In 1947, the Northfield News began a new column titled “For Women Only,” written by Maggie Lee. In this chatty feature, Maggie wrote about a wide variety of subjects, including personal anecdotes, local observations, and newsworthy events (which probably interested both men and women). Maggie started at the newspaper as a reporter and bookkeeper in 1944, and partly due to the popularity of this column and also to her tireless commitment to telling the stories of Northfield, she moved through the editorial ranks until she was named managing editor in 1967.

“For Women Only” article in Northfield News, Feb. 6, 1947. Northfield News collection, Northfield History Collaborative.

For one early column published February 6, 1947, Maggie included a description of historic Valentine’s Day cards on view at the Minnesota Historical Society behind a discussion on bothersome squirrels and a list of the contents of her father’s dresser drawer and her own purse. She wrote:

“A Minnesota Historical Society news release for February gives a timely description of the exhibit of valentines now on display at the society’s building in St. Paul proving that Minnesota pioneers continued on the frontier some of the holiday customs of Europe and the East.”

She described a few of these “pioneer valentines” on view, including “a home-made valentine of cloth flowers, a bit of lace, and a lock of hair woven into a pattern,” created approximately in 1860. Since MNHS has digitized many of their paper artifacts, I wondered if I could find this particular one on their Online Collections web page. And there it was!

Valentine, c. 1860. 2010.73.1. Minnesota Historical Society.

Now we can see the remainder of the poem quoted by Maggie, written by the Valentine sender:

This lock of hair you’ve seen me wear
But now present it to your care
If you ever should wish to see this
Remember me, remember this.

Amusingly, Maggie thought that the valentines being exchanged by children in 1947 paled in comparison to these early love letters. “Those early romanticists,” she wrote, “would flop in their graves if they could see the contents of those heart-covered boxes in Washington and Longfellow grade schools next week.” She goes on to describe a number of Valentine’s Day cards of her day, in great detail.

But now those 1947 valentines, with language such as “Yep, Toots, you’re my Valentine,” and “Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m a nice squirrel, and nuts to you,” seem nostalgic and charming to our 2016 eyes, compared to some of those floating around today. Who knew how much Valentine’s Day cards can reflect the spirit, language, and pop culture of their day?

The NHC has uploaded quite a few of Maggie’s early “For Women Only” articles from 1947, and more of the originals are saved on site at the Northfield Historical Society. Feel free to browse around and see what else was on Maggie’s mind!

 May 28th through July 4th is Northfield History Month.  Learn more about the events hosted this month here. To honor Northfield’s past and showcase the work of the Northfield History Collaborative, there will be new posts each week about the various projects that have been added to the Collaborative’s online collection.  

To start off, we will first introduce our four new partners to the Collaborative: Christdala Swedish Lutheran Church, Three Links Care Center, First United Church of Christ, and the City of Dundas, and each of their roles in the history of Northfield.

First United Church of Christ:

Founded in 1856, the First United Church of Christ has the distinction of being the first church in Northfield. The congregation helped to found Carleton College in 1866, and counted many influential early Northfielders among its members. The content now available in the Collaborative from First UCC consists of three books of early records of the church, from 1856 to 1908.  These records deal mainly with the administrative details of the church and membership.

The early records attest to commonly occurring changes in membership as settlers arrived in or left the area. Incoming members were expected to present letters of recommendation from their previous churches that testified to their Christian character. Likewise, anyone leaving First UCC also submitted a request for a recommendation letter to their new congregation.  These requests were for the most part accepted and became everyday business for the church leaders.  Therefore, in the unusual circumstance where such a request is denied, it stands out markedly from the day to day governance of the church.

