’s competition.  This year the team also embarked on a tiered program to enhance women’s participation.  The program includes a variety of options:

• “Fitness through Aussie Rules Football” from early January until mid-May, featuring training sessions (indoors) at different locations throughout the Twin Cities.  The Fitness program is open to women of all ages and physical abilities  who are “looking for that different type of workout, in a fun social environment.”
• The Rec Football League is a six week season of shorter training sessions featuring non-contact Footy played on a smaller field, limited to women players only.
• After the Rec Footy competition all players wishing to take it to the next level will have the opportunity to play on the Minnesota Women’s Team.  The ultimate goal is for some representatives of the Minnesota Freeze women’s team to represent the state at the National tournament in early October 2012.

Women’s Footy is becoming a year-round sport with an ever-growing field of women of all ages and physical abilities.  Keep up with the sport – and its ambitious promoter, Kathryn Hogg,  by checking the team’s website  or join other women’s Footy fans on Meetup.  Contact the team at women@mnfooty.com.  To totally immerse yourself in the game, check this video of a recent Australian Footy League game that Kathryn has posted on the local women’s footy site.

 

Harvest the Ideas Whilst You Can!

Though I’m more than a little irritated at Michelle Bachmann’s bad-mouthing our climate in her vote-getting tour of Florida, her real omission was to fail to mention that Spring and Autumn are the activity seasons in Minnesota. She also omitted the fact  that we are also among the most creative folks she might have never known.  In autumn, theaters burst forth, art crawls are ubiquitous, writers share their works in bookstores, libraries and a rich array of venues –  I understand the Vikings even re-enter the scene.

We are stressed by the fact that we can’t get to every meeting, ethnic festival, art crawl, museum exhibit, reading group and more!

The flip side of this is that Fall and Spring are the best times to explore the possibilities.  On any given day during the Fall, the state resounds with ideas.  Lots to think about during the winter months to come.  It’s a fine time to store up fresh thoughts that just may germinate – who knows when the fertile homebound environment will nurture a thought that will bear great fruit.

So, take in every festival you can get to, store thoughts and memories, plant them and wait for them to flourish in Spring 2012.  We had a really bad winter last year – it’s got us all thinking about Florida, Arizona, depression and other escapes.  Not so if you harvest the brilliance of the Autumn of 2011 and, as with those root vegetables and apples, nibble on it during the inevitable – and quietly beautiful – season to come.

Metro Cable Network – Not so much a bandwidth as an untapped resource

Sometimes I think about old stuff. This is one of those thoughts– but it’s still current.  Decades ago a metro-oriented visionary had a grand thought, of a cable system that would reach the metro region.  Channel 6 was a must-carry on every cable system that reached metro area outlets.

This was back in the day when regional thinking was a priority and the Metropolitan Council had a say about the possibilities of a regional communications system.

For many years I served on the Board of the Metro Cable Network   – a lost opportunity beyond belief.  Perhaps because there is no regional vision, or perhaps because there is no financial support for that vision, the MCN is no longer a regional voice.  Surely, the technology has changed, but the idea of thinking regional is a post-technology thought.  Technology can divide or connect the region.

I am sad.  The region needs a voice and the potential is technologically at hand, even if it’s retro by today’s standards.  Politics, finances and people have sapped Channel 6 of the potential it once had.  Of course I would like to see a more vibrant and relevant Channel 6.  Still, the fact that the technology is dated does not assume that the vision is obsolete,  just not politically popular at this juncture.

Jazz Vocalist Grazyna Auguscik Graces Twin Cities Polish Festival

Art critic Howard Reich is an ardent and articulate fan of jazz vocalist Grazyna Auguscik who will perform for Minnesota fans at the forthcoming 2011 Twin Cities Polish Festival.

Writing in July 2010 Reich rhapsodized about Ms. Auguscik’s performance of the work of Poland’s national musician, Frederic Chopin:

The music world has been awash with 200^th anniversary celebrations of Frederic Chopin’s birth, but surely none as free-wheeling as Sunday night’s marathon at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.  (Chicago Tribune, July 26, 2010, quoted online)

Reich goes on to “hazard a guess” about how the Master might have responded to Auguscik’s jazz interpretation of his work:

Chopin himself might have reveled in these sounds. His piano music, after all, bristles with the spirit of improvisation, as if the composer had sat down at the keyboard and instantaneously invented some of the most enduring works in the piano repertory.  Most of Chopin’s preludes, etudes, and nocturnes unfold in utterly unpredictable ways, changing emotional tone at the drop of a sixteenth note—just like jazz. (Ibid)

To this lay person, Auguscik is becoming a YouTube superstar.  Her several videos are not to be missed!

