What's New -- May 2021

Today, I can't help but worry about my marital status because I've witnessed that what has been given to you can also be taken away. The potential ramifications to my way of life, my wife, and unborn child are all stirred up when listening to the voices of the past juxtaposed with the voices of today. Regardless of feelings and bias, we are assigned collections to process and to preserve their accessibility for all to reflect, research, and learn. This is our role and promise as stewards of the past.

To provide a sense of what is on the thirty-plus recordings, I've selected excerpts to quote. Please be advised that some of the content may be offensive, disturbing and traumatic.

"Words are powerful, they imply attitudes and opinions as well as convey information." (Bishop Emerson)

Educational tapes, early 1980s.

Love in Action co-founded by Frank Worthen in the mid-1970s.

•"Love in Action is a ministry to the homosexual community. They have an outreach to the people wanting out of the homosexual lifestyle... we go along with the more or less popular view that our sexual identification is learned behavior."

•"We never have to love the sin but we have to always love the person. Homosexuality commonly repulsive or horrifies... It's alright to hate the sin because God hates the sin but we are very well aware that God does call on us to love that person because Christ did die for that person as well."

LC/NA Assembly 1984 Speakers

The majority of these recordings are sermons and includes a speech from gay activist and city council member Brian Coyle, who talks about civil rights, domestic partnership, and gays in politics.

•"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me [Jesus] before it hated you." (Bishop Emerson)

Sermons and presentations by Treadway, 1983-1994

Is homosexuality biologically inherited or a choice? If God created all men, and if homosexuality is biological, then why is homosexuality a sin? On-air debate between Leo Treadway and Jeff Ford of Out Post, hosted by Dick Pomerantz of KSTP.

•"I'm not talking about sexuality as a singular notion, but rather homosexualities. That there are a variety of forms of things which we all lump together and call homosexuality... If I am constitutionally a gay man, and I have behaviours which flow from that condition of being, and I'm asked to give those up... you're asking me to give up a significant piece of who I am." (Treadway)

•"If somebody can cure something, that means the person has a problem. You don't cure something that is rosey... you don't say we are now going to cure this blooming flower. You say I'm going to cure a condition, I'm going to cure a disease." (Pomerantz) "That's not all together true. There are a lot of people who have in the past attempted to cure left-handed people of writing left-handed and I don't know that we would argue today that being left-handed is at all a problem." (Treadway)

The journey towards servanthood given by Leo Treadway at Macalester Chapel, April 19, 1985

•"But this experience touched in me in such a way that I began to want to work and understand what it meant for me to be a gay man. What it meant for me to be a Lutheran Christian and specifically to find how God was working in me as a gay man and how scripture informed my life as a gay Lutheran Christian.

•"Gay and Lesbian people, I think we are especially called to love because we know precisely what it is like to not be loved and to be hated. We are called in many ways to be the modern day samaritan... we're called to act in love and love is a gift from God.. and love is the readiness to respond when need is seen, not to pass by... we choose life when we choose love."

The AIDS epidemic in Minnesota by Michael T. Osterholm, July 12, 1987

•"This is a cartoon that appeared in a number of major newspapers in our country just one year ago. [reads cartoon] We thank thee for the gifts of thy viral herpes and the blessed AIDS. Oh Lord, now send us something for all the other weirdos. This type of perspective, it's real, it's there... I find myself as the state epidemiologist spending ten minutes of my time on AIDS hysteria or the social issues related to AIDS for every one minute that I spend really doing something about AIDS or attempting to do something about AIDS."

GLBT programming for Wingspan, etc., 1975-1989

Gay and Lesbian issues presentation, 1975

•"The American Lutheran Church adopted this statement during its third general convention in October. Homosexuality is an immaturity or an illness which can be treated and sometimes cured. It is contrary to God's will for the proper use of sexual drives, and the homosexual should be regarded a person in need of help and healing for his warped sexuality."