One of these instances is recorded in the second record book when Mr. and Mrs. LH Kelley requested letters of dismissal and recommendation in 1870.  Mrs. Kelley’s request was accepted but Mr. Kelley’s was not, the reasoning follows:

In reference to the request of Bro LH Kelley for a letter from this church, we cannot grant such a letter in view of the course which he has recently and to considerable length pursued, in publishing articles detrimental to the best interests of religion, detrimental to the best interests of the Church of which he is himself a member, and whose welfare he has solemnly promised to care for as well as to the highest interests of morality in the place. As a specimen of which we mention particularly the article signed ‘Anathema’ and published during the progress of a precious revival religion. We present these reasons distinctly to Bro Kelleys consideration, as complaints; which we as a church feel constrained to make, and to ask that he will if possible relieve our painful emotions by such explanation or confession as shall satisfy us that he no less than we regret the evil that has been done and that there shall be no future occasion for a like trouble.

A committee was formed to discuss the issue and come to a decision regarding the matter. Mr. Kelley responded to their concerns in the following letter, opening up the debate to broader ethical and philosophical questions concerning the responsibilities he felt as a Christian and his dedication to the liberty of the press:

June 6th 1870

To the Communicants of the 1st Congregational Church of Northfield Minn.

Your action of last Monday evening with regard to myself, has been communicated to me by Bro Spencer our church clerk. In the first place you accuse me (in the form of complaint) of publishing articles in the Northfield Enterprise, detrimental to the best interests of religion, detrimental to the best interests of the church and specified an instance the article signed ‘Anathema.’ I am very sorry that you consider yourselves injured by my publishing an article in which I had no part or lot in the matter. From my stand point I could view the subject in no other light than to allow it to be published, or be guilty of abridging the liberty of the press, which I could not do without doing violence to the great doctrines of universal Liberty. I feel that I made suitable apology at the time, for the article appearing in the Enterprise, and however distasteful it might appear to me at the time, I felt that I had no just and reasonable grounds to withhold it. And I have not the most distant idea that any such remarks has in the least degree injured the cause of Christ, or any denomination founded on his teachings, for I believe that the laws of Jehovah and the fundamental principles established by Christ on earth can never be abrogated by mortal man, how much so ever, he may labor for that object…

…Brethren, in all my transaction in publishing an independant [sic] journal in Northfield, I may, and no doubt have committed errors, for perfection cannot be found on Earth, yet I assure you that my conscience does not condemn me, and I feel to day as I have in the past the same desire to love my God and your God, and all those who are the meek and lowly followers of the teachings of our blessed Lord.

Several committees were formed to discuss the matter over the ensuing months, but their ultimate decision is not recorded within the church records.

Click here to view the online collection for the First United Church of Christ.

The parish house and the “Old Brown Church,” circa 1870.

May 28th through July 4th is Northfield History Month.  Learn more about the events hosted this month here. To honor Northfield’s past and showcase the work of the Northfield History Collaborative, there will be new posts each week about the various projects that have been added to the Collaborative’s online collection.  

To start off, we will first introduce our four new partners to the Collaborative: Christdala Swedish Lutheran Church, Three Links Care Center, First United Church of Christ, and the City of Dundas, and each of their roles in the history of Northfield.

Three Links Care Center:

Formerly the Odd Fellows Home for children and the elderly, Three Links Care Center brings to the Collaborative materials relating to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the fraternity’s branch for women, the Rebekahs. The initial project for Three Links included a number of photographs of the original buildings and documents pertaining to the I.O.O.F in general as well as to the Odd Fellows in Minnesota and Northfield specifically.

The newsletter announcing the dedication of the new Odd Fellows building in Northfield in 1915. View the entire document here.

The Children’s Home, complete with swing sets.

May 28th through July 4th is Northfield History Month.  Learn more about the events hosted this month here. To honor Northfield’s past and showcase the work of the Northfield History Collaborative, there will be new posts each week about the various projects that have been added to the Collaborative’s online collection.  

To start off, we will first introduce our four new partners to the Collaborative: Christdala Swedish Lutheran Church, Three Links Care Center, First United Church of Christ, and the City of Dundas, and each of their roles in the history of Northfield. 

