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"Few questions in American history," writes Theodore C. Blegen,
"have stirred so much curiosity or provoked such extended
discussions as that of the authenticity of the runic inscription on
a stone found near Kensington, Minnesota, in 1898."
Swedish-American farmer Olof Ohman discovered the stone clasped in
the roots of an aspen tree on a knoll above the surrounding swamp.
His young son was the first to notice the strange letters chiseled
into the rock face. Since then historians, geologists and runic
scholars have entered the debate over the age and meaning of these
carvings. Are they genuine 14th-century runes, evidence of a
pre-Columbian Viking expedition to North America, or are they a
clever 19th-century hoax? In this classic volume, Blegen untangles
the circumstances surrounding the unearthing of the Kensington Rune
Stone. Marshalling letters, affidavits, newspaper accounts and
investigative reports, he lays out in authoritative detail the
early history of this controversial artifact and investigates the
background and character of Olof Ohman and other men involved in
its discovery. He also describes the first cycles of investigation
and dispute and devotes a chapter to the role of Hjalmar R. Holand,
who acquired the stone in 1907 and was its chief defender until his
death in 1963. Fourteen appendixes offer useful primary (?) source
materials and supply English translations where needed. This lucid
text, together with its footnotes and appendixes, remains a
cornerstone for further investigation and discussion. Theodore C.
Blegen was a professor of history and dean of the Graduate School
at the University of Minnesota for two decades. A former
superintendent of the Minnesota Historical Society, he served many
years as editor of its quarterly magazine, "Minnesota History."
In an engaging and readable style, renowned historian Theodore
Blegen takes the reader on a tour of Minnesota's development, from
the geological events that shaped the land to westward movement to
twentieth-century modernization. This second edition includes a
concluding chapter by Russell W. Fridley that chronicles the impact
of turbulent national politics and cultural changes of the 1960s
and 1970s on the state, as well as an extensive reading list and
detailed index. Minnesota is a concise yet comprehensive account of
the state's progress, highlighting landmarks in politics,
technology, the arts, and architecture.
Publications Of The Minnesota Historical Society, Number 1.
This is a new release of the original 1936 edition.
: Being The Narrative Of Peter Pond And The Diaries Of John
Macdonell, Archibald N. McLeod, Hugh Faries, And Thomas Connor.
In 1851 Frank Blackwell Mayer, a talented young artist from
Baltimore, traveled to Minnesota Territory to attend the signing of
the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux between the Dakota Indians and the
United States government. "He went," notes Bertha Heilbron in the
introduction, "not to participate in the negotiations, but to
observe Indian life at first hand and to find subjects for his
brush and pencil... With a sure stroke he pictured the scenes and
the inhabitants--red and white--of the frontier; with a fluent pen
he described all that he saw through the sensitive eye of the
artist."
Mayer's diary is a travel narrative, an eyewitness account of a
critical treaty signing, and a candid personal view of the
development of the artist in mid-nineteenth century America. His
words and drawings offer a lively and important resource for
historians of art and the frontier, as well as readers of regional
history.
This edition includes an additional section of Mayer's diary that
was discovered after the book was first published in 1932. Bertha
Heilbron's helpful introductions and annotation provide important
historical information for both parts oif this valuable document.
Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of
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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of
rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for
everyone!
Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of
rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for
everyone!
Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of
rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for
everyone!
Land of Their Choice was first published in 1955. Minnesota Archive
Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books
once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the
original University of Minnesota Press editions. This collection of
"American letters" that immigrants wrote to friends and relatives
in the lands they had left tells a little-known human story that is
part of the larger saga of America. It constitutes a kind of
composite diary of everyday people at the grass roots of American
life. The letters published here, written by Norwegian immigrants
in the middle of the nineteenth century, are truly representative
of a great body of historical material - literally millions of such
letters that immigrants of every nationality wrote to the people
back home. Describing their journeys, the new country, the problems
and pleasures of daily life, the letters afford new insight into
the American past and at the same time reflect the image of America
that was projected into the minds of Europeans in an era when
millions were crossing the seas and moving west. The letters were
written from many different parts of the United States. Many relate
the experiences of settlers in the Middle West, particularly in
Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. But there are also
accounts of pioneer life in Texas and as far away from the Atlantic
crossing as California. The story of Oleana, the ill-fated Utopian
project established in Pennsylvania by the famous Norwegian
violinist, Ole Bull, is revealed in a collection of letters written
by settlers in this project. An English translation of the amusing
ballad of Oleana adds verve to this section. Another fascinating
portion of the volume is devoted to first-hand accounts of the
transatlantic gold rush that drew Norwegians directly by ship from
their native land to California in the 1850's. There are some
letters written by leaders in Norwegian-American history, such as
Johann R. Reiersen, who was a well-known newspaper editor in
Christianssand, Norway, before he migrated to America, and the Rev.
J.W. Dietrichson who sought to establish the Church of Norway on
American soil and whose letters, now translated into English for
the first time, relate his experiences in Wisconsin.
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