Duluthian Phillip Merritt and the Manhattan Project
A new posting at the Vintage Duluth / Duluth Public Library blog (formerly Reference @ Duluth) is about “Duluthian Phillip Merritt and the Manhattan Project.”
A new posting at the Vintage Duluth / Duluth Public Library blog (formerly Reference @ Duluth) is about “Duluthian Phillip Merritt and the Manhattan Project.”
A new posting at Vintage Duluth / Duluth Public Library (formerly Reference @ Duluth) is about “Duluth’s bid to become headquarters of the U.N.” in 1945.
In an interview for The Rumpus, an online magazine focused on culture, Duluth poet Connie Wanek discusses her latest book, the challenge of looking back at older poems, and what prioritizing writing looks like.
Link: The Rumpus Interview with Connie Wanek
Connie Wanek said that she only started writing poetry seriously in her late thirties, but since then, she’s been published in Poetry and the Atlantic Monthly, has received a Witter Bynner Fellowship at the Library of Congress, and been named a George Morrison Artist of the Year, among her many other honors. Her fourth book, Rival Gardens: New and Selected Poems, was released by the University of Nebraska Press this year, and makes the argument that she is one of contemporary America’s great poets.
John Edward Roemer wanted to build a system of moving sidewalks up Duluth’s steepest hills. The power to run the system would come from storage batteries buried in chambers beneath Superior Street. Tunnels would be dug beneath cross streets so the sidewalks could pass under the streets. At the top of the hill where the moving sidewalk system terminated, Roemer proposed building a pavilion and an aerial rail line extending to Fond du Lac, with stops in the West End, West Duluth, New Duluth and Ironton.
Read more at the public library’s [email protected] blog.
There’s a new posting at the [email protected] blog that involves a little literary detective work:
The Duluth Daily News of March 30, 1892, printed a letter offering an unpublished poem by Walt Whitman. The letter writer claims that Whitman had visited Duluth for his health the previous summer and had been so impressed with the Zenith City that he wrote a poem in praise of Duluth and had sent it to a friend in town.
From the Duluth Public Library Reference News and Resources blog, [email protected]:
As World War II continued into 1943, some U.S. industries were experiencing shortages of workers. In Minnesota, the pinch was felt especially acutely in agriculture, food processing, and logging. Women and even children often stepped up to help with the labor shortage in agriculture and food processing. One notable local example was 17-year-old Duluthian Shirley Armstrong, who appeared on the cover of the September 27, 1943, issue of Life magazine because she was working in corn fields near Fairmont, Minnesota. She and several other young women from Duluth were featured in an article about the Women’s Land Army.
In spite of the help, the labor shortage grew worse. Early in 1943, the state of Minnesota had begun working on a plan for using prisoners of war to fill some vacant jobs and help keep the industries operating smoothly and able to provide the country with needed food and lumber. A small number of prisoners were used in Minnesota agriculture in 1943, but usage increased greatly in 1944.
Read more here.
Help the Superior Public Library celebrate its quasiquicentennial! Produce a 30-second to 10-minute video that highlights the Superior Public Library. Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place, as well as staff favorite. Submissions will be accepted Sept. 3 through Aug. 31.
. . . in 1926. For the story of that visit see the latest posting at the [email protected] blog.
The latest posting at the Duluth Public Library’s [email protected] blog is a look at a few of the lost corner grocery stores of Duluth.
Pictures from the rededication of Enger Tower can be found at the Duluth Public Library’s [email protected] blog.
Four poems by the late Ray Smith, director of the Superior Public Library, 1971-75, and visiting lecturer in English at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, 1975-83, have been posted by the Wisconsin Academy Review:
Found on the Duluth Public Library Facebook page:
Be one of the first to try out the library’s new chat reference service! Get your questions answered in real-time by one of our librarians. Find our chat box on our “Ask Us (e-Reference)” page.
Ask Us!
e-Reference Service
duluth.lib.mn.us
Do you need information? Are you looking for an address, phone number or the answer to a short factual question?
After a hiatus of a couple of years, the Duluth Public Library Reference staff has begun posting again on its blog Reference @ Duluth.
Library staff will be providing local history articles and information about reference services at the library.
You can check out the blog at dplreference.wordpress.com or go to the library’s home page duluth.lib.mn.us and click on Local History Blog.
From a Duluth Public Library Facebook posting:
Librarian writes book! Not quite as unusual as man bites dog, but it’s big news around here. Forgotten Duluthians, a book that profiles 39 people from Duluth and their accomplishments, was written by David Ouse, the library’s manager of reference services.
Included are actors and actresses, dancers, philosophers, writers, space scientists, diplomats, artists, Garfield the Cat (voice of), and Joe DiMaggio’s first wife. Forgotten Duluthians is available for purchase now at the Main Library Circulation Desk and … at both branch libraries.
The cost is $14.95 plus tax. The book can also be purchased on the library website (look at the Gift Shop page. All proceeds from sales go to the library. (And, of course, you can use your library card to check it out as well.)
