Manuscripts Collection
Hjalmar Petersen was born on January 2, 1890, in Eskildstrup, Denmark, near Svendborg. He migrated to Chicago, Illinois, with his parents, Lauritz and Anna Petersen, in 1891. He was naturalized through his father's papers. Petersen spent his childhood on a farm in Lincoln County, Minnesota, and in the village of Tyler. His education consisted of grammar school, and what he often referred to as "the school of experience." At age 14 he took his first job, working for the
In 1914 he moved to Askov, a Danish settlement in east-central Minnesota. Here, in September 1914, he founded the weekly newspaper the
Petersen became active in government and politics shortly after the founding of the
In the 1933 session of the state legislature, Petersen was named chairman of the House Committee on Tax and Tax Laws. Throughout his legislative career Petersen was known for his taxation proposals and stands. He was the chief author of the first Minnesota state income tax law (1933). In 1934 the Farmer-Labor Party endorsed Petersen for the position of lieutenant governor, and he won that office in the general election that fall.
On August 22, 1936, Governor Floyd B. Olson died and Petersen assumed the governorship for the five remaining months of Olson's term. In this time he made several important judicial appointments, settled strikes, and called a special session of the legislature to enact an unemployment insurance law. It was during 1936 that Petersen developed a distaste for the Farmer-Labor Party machine, run by what he called the "Mexican Generals." He felt that he deserved the party nomination for governor, but lost out to Elmer Benson. He was nominated instead for a six-year term on the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, an office he won in the general election.
In 1938 he tried to win the Farmer-Labor Party endorsement for governor by running against the incumbent, Elmer Benson, in the primaries but was defeated. Benson in turn lost the general election to the Republican Party candidate, Harold Stassen. In 1940 and 1942 Petersen was the Farmer-Labor candidate for governor but was defeated both times by Stassen. Since Petersen's term as Railroad and Warehouse Commission expired in 1943, he retired to private life for the next four years. Late in 1943 he found a job with the Office of Defense Transport, which he held until the middle of 1945. Petersen ran for governor again in 1946 by switching parties and challenging Luther W. Youngdahl for the Republican nomination in the primaries, which Youngdahl won. It was eight years before Petersen again tried for public office. He was elected Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner for another six-year term in 1954, running on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor ticket.
In the 1956 Minnesota presidential primary, Petersen managed the campaign of Senator Estes Kefauver, who defeated Adlai Stevenson. Petersen attended the Democratic National Convention in August as a Kefauver delegate. In 1958 he sought the DFL endorsement for United States senator, running against Representative Eugene McCarthy in the primary election. McCarthy won the nomination and the general election. Petersen was re-elected to the Railroad and Warehouse Commission in 1960. After serving his term, which ended in 1967, he retired from active politics. He died on March 29, 1968.
Hjalmar Petersen married twice. His first wife, Rigmor Christine Laursen Wosgaard, died in childbirth in August 1930. They had one daughter, Evelyn (Mrs. Arthur Metzger, of McLean, Virginia). He married Medora Belle Grandprey in 1934, and they had one daughter, Karla (Mrs. Robert Tinklenberg, of Santa Barbara, California).
Biographical information on Hjalmar Petersen was taken from the collection; from
The Petersen Papers deal mainly with Hjalmar Petersen's political career and are most complete during his greatest political activity (1930-1946). In general, personal correspondence of the Petersen family is at a minimum, although exchanges of letters between Hjalmar and his brother-in-law, George Strandvold of Decorah, Iowa, fill in some of the gaps. Petersen's political activities led him to correspond frequently with editors and political writers of many newspapers across the state, so the collection is rich in information about the political opinions of newspapers and their editors.
There is much information about Petersen's own paper, the
There is information on the state income tax law (1933), taxation in general, regulation of public utilities, Petersen's relations with the Farmer-Labor Association and the Farmer-Labor Party (1920s-1930s) and with Governor Floyd B. Olson's administration (1935-1936), his espousal of a national third-party movement (1935-1938), his opposition to U.S. involvement in World War II, the merger of the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties (1939-1944), and Estes Kefauver's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination (1956).
Among his correspondents are Elmer A. Benson, Alfred M. Bingham, Theodore Christianson, H. G. Creel, Abe I. Harris, Mike Holm, Charles L. Horn, Hubert H. Humphrey, Magnus Johnson, Harold Knutson, Philip F. La Follette, Ernest Lundeen, Eugene J. McCarthy, Floyd B. Olson, Mabeth Hurd Paige, Henrik Shipstead, Henry G. Teigan, and Howard Y. Williams.
Some letters and reports for 1951-1954 reflect his wife Medora's teaching career in Morris (Minnesota), and her involvement in local and national parent-teacher associations.
Medora Petersen's papers include material about the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Minnesota branch, and photographs of her and her husband.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Accession numbers: 5733; 9028; 9429; 10,838; 12,925; 13,181; 13,328
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, September 1985; Christopher G. Welter, December 2009.
Catalog ID number: 001719875
Petersen spoke out strongly against any involvement in World War II and received mail from America First committees, including a letter from Robert E. Wood, chairman of the national committee, announcing the committee's dissolution after the bombing of Pearl Harbor (December 16, 1941). Petersen also favored an aggressive third-party movement on a national scale, as evinced by his correspondence of 1935-1938. His support of the controversial Father Coughlin also drew constituent comment in 1936. Non-political subjects covered in the correspondence of these years include the visit of the
Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark to Minnesota in the spring of 1939, and the celebration of the
The newspaper clippings document Petersen's political life. They are arranged chronologically by year, and by month when appropriate. Clippings from the 1938 and 1940 campaigns are the most complete.
Mounted press clippings, which often overlap with those in the newspaper clippings series.
Includes historical sketch (1933) and Petersen's speech at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (February 3, 1966).
Of Medora as a student, as teacher, and with husband Hjalmer Petersen. Includes newspaper wedding announcement.