Due to adequate labeling on the back of this photo, there isn’t too much mystery. But then again, there’s always a little mystery in there somewhere.
What we have here is a promotional photograph of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, a minister and positive-thinking author and lecturer. According to Wikipedia, Dr. Peale was a personal friend of Richard Nixon and was pastor of a church Donald Trump attended in his youth. So … there’s that.
The image is from a cache of Duluth Budgeteer Press photos that were supposed to be thrown in the trash in 1997 but instead ended up in the Perfect Duluth Day archive. It’s not a local photo — again, it’s a general promotional photo — but it’s relevant to an appearance by Dr. Peale in Duluth.
The scribbling on the back of the image reads:
Dr. Norman
Vincent
PealeDul Day Womens
Luncheon 1973
So clearly Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was a speaker at the Duluth Day Luncheon 50 years ago. The annual luncheon began in 1925 according to a 2017 Superior Telegram article and promotional materials for the 2017 luncheon (but that contradicts information noted in the comments below). The event was renamed as the Port Cities Luncheon in 1983. It continued until 2019 and it seems the pandemic might have killed it off as searches on Google turn up no results for a 2020, 2021, 2022 or 2023 Port Cities Luncheon.
So the areas of mystery seem to be 1) the specific date of the 1973 event, 2) any accounts of the 1973 event, and 3) whether the Port Cities Luncheon will ever happen again.
