Portraits of ten Minnesota State Officers, incorporated into a six-pointed star: Governor Ramsey; Lt. Gov Donnelly; Secretary Baker; Treasurer Scheffer; Dept of Instruction Neill; Auditor Kraft; Atty General Cole; Statistician Wheelock; Adjt General Acker; and State Printer Van Vorhes.
Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815-1884) was an abolitionist and advocate of women's rights. She ran the newspapers "The St. Cloud Visitor" and the "St. Cloud Democrat."
Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815-1884) was an abolitionist and advocate of women's rights. She ran the newspapers "The St. Cloud Visitor" and the "St. Cloud Democrat."
Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815-1884) was an abolitionist and advocate of women's rights. She ran the newspapers "The St. Cloud Visitor" and the "St. Cloud Democrat."
Portrait of Joe Whitford. Mr. Whitford built the first cabin on the townsite in the summer of 1857 and was responsible for naming the city in honor of his benefactor, James Fergus.
Orgins of St. Benedict's Monastery (convent), St. Joseph, Minnesota. Mother Willibalda Scherbauer, OSB, led four sisters and two candidates, ranging in age from 18 to 26, from St. Marys, Pennslyvania, to the Midwest frontier (St. Cloud, Minnesota) in 1857. Mother Willibalda (Franciska) was born in Kastel, Bavaria in 1831. At an early age, her family took her to St. Walburg Convent in Eichstätt to be educated. There she professed her vows in 1851; four years later, she volunteered to join the sisters in America. Then in 1857, she volunteered to venture to the Northwest Territory and was appointed prioress of the St. Cloud community by Boniface Wimmer, OSB. Mother Willibalda was an accomplished musician of whom Jane Swisshelm, editor of a local newspaper, wrote, "The Lady Abbess is small, slight, delicate, graceful, and as accomplished a lady as you could meet in any circle...waking the first echoes of those broad prairies in a call (daily ringing of the church bell) to bow regularly at an altar of Christian worship..." (McDonald, page41). Mother Willibalda's able administration as leader gave the Benedictine sisters a firm monastic foundation, not only in St. Cloud, but also in St. Joseph, the nucleus of St. Benedict's Monastery. She is lovingly remembered for accepting Mother Benedicta Riepp into the St. Cloud community when she was misunderstood by authorities and some community members for upholding the rights of the sisters in America (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 12, 15-16, 19).
This is a photograph of Governor Henry Swift from St. Peter, Minnesota. Swift was the third Governor of Minnesota and served from July 10, 1863 to January 11, 1864.
Collage of studio portraits from Minnesota Company A, Seventh Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, 1862, including 52 oval portraits of Civil War soldiers, some in uniform and some in later years. An eagle, flag, and banners appear at the top.
Roswell H. Kinney was the first superintendent of the Minnesota Institute for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, and served during 1863-1866. He was present when the school opened on September 9, 1863. The school's name changed from "Minnesota Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb" to "Minnesota Institute for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind" during his administration.
Contributing Institution:
Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf Alumni Association Museum
Albert Dahlem was a Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Officer, seen here wearing his uniform. After the war, he moved to Sauk Centre, becoming an avid businessman.
Studio portrait of Alois and Louisa Wemerskirchen, members of a well-known Shakopee family. Handwriting on reverse reads: "Louisa Wermerskirchen" and "Alois Wermerskirchen."
Rabbi Wechsler (pronounced Wexler) lead the congregation's sponsoring a Jewish farming settlement in the Dakota Territories. The settlement attempted to help Russian Jewish immigrants find livelihoods working the land in the American West. Though the farm colony ultimately failed, he was considered an innovator and modernizer. Late in his career, after leaving Minnesota, he worked to improve educational opportunities in Mississippi for blacks. He served at Temple Mount Zion from 1878-1886.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
E. C. Huntington, in 1871, started the Windom Reporter, the first newspaper in the county. He operated it until 1908, when he sold it to the Warren brothers.
Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Schmidt and their son, Henry Schmidt at age 12 years. Picture was taken in Germany before they moved here. Henry Schmidt became a doctor in the Westbrook area of Cottonwood County, Minnesota
Standing, left to right, are: Z. S. Gault, T. H. Frazier, and Henry Moll. Seated, left to right, are: G. S. Ives, George Noble, C. R. Davis, and Dr. G. F. Merritt. This photograph of prominent St. Peter men was taken in 1872.
Standing, left to right, are: Z. S. Gault, T. H. Frazier, and Henry Moll. Seated, left to right, are: G. S. Ives, George Noble, Charles R. Davis, and Dr. G. F. Merritt. This photograph of prominent St. Peter men was taken in 1872.
This photograph shows, from left to right: William Bickel, Gov. Horace Austin, and J. K. Moore, who was the editor of the St. Peter Tribune. Austin served as governor from January 9, 1870 to January 7, 1874.
Truman Smith, early member of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. Smith and his family came to St. Paul in 1851 from Vermont. He became a fruit and vegetable grower in 1858 after real estate and marble ventures. He was elected president of the Minnesota State Horticultual Society in 1873, the year the society became open to women members, and remained president until 1878. He was reelected in 1884-1885.
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Survival was the sisters' prime challenge during those first years of exposure to cold and scarcity of food in White Earth. But even so, they took two orphan girls (the younger one only four years old) into their home. The care of orphans was to become an important work for them at St. Benedict's Mission as White Earth developed. Sisters Philomena and Lioba, unlike in temperaments, proved to be well-suited to work together among the Ojibwe. Sister Philomena, young and vivacious, had volunteered for missionary work; Sister Lioba, deliberate and more conservative, was fearful of venturing that far into the northern region. They learned to rely on each other's strengths and persevered through 50 years of mission work at the White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Records indicate that, when a fire destroyed the school just a few weeks after their arrival, Sister Lioba felt justified in going back home, but Sister Philomena suggested fixing up the barn to serve as the school, which they did at a cost of $35.00. [SBMA, McDonald, pp. 232-237]
Studio portrait of Dr. J. G. Whittemore. In addition to medical practice, Whittemore was Pope County Auditor for six years and served two terms in the Minnesota Legislature.
This is a photograph of E. St. Julien Cox, the first mayor of St. Peter from 1865 to 1867. Cox was a captain in Company E of the Second Minnesota Regiment during the Civil War. He led volunteers to fight at New Ulm during the 1862 uprising. Cox served as judge of the Ninth Judicial District from 1876 to 1882.
This is a photograph of E. St. Julien Cox, the first mayor of St. Peter from 1865 to 1867. Cox was a captain in Company E of the Second Minnesota Regiment during the Civil War. He led volunteers to fight at New Ulm during the 1862 Uprising. Cox served as judge of the Ninth Judicial District from 1876 to 1882.
This composite photograph shows the faculty and student body of Augsburg Seminary during one of the years in the 1880s. Note the fluted ""ruff"" collar that was typical for clergymen to wear in the Dano-Norwegian Lutheran church tradition.
Portrait of first President for Mankato State Normal School. Edward Searing (1835-1898) served from 1880-1898. Three individuals served as Principal of the Mankato Normal School prior to Searing. Searing was the first to serve as President.
Contributing Institution:
University Archives and Southern Minnesota Historical Center, Memorial Library, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Portrait of Professor William Robertson, early horticulturist and superintendent of the Northwest Experiment Farm, Crookston, and developer of a school of agriculture for that part of Minnesota.
A portrait of Georgia (McKee) Barrett, Herman, Minnesota, seated at a table holding flowers laid on the table. She is wearing a black dress with white lace bow at the neck. Taken at an unknown location.
