Minnesota History Magazine Spring 2023 (68:5)

Articles

A New Exhibit Expands the Stories at Split Rock Lighthouse
Abigail Venuso

Split Rock Lighthouse is an iconic symbol of Minnesota and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state. Built as a vital aid to navigation on Lake Superior in 1910, the lighthouse is now a jewel of the Minnesota Historical Society network of historic sites. A major renovation of the exhibit gallery seeks to broaden the stories of the site and the surrounding area and provide a deeper understanding of Split Rock’s place in Minnesota history. Site supervisor Abigail Venuso shares the backstory of the exhibit’s creation, while Rita Walaszek Arndt, program specialist in the Native American Initiatives department, offers insights into the sharing of Indigenous history in the region.

White Supremacy on Parade: The Fight to Stop The Birth of a Nation in the Twin Cities
Drew M. Ross

In February 1917, a 300-car-long parade promoting the Minneapolis Auto Show traveled east from Minneapolis to St. Paul. At its front, a conductor dressed in a white robe and pointy hood led a 20-piece band on the back of a flatbed truck. As the parade ended, 800 cheering marchers, most clad in Ku Klux Klan costumes, swarmed downtown St. Paul. How did this overt display of white supremacy come to the Twin Cities at a time when the Klan was still just a fledgling organization in the Deep South? Historian Drew Ross describes the controversy around the movie The Birth of a Nation and how the film may have inspired Klan imitators in the far north.

From the Archives
Minnesota National Forest: The Politics of Compromise, 1898–1908
Newell Searle

In this article that first appeared in Minnesota History in 1971, historian Newell Searle examines the movement to establish a national forest in northern Minnesota in the late nineteenth century, efforts that ultimately reemerged in the 1970s to create Voyageurs National Park. The article explores early conservation efforts in Minnesota in the face of a strong lumber industry as well as the implications for Indigenous people who have lived in the region for centuries.

Departments

EyeWitness
The Construction of Split Rock Lighthouse
Jeri L. Bohac

Curator’s Choice
Madeira Ship Wheel
Hayes Scriven

Book Review
Nature’s Crossroads: The Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota
John J. Moriarty

News & Notes, Our Back Pages

Preserving > Sharing > Connecting
Shining a Light on Split Rock: The Haugen Family