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Contributing Institution:
The History Center, Archives of Bethel University and Converge Worldwide - BGC
Henrietta Howatt (1917-2003) discusses clamming on Lake Pepin, and the pearl button manufacturing business. At one time there were two factories in Lake City, Minnesota where buttons were cut from Lake Pepin shells.
The recording is a tour by John G. Morrison, Jr., of items he donated to the BCHS, before a small group. Morrison discusses baby boards; snowshoes; an item that depicts the life of a Sioux hunter and warrior; war clubs; a tomahawk; a Paiute root that was chewed; a doll; moccasins; dancing regalia; several pipes; tobacco pouches; and grand medicine paraphernalia. In the middle of the recording, a man is singing Native American (probably Ojibwe) songs. Brown Oak Grove could be the man singing or drumming. Morrison discusses headdresses; the knuckle game; dancing regalia; a water drum; and other drums. Next, one man is singing Native American songs; either the same man or another person is drumming. One of the songs was written by Robert Gibbs about his son, who died in World War II. Finally, a man demonstrates a water drum and Morrison answers a few questions. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is John G. Morrison, Jr., providing a tour of a museum in Bemidji, featuring artifacts he donated, probably to members of the Beltrami County Historical Society. On the tour, he describes a violin that belonged to his father; his collection of pipes; Navajo rugs; his grandfather's snuffbox and wallet; an assortment of drums and their purposes; bowls; a shopping bag; a battle flag; baby boards; snowshoes; a model tipi; a gambling game; tools and utensils; buckskin bags to carry food; a flint-lock musket; lacrosse sticks; war clubs; powder horns; a quiver; the knuckle game; sashes; headdresses; a stick detailing the training of a warrior; necklaces; and tobacco pouches. The tour continues as he describes necklaces; ladies' gowns; a beaded sack; a skirt; a doll; a necklace made of human bones; ladies' shopping bags; more beaded sacks; leggings; gloves; a dancing costume; a display of sugar-making equipment; baskets; birchbark floral designs; moccasins; belts; moose hides; sweet grass blankets; grand medicine bags and paraphernalia; and drums of medicine men. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Dr. Robert Campion (1923-2017) discusses dentistry in Lake City, Minnesota. He also discusses his business partnership with his father, Dr. Martin Campion (1895-1983), advances in dentistry materials and tools, his family's homes in Lake City, the World War I draft, Dr. Will Mayo, and anecdotes from the end of his father's life.
Roy Carlson (1886-1992) discusses excursion boats in Lake City, Minnesota. He and the audience also discuss storms, using the boats for commuting and dancing, and the fires at Gillett & Eaton. A man name Otto mentions immigrating from Germany.
Bernard "Ben" Simons (1912-1995) discusses the fishing barge at Lake City, Minnesota. He also discusses being the Lake City harbormaster, replacing the fishing barge, excursion boats, recent development of Lake City, the ice skating rink, Vietnamese fishers, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's visit to Lake City.
Robert "Bob" Wallace (1923-2007) presents the history of the foundry in Lake City, Minnesota including its many name changes from H. Gillett and Sons to Gillett & Eaton and eventually to AE Goetz.
Marvin Howatt (1941-), of the Cliff and Coulee Climbers Club, presents the history of snowmobiling in Lake City and Wabasha County, Minnesota. Marvin also discusses snowmobile registration, grant-in-aid funding, trail building, landowner permits, landowner liability, trail signage, trail maintenance, and trail maps.
Marie Ehrenberg was living in hospice care in St. Charles and her last wish was to visit Whitewater State Park. She shares about growing up on a farm in the area and her memories of spending time at the park with her father. The Whitewater State Park Oral History project began in 2017 to commemorate the Centennial Anniversary of the State Park.
Mike's family has lived in the Whitewater Valley since 1890. Mike shared memories growing up in the valley and the family business at Mauer Brothers Tavern in Elba, Minnesota.
Several different clips of interviews are present in the first quarter of the recording; the bulk of the recording is an interview with Charlie Wight. The first clip of significant length is an interview with a man, possibly Albert D. Johnson, who tells Vandersluis about the men who helped prepare legislation for the state game preserve. The recording then jumps to an interview between Vandersluis and timber cruiser Charlie Wight. Wight talks about S. C. Bagley's work on the Schoolcraft River, and what other companies Bagley worked for. Then the recording returns to Johnson, about how Lake of the Woods County was also invested in a state game preserve; whether beavers spoiled the ditches; and the boundaries of the game reserve. Finally, Wight discusses how the Wells brothers owned the Brainerd Lumber Company; how Clark and Dempsey sued the Brainerd Lumber Company for damage on a drive; a narrow-gauge railroad built by the Gull River Lumber Company; conversion to standard gauge; working for Irwin and O'Brien; early history of the Duluth and Winnipeg right-of-way; other trails and canoe routes; how the dam affected Lake Winnibigoshish; what other companies he worked for; working for the Crookston Lumber Company; about R. E. White and White and McDevitt; the Freestone boys; Old Man Dixon; how settlers used scrip; bits about early Kelliher; and other early loggers he knew.