Schools in south-central Minnesota (1876-1909). In 1877, the sisters of St. Gertrude's Convent in Shakopee* were asked to care for orphan children in temporary quarters on Ninth and Robert Streets in St. Paul. Sisters Benedicta Klein and Agatha Nachbar assumed the responsibility for six orphans. For this they received a salary of $10.00 a month. When this photograph was taken in 1880, Sister Placida Heine had replaced Sister Agatha Nachbar. Because the number of orphans grew to 17 by 1879, a new building was constructed near the Assumption parochial school so that the orphans could be educated there. After St. Gertrude's Convent was amalgamated with St. Benedict's in 1880, the orphanage came under the jurisdiction of St. Benedict's Convent, St. Joseph, MN. For information about St. Gertrude's Convent, see SBM.03e or sbm00016 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Expansion of Monastery (1880-1909). Sister Gertrude Flynn, OSB, was the prioress (in the 1870s) of a small, struggling community, St. Gertrude's Convent, Shakopee, MN, which (like St. Benedict's) had originated in St. Marys, PA. St. Gertrude's was the community of which Sister Scholastica Kerst, OSB, became a member in 1862. However, in 1877 Sister Scholastica transferred her membership to St. Benedict's Convent and within three years was appointed the fourth prioress of St. Benedict's. One of her first official actions was to negotiate the merger of St. Gertrude's Convent with St. Benedict's despite the disapproval of Sister Gertrude and her community. The merger of this English-speaking community introduced other nationalities that enhanced St. Benedict's community and provided it with a group of zealous religious whose professional experience assisted in meeting the demands of its academy and other apostolates. Sister Gertrude served St. Benedict's well in her role as community secretary and in her hope and encouragement for the full restoration of praying the Divine Office, a privilege denied the community by Abbot Boniface Wimmer, OSB, for the sake of the teaching apostolate (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 95-99).
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). Some of the sisters teaching in Duluth before the separation of the Duluth sisters from St. Benedict's in St. Joseph are identified as follows. Top Row - left to right: S. Catherine Siefner, Clementine Jastrzenska, Florentine Cannon, Augustine Terhaar, Margaret Dellwo (Delleveaux); (Bottom Row - left to right): S. Bertha Cherrier, Regina Otto, Cornelia Berg, Anastasia Gerard, Magdalen Walker. Duluth was first settled because of a short-lived rumor in 1854 that copper and ore were found on the North Shore. It was not until 1869, when Duluth was connected to St. Paul by railroad, that the population began to grow. Though Duluth experienced a five-year set back in 1873 when Jay Cooke's (financier of the railroad-to-the-Pacific) financial empire collapsed, it became the ore capital and the grain and lumber harbor of the Northwest. Parish communities and schools began to flourish and the Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph, MN, responded to invitations to teach there: in 1881, five sisters from St. Joseph opened Sacred Heart School for over 200 children in an old carriage shop, but the pastor closed that school; in 1883, seven sisters returned to Sacred Heart Parish and taught in a public school building until a new school (St. Thomas Aquinas) was built; in 1885 sisters began teaching in St. Stanislaus School in the Polish parish, St. Mary Star of the Sea; in 1887 they opened St. Clement School and also the Store-Front School on Garfield Avenue for the French parish; in 1891 the sisters opened St. Anthony's School. All of these mission schools, as well as St. Mary's Hospital, were transferred to St. Benedict's new daughterhouse which was established in Duluth in 1892. Prompted by her deposition as prioress in St. Joseph, it was the energy and the independent pioneer spirit of Mother Scholastica Kerst that effected the separation of the sisters in Duluth from the motherhouse in St. Joseph. While only 20 of the 43 sisters in Duluth opted to join the newly-formed community, Villa Sancta Scholastica, the separation strained the resources of both communities. However, both rallied and flourished in Minnesota. The Benedictines in Duluth today conduct the College of St. Scholastica and a Benedictine Health Care System (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; Olsenius, pages 23-24).
This is a photograph of William Carey Brown, a Nicollet County native. Brown, who became a Brigidier General, received many honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal and the Silver Star.