•"A statement from Lutherans Concerned for Gay People, June 1974. To our Church; As gay Lutherans, we affirm with joy the goodness of human sexuality which God has given us. Many of us have found that our Church has misled, misunderstood, confused, alienated, and unjustly condemned us. So that we have sometimes been driven to despair and robbed of the peace and joy which the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to all people. We call upon our church to further a greater understanding of human sexuality in all its manifestations. We ask our church to seek to remove discrimination against gay women and gay men wherever it exists. We ask our church to receive and welcome us as it receives and welcomes others."

Wingspan introduction to congregation presentation, 1983

•"St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church, is the unique response of one LCA [Lutheran Church in America] congregation to the presence of gay and lesbian Christians... Wingspan is an outgrowth of the congregation's concerned for lesbian and gay individuals. Which was particularly uplifted during the 1978 St. Paul referendum, which deleted from the city's human right statute a clause which protected the rights of lesbian and gay citizens. The referendum passed, but the congregation continued in its care for gay and lesbian persons."

Gay Pride service at St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church, June 25, 1989

•"Stonewall is the symbol for the lesbian and gay community's coming of age in our society... lesbian and gay liberation started on Christopher Street the evening of June 27, 1969. Everyday people, everyday people like you and me decided that enough is enough and that they simply weren't going to be pushed around anymore. In addition to the incident at the Snake Pit, the lesbian and gay community was already upset at the death earlier in the week of singer, entertainer, movie star, Judy Garland. The morning of the Stonewall riot, Judy Garland had been laid to rest. This was a time that was tense for the lesbian and gay community. The police had chosen the wrong time to raid. Gay men, lesbians, straight women, straight men stood up against police harassment, which for years had been standard operating procedure in dealing with the lesbian and gay community."

•"With tears in his eyes he looked at me and asked, 'Into what church in the city [San Francisco] can I bring my relationship and questions like these? What church can I go into with my life, with my whole life and know that I won't be rejected? Where can I go where I and those that I love will be accepted and our lives together celebrated and I can stand in a community which will stand up with me?'"

Stay tuned to our Gale Library Facebook page for posts featuring audiovisual materials from recently digitized collections.

