Minnesota History

Voices of Minnesota conversations with two of Minnesota's most prominent theater figures. Vern Sutton talks about his career as an professor and performer. And Bonnie Morris talks about her nearly 30 years of work as a founder of the Illusion Theater in Minneapolis.
The Minnesota Historical Society will close seven of its 27 historical sites and lay off nearly one-third of its staff due to state budget cuts. The society will lose $8 million in state funding over the next two years. The sites, around the state, will be closed to the public, but will still be maintained.
Forty years ago, on May 7, 1963, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis opened its doors for the first time. The new theater was Sir Tyrone Guthrie's brainchild. The internationally-known director wanted to build high quality theater outside the influence of the New York scene. Four decades on, Guthrie's vision endures, but the theater now appears to be at a crossroads.
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Caro gave Monday's Distinguished Carlson Lecture at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute. He is the author of a multi-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, the most recent book is Master of the Senate, which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize.
Preston, Minn. Population 1,460. It's a small town in Fillmore County in southeastern Minnesota. And it's facing some difficult decisions as it looks to the future -- balancing the need for economic development with the desire to protect its environment and its small-town way of life.
Over the next few weeks, some of America's war heros will return home. The B-52 bomber crews from Minot, N.D., will be back at their home base. And B-1B bomber crews from South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Force Base will come back from Iraq. Heroes from past wars are launching a national program to talk to school kids. The program was founded by former South Dakota Gov. Joe Foss. The inaugural presentation was in Sioux Falls.
We hear every day about how liberal American society has become. But not too long ago, parts of Minnesota were known for their hardline efforts to stop behavior now considered harmless. The Kandiyohi County Historical Society is hosting a display that looks back on that time. "No, No Willmar" profiles activities and items that were considered immoral and sometimes illegal. But some old-timers in Willmar say despite the community's efforts to appear straight-laced, they remember plenty of mischievous behavior going on.
Former Minnesota Gov. Orville Freeman was remembered Thursday night at a memorial at the state Capitol in St. Paul. Freeman died from Alzheimer's disease. He was 84.
St. Paul has the largest urban Hmong population in the world. They traveled thousands of difficult miles to get here. Now, the children of these immigrants, many born in the United States, are learning about the homeland of their parents. Recently, five Hmong high school students from St. Paul embarked on a two-week trip to Thailand and Laos. They called the trip the Homeland project. The students hoped seeing their parents' homeland would help them understand the deep cultural gap that separates them from their parents.
Former Minnesota Gov. Orville Freeman, who served as agriculture secretary under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, has died. He was 84. His family says Freeman died last night of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He had been living at Walker Methodist Health Center in south Minneapolis. Minnesota's 29th governor was a Minneapolis native. He was a University of Minnesota football star, a Marine during World War II and a close friend of Hubert Humphrey.