Auguscik is recipient of countless awards and testimonials for her vocal talents.  Recently she was honored for yet another accomplishment.  Now a Chicago resident who carries her unique talent throughout the nation and the world, Auguscik is the May 2011  recipient of the Polish Promotional Emblem Foundation award.  The prestigious award recognizes “the achievements of Polish-born émigrés in the fields of business, culture, science and personality.”

The Twin Cities Polish Festival 2011 is set for Saturday, August 13 and Sunday, August 14, on the Mississippi Riverfront.  For details on this fun- filled – and free – family event click here.

 

Neighbors, nosh and news at Neighborhood Night Out

REMINDER –

 NATIONAL NIGHT OUT – TUESDAY, AUGUST 2

By my count there are seventeen sites in the Windom Park Neighborhood.  For a full listing of sites, arranged by neighborhood,, check the City Hall website.

By my count there are seventeen NNO sites in Windom Park!  All feature good food – potluck or BBQ;  specialties include bounce houses, visits from the police and fire departments, games, rides, food shelf drives, even a book swap!

Like most grassroots efforts, NNO has roots.  The National Association of Town Watch, a nonprofit, crime prevention organization, introduced NNO in 1984 as a concerted effort to heighten awareness and strengthen participation in local anticrime efforts.  The first year 400 communities in 23 states participated for a total of 2.5 million Americans.  Focus in the early days was on “lights on” and front porch vigils, some of which remain in practice.

Today NNO involves 37 million people in over 15,000 communities from fifty states, territories, Canadian cities and military bases worldwide.

Sure, you know all your neighbors.  Remember, though, that it was a long hard winter and a short hot summer.  Folks cocooned.  You could have missed something.  Here’s your chance to pick up on the news and to share stories, pictures and a tempting taste treat with folks you might not have seen since last August!

Polish Festival on the Riverfront August 13-14 – Open to All!

The very word  “Festival” conjures thoughts of up-beat music, lively dance, great food, fun in the sun.  The 2011 Twin Cities Polish Festival offers all of this  (well, the sun is always iffy) and much more!  What is magnificent about the Polish Festival is the unbounded celebration of Polish culture — Chopin, Conrad, classic films, ethnic food, modern jazz, polka and more mix with accordion playing, folk dance, vodka tasting, a 5K Run and more in a wondrous mix of fun and exploration of the Polish heritage.

All are welcome to join the festivities on Saturday, August 13, 10-10 and Sunday, August 14, 11 – 6.  Gather on the banks of the Mississippi, across from Riverplace and St. Anthony Main.  This grand celebration of All Things Polish is definitely a community event, not just for Polish folks anymore – not that there is anyone who will admit to total dearth of Polish heritage!

Some highlights offer a glimpse of  what’s happening:

v    Grazyna Auguscik, internationally acclaimed Jazz singer/composer renowned for her progressive jazz vocall, accompanied by a group of jazz notables including Paulinho Garcia, Brazilian singer/guitarist and Polish electric violinist

v    Polka Family Band, the five times Grammy nominated band from Pennsylvania.

v    The Megitza Quartet offering a unique jazz/world fusion/gypsy repertoire

v    Jaroslaw Golembiowski, the distinguished composer and pianist who is the featured performer for the Chopin Celebration Concerts

v    Vodka tasting – new this year

v    The 2011 Minnesota State Amateur Polka Dance Championship

v    The 3^rd annual NaZdrowie! (to your health) 5K race

The Polish FilmFestival, a highlight of the two-day Festival, offers a weeklong program with film showings every evening, August 12-18.   The FilmFestival, co-sponsored by The Film Society, is at the St. Anthony Main Theater.

– Details, updates, a map, bus, NiceRide, parking and more on the Twin Cities Polish Festival website.

Stinson Park Conservancy Volunteers Beautify and Boost the Northeast Link of the Grand Rounds

The story of the Stinson Parkway Conservancy is one of beauty – elegant flowering trees, carefully tended gardens of azaleas, daffodils and roses, and committed neighbors.  The neighbors share not only the love of beauty but the vision to imagine a reborn Parkway, the artistic sense to plan just the right colors and layouts to fit the space, the persistence to persevere against all odds, and the strength to haul hundreds of gallons of water to the arid median whose access to the pipes that once carried water to the median strip have fallen to rust and ultimate cut-off.