New and Updated Finding Aids - May 2021

Name/Abstract	File No.
Chimera Theatre Company (Saint Paul, Minn.): An Inventory of Its Records	00269
Correspondence and financial files, box office and marketing files, production files, reviews and programs, staff and production photographs and videotapes, press releases, clippings, and scrapbooks documenting a community theater formed in 1969 and disbanded in 1987.
Downtown Community Development Council (Saint Paul, Minn.): An Inventory of Its Records	00145
The records document the Council's work toward revitalizing downtown St. Paul with respect to residential housing, commercial development, and arts and cultural activities.
East Central Regional Development Commission: An Inventory of Its Published Records and Reports	gr01976
Annual reports and miscellaneous print and near-print items of or about the East Central Regional Development Commission, particularly as relating to citizen involvement, the Mille Lacs Lake watershed, planning and management, comprehensive growth, and capitol improvements.
Maurice Edward Fitzharris and Family: An Inventory of Their Papers	00306
Correspondence, biographical materials, photographs, and the personnel file of Fitzharris, who served in the 8th Replacement Depot in North Africa and in support of the Fifth United States Army in Italy during World War II and with the Fifteenth Army Group in Austria after the war. Letters between Fitzharris and his wife Gertrude are included, as are letters from his parents. The collection also includes two scrapbooks (1938-1945) created by Gertrude containing greeting cards, clippings, photographs, programs and correspondence.
Governor's Commission on the Arts: An Inventory of Its Records	gr01975
Minutes, tape recordings of meetings and hearings, correspondence, survey responses, research background files, final report, and other records of the commission and its subcommittees on private sector, public sector, education, quality of life, and needs of the artist. Most of the files were accumulated by or under the direction of David Durenberger as executive vice chairman.
Health Department: Vital Statistics Division: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01462
Various birth and death records collected by the division. Birth and death registers (1900-1903), supplemental birth listing (1900-1903), late birth returns (1887-1902), returns of delayed deaths (1887-1900), death record cards (approximately 1888-1900), birth record cards (1832, 1873-1907), annotated birth record cards (1900-1907), birth certificates (1907-2001), birth and death indexes (1936-1939), and death cards and certificates (1900-1955).
Hennepin County: An Inventory of Its Minutes and Reports of County Agencies	gr00593
Minutes of the General Hospital Advisory Board, several mental health and corrections organizations, Center Hospital Board, Indian Child Welfare Council, Metropolitan Inter-County Association, Regional Railroad Authority, Personnel Board, and Tuberculosis Control Advisory Board; and reports, other issuances, and scattered minutes from a variety of other county departments, agencies, and programs.
Hennepin County: Hennepin County Home School: An Inventory of Its Records	gr01992
Includes admission and discharge records (1922-1995), financial records (1943-2001), subject files (1911-2015), and published records and reports (1958-2005).
Humanities Commission: An Inventory of Its Audiotapes	gr01973
Reel to reel and cassette audiotapes containing lectures, speeches, and papers given during various symposia, conferences, meetings, and radio programs sponsored by the Humanities Commission.
Legislature: Council on the Economic Status of Women: An Inventory of Its Tape Recordings of Meetings	gr01974
Tape recordings of meetings of the Council on the Economic Status of Women. No corresponding transcripts are known to exist.
Legislature: House of Representative: An Inventory of Its House Bills	gr00119
The original house file of bills acted upon in the house; also includes bills for special sessions, resolutions, and concurrent resolutions. The bill files include any successive versions and engrossments.
Legislature: Joint Committee Investigating the Stillwater State Prison: An Inventory of Its Records	gr01979
Records, including tapes and transcripts of hearings, correspondence and subject files, staff interviews, reports, and background information, of the joint legislative investigating committee formed to study the needs and workings of the state prison.
Legislature: Senate: An Inventory of Its Senate Bills	gr00707
Senate bills and resolutions, including engrossments. The 1987-1988 bills are missing.
Lowertown Redevelopment Corporation: An Inventory of Its Records	00673
Records of a St. Paul-based non-profit corporation that, working in partnership with the City and the private sector, developed and worked to bring to fruition a development strategy for Lowertown, a run-down 18-block historic warehouse district located at the eastern end of downtown St. Paul, with the goal of preserving and renovating historic structures, ensuring that new construction was compatible with existing historic buildings, attracting new business ventures and investment, and creating housing and entertainment venues in the area. Includes digital content.
Mike Lynch: An Inventory of His Papers	01366
Personal papers of painter Mike Lynch. Papers include sketchbooks and loose sketch pages; journals; art instruction books; business records; project files, including research on pigments and the Gold Metal Flour Mill Elevator; select prints; and other childhood and professional ephemera. Includes digital content.
Robert S. Macfarlane and Family: An Inventory of Their Papers	01163
Papers of Macfarlane, Northern Pacific Railway Company president (1951-1966) and chairman (1966-1969), who began service with the company as its western counsel in 1934.
Migrant Affairs Office: An Inventory of Its Records	gr01980
Correspondence, reports, surveys, minutes, and other material regarding legislation, census data, investigations of complaints filed by migrant workers, government programs, labor contracts, and related subjects.
Minneapolis Citizens Committee on Public Education (Minneapolis, Minn.): An Inventory of Its Committee Records	00301
Minutes (1943-1984), committee files (1950-1984), financial records (1951-1985), membership files (1957-1984), historical files (1934-1984), newsletters (1941-1984), photographs (1960-1969), and other materials of an independent citizens' group that worked with the Minneapolis school board, the teachers and their union, and school administrators as an advocate for quality education and equal educational opportunities for all students (K-12) in the Minneapolis public school system.
Optometry Board: An Inventory of Its Records	gr01982
Annual reports, correspondence, examination records, minutes, optometrists' files, administrative rule proceedings files, and a subject file of the Optometry Board.
Public Examiner: An Inventory of Its Audit Reports of Counties	gr01978
Reports on the examination of the financial affairs of counties by the Public Examiner. Most cover a calendar year plus the current period; some cover two or three years. Some were done by the Department of Administration: Comptroller's Office.