Part 1 of 2: Elderly residents of Pioneer Apartments in 1977. They discuss school memories from early 1900s including teachers, activities, and sports. They also discuss after school activities including their chores, outdoor games, winter sports, dances, picnics, and family life. Other topics include: boarding houses and boarders, the Pengilly Mine, and the Ojibwe families on Burntside Lake and Basswood Lake. Also discussed are the 1910 forest fire and the Vail Hotel fire. Part 2 of 2: Interview with former teacher Mrs. Evancho...? Teacher and principal at the 26-Zenith-Savoy location school which had two classrooms and two teachers. She taught grades 3-6. Mr. Burns, superintendent.
Interview with Frank and Stan Smuk. Frank and Stan were the sons of Yugoslav immigrant parents. The two men began work in the mines in 1941 and 1947 respectively. Stan worked with the mine credit union while Frank was a contract miner. They spoke of the pranks they pulled on other workers. Accidents were frequent. Rocks fell on workers and the tunnels collapsed. Even with broken bones men would go to work and be given light duty. The Smuk brothers did a lot of hunting and fishing. The whole family played the accordion. They also played on the city softball teams that competed against other towns. Frank belongs to the American Legion and the VFW. He had served in the Air Force during World War II. Stan was blind in one eye so was turned down for the army.
The first part of the recording was made August 1, 1951, in St. Paul. Ralph Carson interviews his father, Joseph Evan Carson, about when his mother died; and where his parents came from. Ralph then reads the flyleaf of the Pondsfordian, by Reverend Benno Watrin, regarding some Carson family history. Evan then talks about the names of his family; their leaving Carsonville; when and where his brothers started their stores where they got their stock; when and where his father built a stopping place; the Beltrami Eagle; his mother's hotel; early Bemidji buildings; earliest Bemidji residents; the Alex Cameron family as the first family at their hotel; memories of Chief Bemidji; where the first school was and early teachers; receiving Chief Bemidji's gun from Mary Carson; and the swimming hole. Evan's wife, Jennie Newell Carson, makes a few suggestions. The recording then transitions to an interview of Evan Carson by Dr. Charles Vandersluis in Bemidji. Carson describes some photographs; street grading; unmarked burials; lumberjacks trying to protect their money; his father serving as probate judge. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The first part of the interview features Laura Carson Moore, daughter of El and Mary Carson and granddaughter of Chief Bemidji. Moore talks about her parents' names, when and where she was born, how her parents met, her family, her childhood, her family's move to Texas, how she met her husband, their golden wedding anniversary, her Ojibwe grandparents, her grandfather drinking, trying to find their homestead, her Carson grandparents, her pet deer, her grandchildren, any artifacts she owns, and how quickly her mother forgot the Ojibwe language. The second part of the interview features Moore's cousin, Ralph Carson. Carson dicusses his history, his early memories fishing, his aunt Jessie Carson Spain and her family, his father's pet bears, and his father stealing feathers out of Chief Bemidji's headdress. Other people during the interview include Moore's husband, William Moore, their daughter Eva Mae Moore Long, Carson's wife Grace White Carson, and a secondary interviewer possibly Theo Johnson. The final part of the recording features Ralph Carson, son of Evan Carson. Carson discusses family stories of his grandmother, Susannah Carson, scaring away a bear and making bread from horse feed; family artifacts; and his family history in newspaper work. Other people present during the interview include his cousin Laura Carson Moore, her husband William Moore, their daughter Eva Mae Moore Long, and a secondary interviewer, possibly Theo Johnson. Carson's wife, Grace White Carson, also briefly speaks about her own family; her memories of Susannah Carson, and two of Susannah Carson's platters.
Interviews with Mary Mackie, Mary Berrini, and Beatrice Masnari. They discuss immigration. Mackie's and Berrini's parents emigrated from Italy seeking better lives and jobs. Masnari arrived in 1931 to join her husband who had come to Ely some years before. Italian was spoken at home, but they learned English at school. They lived in the Chandler Location where the housing costs were paid by the owners. They discuss their chores, including hauling water in boilers on sleds or wagons, carrying buckets of water using yokes, and pumping well water. Lake water was used for gardens and washing clothes. Drinking water was dipped from a pail. Bringing in wood and hauling out ashes, shoveling snow, scrubbing floors (three times a week). Sense of community: People got along well, helping each other out. Groups of men would hunt together and share game. Families shared garden produce and people would help each other building homes. In addition to gardens, families had chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits and cows. Many home remedies were used for illnesses. Making grappa (wine). Games and entertainment included Bocce ball, Briscola, and adult card game, movies, Duck on the Rock, making skimmers from barrel staves, rolling hoops, carnivals and circuses. Shops and peddlers: The Chocolate Shop, Mr. Bismark's candy store, grocery stores that delivered, Mr. Giacomo's ice cream cart, the door-to-door scissors sharpener who came to Ely once a year, the organ grinder and his monkey. They discuss their Christmas memories, when Italian traditions were observed with Italian foods. The Christmas tree was decorated with candy, popcorn, and candles. Christmas gifts included fruit, nuts, and candy.