The Stinson Parkway Conservancy is a charitable organization and has filed with the State of Minnesota and the IRS.  To date the annual receipts of the Conservancy do not meet the minimum threshold set to require 501(c) (3) nonprofit status.  Contributions are  tax deductible to the extent of the law.

The Stinson Parkway Conservancy has adopted by-laws and selected a board of community members headed by Lois Kelly, a long-time Windom Park resident and community activist.  It was Lois who took action when she and others saw a need to create a Stinson Parkway deserving of its prestigious standing as part of the National Scenic Byway of the City’s Grand Rounds system.  The political and financial history of Stinson Parkway is a story for another day; the fact is it has suffered from neglect over the years.

Stinson Parkway is that .7 mile part of the Grand Rounds that connects St. Anthony Parkway with a unfulfilled vision, a section  of the 50 mile Grand Rounds system that has yet to be.  The South end of Stinson Parkway, at the crossroads with New Brighton Boulevard, offers a gracious welcome to a quiet residential community that includes the Windom Park and Audubon Park neighborhoods.  That same gateway swings out of the neighborhood into the industrial strip of Stinson that once housed some of the City’s largest industrial giants, including Honeywell Aerospace in the more recent past.

Stinson Parkway, and all of the Grand Rounds system, is under the purview of Minneapolis Park and Recreation which has long planted and maintained the brilliantly colored flowering trees that line the Parkway.  Conservancy volunteers complement the trees with flowers and shrubs often contributed by local business and other organizations.  Just this month the last of the flowering beds, including renovation of the gateway garden, were completed.

The Stinson Parkway Conservancy welcomes visitors to the gardens and is happy to share information with to who may be interested in the project to maintain and enhance the Parkway and the Northeast neighborhood it serves.  Contact stinsonconserv@gmail.com, find the Conservancy on the web at http://www.parkwayconservancy.org or call 612 781 9936. Contributions to the Conservancy should be directed to Stinson Parkway Conservancy, c/o 2243 Roosevelt Street Northeast, Minneapolis, Minnesota  55418.

Most important, find time to explore Stinson Parkway and all of the magnificent parkways that shape and enhance Minneapolis as the renowned Grand Rounds, one of the nation’s premiere Scenic Byways.

Photos from the Conservancy:

 

A map:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stinson Parkway Photo by David Erickson:

Women of the Polanie Club Share the Polish Heritage for Eighty Decades and More

Of the scores of clubs and organizations that have donated their priceless archives to the James K. Hosmer Special Collections at the Minneapolis Central Library none collected and preserved the record more thoroughly than the Polanie Club.  Known well by Polish Americans everywhere and by residents of Northeast Minneapolis in particular, the Polanie Club is mighty force committed to preserving – and sharing – all that is good about Polish culture.

The Polanie Club  became a reality in October 1927 when a dozen young women of Polish descent gathered for a social club and welcome home to a friend who had just returned from Poland, “full of enthusiasm” to share what she had learned.  The young women agreed to a common purpose,  shaped a collective vision and a shared mission: to preserve their Polish heritage – the history, language, art, music and cuisine of their native land.  The fledgling group called themselves the Polanie Club, “polanie” meaning “people of the prairie.”  From the outside the Club served as a resource, providing Polish national clothing, exhibits, recipes, and a library open to the community.  In the   1930’s the Club sponsored Polish language classes at the U of M and at two public high schools.

Nearly a half century after the formation of the Polanie Club the publication  Northeast: A history described the women and the early days of the club they shaped:

Each was beginning her career as wife, mother, teacher, social worker, lawyer, musician or University student.  Even the Depression years, which followed, were gay times at the Club…The group celebrated each other’s birthdays, engagements, graduation, scholarship awards, and new babies, but never lost sight of its main purpose, to enhance understanding of Polish culture.  This was largely due to the influence of Monica Krawczyk.  (from notes found in the Polanie Club file housed at the James K. Hosmer Special Collections, Minneapolis Central Library)

The unidentified author of this article reminds the reader that the Polanie Club grew at a time when many Polish Americans were changing their names by dropping the RZ-SC-CA combination that native Americans found difficult.