Public Welfare Department: Medical Services Division: An Inventory of Its Volunteer Services Files	gr01981
Historical (1954-1968), correspondence (1942-1986), and subject (1950-1967) files kept by Miriam Karlins, DPW employee (1952-) who held such positions as State Volunteer Coordinator, Medical Division Information and Volunteer Services Director, and Director of Public Information, Education and Volunteer Services.
Redwood County: Granite Rock Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01983
Birth and death registers (1890-1907), and birth (1908-1951) and death (1908-1953) certificates. Includes permits for burial or removal (1923-1932).
Redwood County: Johnsonville Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01984
Birth (1879-1941) and death (1879-1938) registers, and birth (1908-1944) and death (1908-1952) certificates.
Redwood County: Lamberton: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01985
Birth and death registers (1885-1907), and birth (1908-1949) and death (1913-1953) certificates.
Redwood County: Lamberton Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01986
Birth and death registers (1880-1907) and birth (1908-1948) and death (1908-1953) certificates.
Redwood County: Morgan: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01987
Birth (1892-1915) and death (1892-1899) registers, and birth (1908-1951) and death (1915-1952) certificates. Includes permits for burial or removal (1932-1940).
Redwood County: Morgan Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01988
Birth (1881-1908) and death (1881-1907) registers, and birth (1908-1951) and death (1908-1952) certificates. Includes permits for burial or removal (1907-1935).
Redwood County: New Avon Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01989
Birth (1872-1916) and death (1874-1913) registers, and birth and death certificates (1914-1952).
Redwood County: Redwood Falls: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01990
Birth (1881-1902) and death (1881-1886) register; and birth and death certificates (1917-1940).
Redwood County: Redwood Falls Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01991
Birth (1871-1914) and death (1870-1913) registers; birth (1914-1952) and death (1914-1953) certificates; and permits for burial or removal (1913-1938).
St. Peter State Hospital: An Inventory of Its Admission and Discharge Records	gr00076
Documenting the admission and discharge of patients, the records include series divided by female and male patients (1866-1904), entries kept by admission number (1866-1902) with readmissions and discharges/deaths (1918-1920), and registers kept by patient's county of residence (1860s-1968). Included are patient record books (1878-1883, 1893) which give details about patient health, activities, and patient's personal possessions when admitted. Also included are miscellaneous admission records (1918-2003), population record books for the Intensive Treatment Program for Sexual Aggressives (1973-1993), and the Community Addiction Recovery Enterprise (CARE) program admission records (2003-2008). Includes digital content.
St. Peter State Hospital: An Inventory of Its Death and Autopsy Records	gr00080
Death records (1961-1995) and reviews (1986-1999), autopsy record (1892-1899, 1903-1912) with index covering 1890s-1908, and autopsy photographs of internal organs (1895-1910).
St. Peter State Hospital: An Inventory of Its Subject Files and Miscellaneous Records	gr00085
Cemetery records (1896-1998), daily ward record (1891-1892), land records (1855-1925), nurse employment record books (1880s-1950s), doctors time book (1964-1975), outdated procedures manual sections (approximately 1895-2010), and subject files. Topics covered in the latter include census prelists, chaplaincy, Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals, medical staff, Minnesota Security Hospital, monthly population reports, nursing policies, the 125th anniversary celebration, photographs of dormitory and building interiors, Recruitment Assessment Committee, St. Peter weather statistics, strategic planning, and visitors.
St. Peter State Hospital: Minnesota Security Hospital: An Inventory of Its Records	gr00086
Records documenting the population and activities in the security hospital, including admission and transfer book (1911-1938), admissions index (1911-1963), admission and discharge registers (1933-2007), admissions book (approximately 1976-1986), 600 unit admissions and discharges (1982-2003), daily movement of population record, dangerous insane (1911-1913), and scrapbook (1937-1987) kept by longtime Medical Director Dr. Charles G. Sheppard. The latter includes clippings, correspondence, and photographs.
Leo Treadway: An Inventory of His Papers	00338
Correspondence, agendas, bylaws, minutes, financial reports, notes, newsletters, brochures, miscellaneous printed matter, and newspaper clippings collected by a leading Minnesota gay rights activist. Includes digital content.
Twin Cities Biomedical Consortium. Consumer Health Information Committee: An Inventory of Its Records	P2107
Minutes (1978-1983); correspondence (1979-1983); conference and workshop files (1980-1981); papers, bibliographies, and newsletters (1976-1983); subject files (1976-1983); surveys (1980-1983); and a photograph (approximately 1978-1983) from an organization that published a monthly newsletter aimed toward educating librarians and laypeople about the availability of health science resources.
Twin Cities Medical Society (Minneapolis, Minn.): An Inventory of Its Records	00998
Organizational records of the Twin Cities Medical Society. Includes records created by the Society's preceding organizations: the Ramsey County Medical Society, the Hennepin County Medical Society, the West Metro Medical Society, the East Metro Medical Society, and related auxiliary groups. Includes newsletters, meeting minutes, annual reports, organizational bylaws, officers' and committee files, scrapbooks, and other administrative records.
Gertrude Louise Janssen Cooke Willius: An Inventory of Her Papers	01363
Papers created and collected by Gertrude Louise Janssen Cooke Willius, who worked as the Art Director for The Golden Rule Department Store in the 1930s. Includes fashion designs and drawings pre-publication; press clippings with advertisements from The Golden Rule and other retailers; and select drawings, writings, and cartoons completed during Willius's childhood and art school education. Includes digital content.
Wright County: Clearwater: An Inventory of Its Records	gr01939
Includes council meeting minutes, resolutions and petitions, annexation papers, ordinances, annual budgets, recreation committee minutes, clerk's and treasurer's registers of receipts and disbursements, clerk's and treasurer's annual financial statements, audit reports, election records, and records of the Clearwater Volunteer Firemen's Benefit Association and the municipal liquor store. Includes digital content.
Yellow Medicine: District Court: An Inventory of Its Court Orders and Findings	gr01977
Court orders and findings of the Yellow Medicine County District Court.

