A collection of World War II-era newspapers, saved in a bushel box by an old timer, make up the content of a Facebook page called Duluth News Tribune and Herald the War Years. Rick Hamilton has been showcasing pieces of the old newspapers there since July 2017.
In a series of four posts, Perfect Duluth Day is featuring samplings from the collection. This second gallery displays general Duluth-related news stories.
A collection of World War II-era newspapers, saved in a bushel box by an old timer, make up the content of a Facebook page called Duluth News Tribune and Herald the War Years. Rick Hamilton has been showcasing pieces of the old newspapers there since July 2017.
In a series of four posts, Perfect Duluth Day is featuring samplings from the collection. This first gallery displays advertising clips.
From 1870 to 1894, Duluth’s downtown post office was located in the Hayes Block, a building that still stands at 26 E. Superior St. as part of the Wieland Block apartments.
Robin Washington interviewed me on Wisconsin Public Radio about the essay I wrote for PDD denouncing my white Confederate heritage.
In this edition of the PDD Video Lab we take a cruise with Lorraine and the kids on the Flame excursion boat in 1964. At the midway point of the video, the scene switches to the Edgewater Motel.
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — June 27, 1910. It shows Franklin Elementary School at 411 E. Seventh St., and the surrounding neighborhood. Franklin School was demolished in 1979 and is today the site of Hillside Sport Court Park. More on the history of Franklin School can be found on zenithcity.com.
The George A. Gray Company was located at 117 W. Superior St. The building became a Wahl’s department store in 1936 and is still standing today, though it looks quite different.
The same pair of gentlemen appear in the photos above from the Wide Awake Studio in Duluth. In addition to the mystery of who the subjects of these photos might be is the question of why the particular studio they are standing in was open seven days a week until midnight. Why would people at the turn of the 20th Century want to, for example, get their photos taken at 11 p.m. on a Sunday? Was that normal?
I am disgusted by the Confederate flag, and by those white people who defend its display as “honoring their heritage.” I say this as a white native of the South, with deep Southern roots. I was born in Texas (slave state) to a mother from North Carolina (slave state) and a father from Georgia (slave state). I was raised below the Mason-Dixon line in Maryland (slave state).
The year I was born (1969), my father taught at an all-white private high school in Houston. The Civil Rights era raged. When the headmaster refused to desegregate the school, my father was part of a faculty exodus. My folks found a Maryland school that did not discriminate, and went to teach there. They raised me to believe in equality. But looking back through the history of the country, the full story of my family and race is a terrible thing: the Richardsons owned slaves for generations, and I can document it.
My dad was a Civil War buff. When I was a child, he told me many things about it, including: 1) there were Richardsons on both sides of the war, and 2) the Southern, slave-owning Richardsons were angry when their slaves were freed.
Scott Laderman is featured on the New Books Network. Hang ten, dudes, and listen to Laderman share his research.
The Minnesota Historical Society is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1920 Duluth lynchings with a week of remembrance and conversations about its legacy. A collection of resources is available at mnhs.org/duluthlynchings. Below are short video commentaries offering modern perspectives on the past and thoughts about the present and future.
Toward the beginning of the pandemic, Annelisa Roseen started posting a photo of herself in make-up and costumes looking like a person who has a birthday on that day. The individual images are entertaining and impressive, but when you view the body of work as Instagram thumbnails, you get a much better sense of the variety, commitment, and skills Roseen has to make this work. It’s not just about the props and make-up, the expressions in her face, whether deadpan or over the top, are often the thing that make the connection to the celebrity.
What was the inspiration for this ongoing project?
I had seen that it was Gloria Steinem’s birthday; she is one of my heroes. So when I was brushing out my two-day-old pandemic bun I noticed I was sporting a kind of ’70s Gloria-frizz-do. So I took a selfie (no real make-up or costume) and posted a happy birthday to her. The next day I saw it was Lenard Nimoy’s birthday and thought “that would be funny” to do him today. I studied pics and read up on his life. And then I never stopped! I have been doing my #homageaday every day since then! Every day I pick someone whose work is inspiring or meaningful or has made an impact on culture. I love becoming these (big and small) icons each day! Most days I do an individual’s face, but sometimes I honor their image in a different way — like I did James Brown’s feet dancing on his birthday.
One hundred years is a long time, and the Duluth of one hundred years ago can seem like a place without much connection to the present. But whether we are aware of them or not, elements of the past always carry over into the present. As an illustration of that, these five images, taken by Duluth photographer Hugh McKenzie and included in UMD’s Kathryn A. Martin Library Archives and Special Collections, show the city’s neighborhood telephone exchanges in 1920. Shown individually below, they are followed by the most recent Google Streetview image of the same location.
This week’s quiz is a companion to last month’s Duluth architectural details quiz. See how many Superior buildings you can identify based on their architectural features (and a few written clues)! To learn more about the buildings in this quiz, check out the Wisconsin Historical Society website, which was an invaluable resource for this quiz.
The next PDD quiz will test your knowledge of June 2020 headlines; it will be published on June 28. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by June 24.
Ah, the days of streetcars on Park Point.
The written message on this postcard is dated June 14, 1910, which matches the postmark. It was mailed out of St. Paul to Miss Laura Werdin of Janesville, Wis.