Over the years the Polanie Club continued to meet in members’ homes where they enjoyed comraderie and a monthly gourmet dinner.  Though they ardently supported the defense effort, they held firm to their commitment to preserving the Polish culture.  Wartime programs included “The Music of Poland”(1939), Musical Education in Poland”, and “Poland, a Songland of the World from Music and Youth,”  Later programs featured “Polish Folklore” and” “Polish Women Authors” among a long list of serious discussions of Polish culture, talks often presented by noted scholars and artists.

At these monthly meetings, the women reviewed their many projects and pondered how best to promulgate Polish culture in this country.  Focus on writing and publishing, they agreed, was the best way to spread the word.

Their first publishing venture was launched in 1942 with a collection of the lyrics of 110 Polish songs, Piesni Ludowe. On their 15^th anniversary they published Victoria Janda’s collection of poems entitled “Star Hunger”.  That was followed two years later by the poet’s “Walls of Space.”  In 1948 the Polanie Club published its premiere best seller, a cookbook entitled Treasured Polish Recipes for Americans, illustrated by Stanley Legun, a Northeast Minneapolis artist.

The presses were kept busy with Polish publications – poetry, short stories and, in 1957, a compilation of over 300 songs – music and words.  This major work, entitled Treasured Polish Songs with English Translations was illustrated by Maria Werten and translated by Polanie members.

A major event for the Polanie Club came in 1966 when the organization sponsored the Annual Convention of the American Council of Polish Cultural Clubs (now known as the American Council for Polish Culture.)   The conference, held at the University of Minnesota, celebrated the Polish Millennium with a program of distinguished lecturers on the theme, “Poland through a Thousand Years”  The Polanie Club also supported the Polish American Cultural Institute of Minnesota in hosting the 1996 ACPC convention, held in Minneapolis.

The following year, in 1967, the Club celebrated their fortieth anniversary. In that year four members of the great (Josepha Contoski, Cecily Helgesen, Rose Polski Anderson and Marie Sokolowski), received research grants for study in Poland.  Their experiences and the realia with which they returned to the Twin Cities launched Polonie on a more formal exhibition program.  The Club had long supplied Polish costumes and memorabilia for local projects.  Now the Exhibit Committee, armed with the materials brought back by the grant recipients, extended the program of displays – for which they soon began to receive acclamation and awards.

In 1977 members of the Polanie Club celebrated their 50^th anniversary in style with a Red and White Ball at the Holiday Inn on the Nicollet Mall.   They also expanded their publications list.  Treasured Polish Folk Rhymes, Songs and Games was translated into English then published in both languages.

Over the years the list grew.  In 1983 Polanie published Bocheck in Poland: A children’s story about the white stork, the fairytale bird of the old world, by Joseph Contoski.  In the late 1980’s the Club diversified their publications later with a 1989 cassette of Polish Christmas Carols and later a CD of Christmas carols created my piano virtuoso Bonnie Frels.

Let it not be written that Polanie Club members look only to the past – one of the most active programs of today’s Polanie is the scholarship program for post-secondary education.  Minnesotans of Polish-American descent are eligible for stipends to attend the post-secondary institution of their choice.  Since the inception of the program in 2000 tens of thousands of scholarships have been awarded.

When the American Council for Polish Culture met again in Minneapolis in 2003 Polanie  seized the opportunity of the organization’s lifetime when they were called upon to conduct national wide auditions for the Marcella Kochanska Sembrich Vocal Competitions.  The winner performed in concerts at both Hamline and Universities, events that offered hundreds of Twin Citians an opportunity experience the beauty of Polish culture.

A delightful tradition of Polanie is the annual Wigilia celebration, a Polish Christmas tradition kept alive in this community.  Wigilia, meaning “watchful vigil,” is hosted by Polanie during Advent, offering Minnesotans a chance to prepare for the Nativity in a celebratory but reflective gathering feature Polish food, live performances and an altogether “magical evening.”

At this writing, members of the Polanie Club are working feverishly on preparations for the Twin Cities Polish Festival 2011, August 13-14 on the banks of the Mississippi near St. Anthony Main.  The event itself is a celebration of Polish culture featuring a Chopin Celebration, a Polish film festival, an exhibit of the works of Joseph Conrad, Polish jazz and folk music and dance – along with fabulous food and great exhibits where visitors can learn about the Twin Cities Polish community, including the Polanie Club.  Don’t miss it!