New and Updated Catalog Records

Beatty, Leslie R. Leslie R. Beatty WWI and WWII papers, 1917-1945, (bulk 1917-1919).

Papers include one small leather diary (November 1917-May 1919), which gives a daily account of his life in the Army and one photograph album containing pictures from his WWI training in San Francisco, French villages he was stationed in, his return to the United States, and passing through New York City (December 1917-June 1919). The album also includes a few photographs from Beatty's service with the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary during World War II (June 1943-June 1945). The papers also consists of one soft cover booklet compiled by his daughter, which contains transcriptions of personal letters exchanged between Beatty, friends, and relatives during World War I, and transcriptions of the leather diary passages.

Berg, Tom. Thomas K. Berg collection of research materials, approximately 1970-2012.

Research materials compiled and collected by former state representative and attorney Thomas "Tom" K. Berg. Collection includes materials used by Berg while authoring his book Minnesota's Miracle: Learning from the Government That Worked (University of Minnesota Press, 2012). Collection also includes an unpublished oral history with Berg created as part of an oral history project celebrating Rudy Perpich. The collection materials include clippings, copies of Minnesota State legislation, publications from State agencies, documentation of legal cases and law publications, political science articles, speeches, press releases, and various other published articles. Much of the collection focuses on the Minnesota State politics in the 1970s, when Berg served as legislator, but also state politics as general topic nationally.

Doig (Family : Doig, James, 1844-). Doig and Edmond family letters, 1864-1879.

Twenty five letters written by members of Doig/Edmond family, including: seventeen letters (1864-1868) from James Doig (b. 1844, Scottish immigrant) from Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, and Winona, Minnesota, to his brothers in Claremont and Winona, Minnesota; three letters (1865-1870) from David Doig (1832-1924, Scottish immigrant) from Rockford, Illinois, to his brother and father in Claremont, Minnesota; and five letters (1864-1866) from James Edmond (brother of Catherine, Mrs. John Doig), written from Fort Snelling, Fort Ripley, and Fort Wadsworth (later renamed Fort Sisseton) to family members.

Dugan, Edna, 1895-1990. Edna Dugan papers, 1915-1973.

