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Minnesota History

Dylan's Minnesota party tape surfaces

It is the stuff of legend among Bob Dylan devotees -- an early recording of Dylan singing folk songs with friends in a Dinkytown apartment. But apparently only a few diehards have ever heard the "Minnesota party tape." Until now. The tape has been donated to the Minnesota Historical Society by the man who recorded it, Cleve Pettersen, in a Dinkytown bar in 1960.

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"The Children's Blizzard" eerily similar to current weather

It began as an unseasonably warm morning in Minnesota. By afternoon, temperatures plunged, strong winds began to blow, and a blinding snowstorm raged through the night. Sounds a bit familiar, but that was the forecast for Jan. 12, 1888. Exactly 116 years ago, a weather pattern similar to the one we're experiencing hit the upper Midwest -- with deadly consequences. That storm is the subject of "The Children's Blizzard," a book by author David Laskin, who spoke with All Things Considered.

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Finding history in an old box

Officials from the University of Minnesota opened a nearly century-old time capsule. It was found during construction of the school's new health sciences building.

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A Capitol timeline

Some highlights in state Capitol history.

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At 100, Capitol is showing its age

On the verge of its 100th birthday, Minnesota's Capitol is showing signs of its age. It would take an estimated $60 million to repair the falling plaster, leaky roof and outdated air handling systems.

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A Capitol centennial

The Minnesota State Capitol building is turning 100 years old. A year-long centennial celebration kicked off Sunday, to recall the controversy which surrounded the construction of the building, and the history which has been made in it.

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Remembering artist Charles Biederman

Artist Charles Biederman, who died Sunday at his Red Wing home, leaves behind a legacy unknown to many people in Minnesota. Biederman is best known for his three-dimensional painted aluminum sculptures, which attempted to capture the "structural processes" of nature.

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How a camera changed photojournalism

The photos are graphic and captivating. Former St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Larry Millet has unearthed more than 200 images of car accidents, murders and suicides for his book, "Strange Days, Dangerous Nights," which chronicles the sensational press photography of the 1930s, '40s and '50s.

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Minnesota vet remembers Pearl Harbor

Ralph Krafnick of St. Cloud was getting ready to play a morning baseball game 63 years ago Tuesday. His team was made up of crew members from the USS New Orleans, docked at Pearl Harbor. The morning attack stopped their weekly baseball game, sunk 18 ships, killed 2,400 soldiers and cast the U.S. into World War II. For Krafnick, 87, the memory of that day is clear.

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A dark time for Finns recounted in new novel

In the early 1930s, Soviet recruiters persuaded thousands of Finnish-Americans from northern Minnesota to move to Stalin's Russia. They thought they were going to build a utopia, but many ended up as Stalin's victims. A Minnesota author, William Durbin, has written a new book for young people which describes the painful episode.

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