Christdala Swedish Lutheran Church:

The content currently available in Christdala’s collection are the church’s records, beginning with its foundation in 1877 by the first Swedish settlers in Rice County, and ending in 1941. Kept in Swedish until 1927, the records themselves reflect the immigrant community’s commitment to preserving their culture and language as well as their eventual assimilation into American culture. Including treasurer, administrative and pastoral reports, the records chronicle both the period of peak membership and growth experienced by the church as well as the beginning of the decline of the congregation that led to its eventual disbanding in 1966.  The 1877 to 1941 records for Christdala Swedish Lutheran Church can be accessed here.

NHC is very proud to partner with DPLA. Here is the press release sent out by the Minnesota Digital Library about Minnesota’s involvement in DPLA.

You can see all of the Northfield images in DPLA here.

Minnesota Digital Library announces tenfold increase in materials available through Digital Public Library of America

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), the nation’s premier online digital library, has collaborated with the Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) at the University of Minnesota to complete a tenfold increase in the number of digital items from Minnesota available on its website, dp.la. This collaboration presents Minnesota culture and history to the world through high­quality scans of photographs, original manuscripts, videos, artwork, maps, and more. The 426,000 new items come from the collections of seven prominent Minnesota institutions:

● Minnesota Historical Society

● Minnesota Public Radio

● Minneapolis Institute of Arts

● College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University

● Carleton College

● Northfield History Collaborative

● University of Minnesota Libraries

“We are incredibly excited to be part of this groundbreaking effort to bring together collections from across the country into a single, searchable portal,” said Jennifer Jones, the Minnesota Historical Society’s Library and Collections Director. “This is a wonderful opportunity to make the cultural heritage of Minnesota available to a wider audience.” When a visitor searches DPLA’s website for this content, the site delivers results using data aggregated by MDL and directs the visitor to the host institution’s website to view the actual digital item. John Butler, the University of Minnesota Libraries’ head of Data and Technology, added, “The Minnesota Digital Library’s rich collaboration with the DPLA has now enabled the cultural treasures from the smallest and the largest of Minnesota organizations to have a digital presence on the national and international stage. It is a wonderful opportunity to connect Minnesota to the global community.” This work is made possible through the generous funding of the Digital Public Library of America Digital Hubs Pilot, which is supported by the Digital Public Library of America with funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

ABOUT THE MINNESOTA DIGITAL LIBRARY

The Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) is a collaborative and cost­effective online digital library. MDL serves Minnesota by providing a freely accessible online collection of primary resources on Minnesota culture and history and by providing digitization expertise and services to 167 organizations throughout the state. In addition to free public access, MDL uses its collections to support education and outreach. MDL adheres to professional standards and best practices in digitization, data management, information retrieval, preservation, and software application support. MDL is funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution via the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS). MDL’s collaborative partners, including the University of Minnesota, also contribute substantial in­kind services. Additional funding is provided by Minitex, a joint program of the University of Minnesota and the Office of Higher Education.

ABOUT THE DIGITAL PUBLIC LIBRARY OF AMERICA

The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. It strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science. DPLA aims to expand this crucial realm of openly available materials, and make those riches more easily discovered and more widely usable and used.

The Northfield History Collaborative (NHC) will host a Managing your Digital Collection workshop in Carleton College’s Weitz Center May 15, with registration starting at 8 a.m.

Attendees should RSVP by contacting Kristin Glomstad (507-645-9268, glomstad@northfieldhistory.org) by May 13.

As digital collections of photographs, papers, and other documents continue to grow in personal and professional collections, questions have arisen about long-term care — from optimizing organization to backing up your files, this workshop will have answers for you.

In a session titled “Cover you bytes and pieces! Fundamentals of preservation for digital material,” Carleton College Digital Archivist Nat Wilson will present the basic techniques for digital preservation, including recommended file formats, backup strategies, and suggested metadata fields. A follow-up session by Joe Hoover from the Minnesota Historical Society will look at some commonsense approaches to balancing time, money, volunteers, and skills to make digitizing on a shoestring budget possible while still meeting museum-quality standards.

The workshop also will look at economical ways to digitize photos, documents, books, and magnetic media, plus how to shoot photos of 3D objects and preserve your digital assets.

The main goal of the NHC, a committee of the Northfield Historical Society, is to digitize and make accessible Northifeld-area history.