Notes:

v    In truth, having lived in Northeast Minneapolis fewer than thirty years, I am a newbie.  Learning about the women of the Polanie Club expands my understanding and appreciation of my neighborhood.  My profound thanks to those who have maintained the record, everyone who kept the minutes, clipped the newspapers, and preserved the reports.

v    It is worthy of note that the files are replete with the individual names of Polanie members and their roles in the Club.  Though I would love to have been able to attribute some of this credit, there were just too many women to name!

v    Most of the publications of Polanie are still available.  Check the Polanie publications on line.  If you don’t find the title you want there, check Amazon.  My google search was successful in finding virtually all of the titles new or used and at reasonable cost.

v    This piece was written for my blog, whimsically, if accurately, known as Poking Around with Mary.  That is what I do, poke around  – around my neighborhood, the city, libraries, parks, coffee shops, and any other sites or gatherings that catch my eye.  I also search online a range of interests, including a current passion to learn about and draw attention to threats to open government.  When I’m not poking around, I write about what I have learned.  If you’re interested you might take time to poke around the blog where you’ll find past posts on related issues including a piece on last year’s Polish Festival and several pieces of what’s happening in Northeast Minneapolis  You will find an easy subscription link online.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts Welcomes Artists to the Book Art Biennial, July 30-31

For book artists everywhere the Book Art Biennial at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts brings joy unfettered – immersion in the time-honored art form, time with colleagues who share the passion for the art, and a chance to revel in the beauty of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and the Open Book. And so they will gather in Minneapolis for “Pacing the Page”, the Book Art Biennial, on July 30 and 31.

Planners of the conference write about their art in compelling terms:

The strength of a sequential narrative cannot be denied.  Artists’ books, like no other art form, have the ability to cultivate meaningful and intimate relationships with viewers and readers through the development, refinement and advancement of content over time.

A lovely description of a unique art form kept alive and shared at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

The conference includes workshops, lecturers, conversations and exhibitions, all of which will explore the power of “pacing which the planners define as the “structuring of sequence, the manipulation of rhythm and the significance of physical engagement in contemporary artists’ books.

Keynote speaker, Gary Frost, brings decades of experience in a changing profession.  One example of his many accomplishments is his authorship of Future of the Book, a blog that shares the latest thinking on reading behavior, traditional book use in the context of digital delivery systems, library preservation and book art.

The conference includes a potpourri of intriguing activities.  Leaders in the profession will present numerous workshops.  And there is time for fun, especially the MCBA prize gala, a high point of the gathering.

The MCBA is located in the Open Book Building near downtown Minneapolis at 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55415. .  For more information re. the schedule,  roster and bios of speakers, registration and more,  check the MCBA website.  Email mcba@mnbooks.org or phone 612 215 2520.

It is an honor for local artists and book lovers to join MCBA in welcoming participants in this extraordinary gathering.  We  thank visiting book artists and hope you enjoy your stay as we enjoy your art.

Minneapolis – City of Lakes, Learners, Clubs and Their Records

Busy bibliophiles and lifelong learners trying to squeeze in a quick read or a weekly study club take note – you are joining generations of intellectually curious and engaged Minneapolitans who shared the pleasure of a good read or a deep thought with friends and neighbors.

Discovering the Collection:  Consider the scores of boxes that cram the shelves of the Clubs & Organizations Collection in the James K. Hosmer Special Collections at Minneapolis Central Library.  The collection reveals much of the city’s history through the largely unpublished legacy of neighborhood and professional groups that thrived in an earlier day.  Within the hundreds of archival boxes are the scrapbooks, directories, minutes, ledgers, programs, letters and ephemera that tell the story of the city’s social, learning and professional organizations dating from the mid-nineteenth century.

Best of all, library staff and supporters have created a beautifully annotated index of the contents of those boxes.  The indispensable guide provides a thumbnail sketch of each organization and an inventory of the treasures buried in the archives.

Perusing the Online Inventory:  The good news is that the well annotated index is available online where you can learn a good deal about the club before you attack the original files.  The index provides an overview of nearly 200 organizations, their mission, officers, membership, years of operation, what they read and discussed, where they met, and anything else you could have ever wanted to know about the famed study and social groups of an earlier time – the roots of which live on in this city of reading groups, neighborhood councils, ethnic gatherings and just plain clubs of every conceivable stripe.