Personal papers of Edna Dugan, the former president of the Degree of Honor Protective Association. Papers include snapshots and professional photographs of Dugan, a scrapbook of cards and correspondence, and Degree of Honor printed materials featuring articles on Dugan's career.

Fire Instructors Association of Minnesota. Fire Instructors Association of Minnesota records, 1977-2000.

Records created by the Fire Instructors Association of Minnesota. Includes the organization's constitution and bylaws (1977), articles of incorporation (1987), directors and officers lists (1986-1987), and Board of Directors documents (1995-2000).

Helgen, Judy. Atomic Veterans collection, approximately 1950-2017 (bulk 1994-2017).

Collection of research and original materials compiled by Judy Helgen regarding Minnesota's Atomic Veterans, a group of veterans who served with the 216th Chemical Service Company monitoring radiation levels at Camp Mercury, Nevada in the 1950s after eight above-ground atomic bomb detonations. Collection includes original materials from veteran Gerald ""Jerry"" D. Fisher, collected by Helgen, as well as press clippings, copies of government documents, congressional hearing testimonies, and other research materials used by Helgen. The collection explores the long-term consequences of radiation exposure to veterans, and their efforts to seek recognition and compensation for damages done to veterans exposed to radiation during nuclear testing.

Jorve, Gilbert. Gilbert Jorve papers, 1917-1980 (bulk 1959-1968).

Personal papers of Gilbert Jorve related to his involvement with the Department of Minnesota Veterans of World War I organization. Materials include one leather-bound commemorative book entitled Otter Tail County in the World War (1919), featuring photographs and names of all enlisted men from the county, a typed and bound diary kept by Jorve (1963-1964), meeting minutes and newsletters from the Board of Administration of the Department of Minnesota Veterans of WWI (1959-1965), financial reports of the organization, minutes and programs from the annual convention, and by-laws. Also included are photographs of Jorve and other members, scrapbooks, correspondence between Jorve, legislators, other national officers, and the resulting bills and resolutions that came from those partnerships.

Saint Paul-Lawaaikamp Sister Communities. Saint Paul-Lawaaikamp Sister Communities records, 1988-2009.

Records of the sister city relationship between Saint Paul and Lawaaikamp, South Africa. Records include: Saint Paul-Lawaaikamp Sister Community Support Group Committee (SPLCSC) meeting minutes (1988-2005); grants applications and funding sources; press materials from local newspapers; letters written by St. Paul school children to students in Lawaaikamp; quarterly newsletters; copies of letters from U.S. and South African government officials and activists, including Senator David Durenberger, Reverend Desmond Tutu, George Latimer, and Nelson Mandela; a history of Lawaaikamp; letters of support from the St. Paul community; by-laws & resolutions; sister city programming initiatives; and two photograph albums.

Simpson, Lillian Elizabeth. Lillian Simpson letters to son James Simpson during World War II, 1942-2020 (bulk 1942-1946).

Letters of Lillian Simpson of Madison, Minnesota, to her son James "Jim" Simpson while he was serving as a commissioned officer working in communications in the US Army Air Corps during World War II. Collection includes over one hundred fifty handwritten letters and transmittal envelopes written by Lillian Simpson to James, as well as a few letters from other family members (September 1942-February 1944, January 1945-April 1946) . The collection also includes newspaper clippings and memorabilia saved by James during his service (1942-1946), and a detailed guide that describes the letters, family history during World War II, and genealogical data, which was prepared by Martha Simpson Teigen (2020), the daughter of James Simpson. Some of the topics of Lillian Simpson's letters include: life in Madison, Minnesota; current events; family life; the hometown War effort; rationing and shortages; casualties of local men; combat experiences of his brother Leslie Simpson, Jr., who served in the 104th Infantry Division; weddings; weather; post War; and advice.

St. John's Lutheran Church (Austin, Minn.). St. John's Lutheran Church parish census book, October 5-6, 1920.

Parish census book from the St. John's Lutheran Church in Austin (Minn.). Book contains names of families that belonged to the church in 1920.

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