Minnesota History Magazine Summer 2025 (69.6)

Articles

The Overlooked Legacy: Black Women of the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant
Jeremiah Ellis

Through biographical sketches of several Black women employed at the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant and deep research into local newspapers and public records, scholar Jeremiah Ellis highlights the significant, yet often omitted, contributions of African American women to the World War II effort and celebrates their labor, sacrifices, and ongoing legacy.

“The Past Has Been a Blank”: The Diary of Thomas Cahill
Rob Hardy

Researcher Rob Hardy, former poet laureate of Northfield, Minnesota, traces the life of Thomas Cahill, an ordinary Minnesotan who, as Hardy writes, left a sparse historical record but enough to help us “imagine ourselves into the past, to use empathy and imagination as our time machine.”

Minnesota’s Untold Tail: Rattlesnakes in the North Star State
Jeff A. Jenson

Minnesota represents the northwestern extent of the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). By the mid-1990s, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources listed the timber rattlesnake as a threatened species that was likely to become endangered without better management and protection. Jeff A. Jenson examines the historical relationship of Minnesotans with our most venomous reptile and offers some observations about future possibilities.

Departments

Editor’s Note
Pam McClanahan

EyeWitness
John Rosengren
Bronko Nagurski

Curator’s Choice
Jennifer Huebscher
Remembering Minnesota Photographer Jim Brandenburg

LandMark
Marsha Neff and Greg Gaut
Superintendent William Berry’s Office, Loring Park, Hennepin County

Book Review
Thomas Saylor
The War at Home: Minnesota during the Great War, 1914–1920 by Greg Gaut

In Memoriam: Melissa and Mark Hortman
Gwen Nell Westerman
“When there are no words”

Take Three/News & Notes/Letters

Highlighting MNopedia
Larry Millett
How Architecture Has Shaped the State

Preserving > Sharing > Connecting
Alta Oben: Creating a Lasting Legacy