These snippets from the files what your curiosity to dig deeper:

• The Prospect Park Study Club, founded in the tradition of other Federation of Womens Clubs, discussed current interest and academic topics, with programs presented by club members.  The five (huge) boxes cover the Study Club’s doings from 1896 to 2001.

• Or consider the Ramblers, folks who liked to travel and to discuss the “topography, art, literature, and music of different cultures.  Those files cover 1896 to 1949.

• No surprise, the Saturday Lunch Club, 1927-1952, was an all-male upscale club founded by Stiles P. Jones (1862-1920), a prominent Twin Cities newsman.  The five boxes of club records list the membership which includes many familiar names while the list of speakers includes some of the nation’s most prominent leaders – W.E.B.DuBois, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan, Louis D.  Is it any wonder the city created a reputation for engagement and big picture thinking?

Active Minneapolitans didn’t think deep thoughts all the time, though – The collection includes the files of the Kennel Club, the Apollo Club (1895), the first male chorus, the Hostesses, founded in 1898 to make arrangements for a Ball, with the idea of making them a permanent social event each winter, and then there is the Lake Harriet Yacht Club, founded “to promote the physical and mental culture and the social interests of members.”

On a personal note, one issue that strikes me at first blush is that the majority of the files reflect the stories of women’s clubs – the question in my mind is whether there were more women who wanted to read good literature, discuss history, world affairs or social concerns — or did these women just keep their files in better order?

You can bury yourself for untold hours in the online inventory online – I know from experience.  If you don’t have a home computer, your neighborhood library offers a good option.  You’ll laugh, you’ll learn, and you’ll develop a keen appreciation of intellectual and social vitality that shaped today’s cultural, social, political, and recreational profile.

Exploring the Collection:  When you’ve focused on clubs that call out for further study, you’ll pine to dig into those file boxes and folders.  The James K. Hosmer Special Collection is housed in elegant and temperature controlled splendor at the Minneapolis Central Library, 4^th floor, behind the ornate carved arched entryway. (the archway was transported originally from the late lamented Library at 10^th Hennepin from whence it has migrated over time to its present site in this ultra-21^st Century setting.)

And then the fun begins!

• First and always, call ahead  (612 657-8200)  to give staff time to pull the files you seek – it seems like magic but in fact it’s the result of a skilled and extraordinarily committed staff that runs miles to gather the files from their secure location.

• Assuming you called ahead, you’ll find materials waiting for you – in this case, archival boxes filled with files maintained by the club in their day or a sheaf of envelopes filled with carefully dated clippings and photos – always a delightful surprise.

• Then marinate your mind in the stories that leap from the often hand-written notes, membership lists, minutes, and other treasures that divulge the stories of the club about which you want to learn more.

• If you need a coffee break (1^st floor) or have to leave the Library, tell staff and your materials will be waiting for you next trip (assuming it’s soon.)

• If you need photocopies, you’ll find a low cost and efficient copier that takes coins and even gives change.  If you want to scan something, talk with staff.  Tip:  you will need to copy anything you want to take with you – nothing in the Special Collections Library circulates.

• Suggestion:  Leave yourself time to browse the stacks.  Though what’s on the open stacks is a smidgeon of the archives’ holdings there are unexpected finds.  If you’re interested in Minneapolis clubs you’ll want to peruse the shelves of the Minneapolis Collection.

My personal hopes:

1) That this small snippet whets your mental appetite to learn more about the history of this city – the neighborhood leaders,  special interest proponents, ethnic groups,  readers and writers, politicians and good government advocates, education supporters and others who took time and made the effort to think big thoughts about their era and about the future.

2) That I can and do make time to plumb the depths of many of these energetic organizations.  My plan is to start with learning all I can about the Polanie Club, a social club founded in 1927 and still going strong today.  The Club was established by twelve young women who wanted to learn more about, share and preserve their Polish culture.  Polanie, meaning ‘people of the plains, aptly describes their interest in the Polish language, literature, music, food, history, art, folklore and more.  The Polanie Club has played a significant role in preserving the Polish legacy which is so much a part of my adopted Northeast neighborhood.  I can’t wait to learn more and to visit the incredible Twin Cities Polish Festival again this year – it’s August 13-14 on the Mississippi Riverfront!

3) That readers will focus on a club that peaks their fancy, check the online inventory, explore the files, interpret and employ 21^st Century tools to share the stories with 21^st Century Minneapolitans.