Sherburne History Center Blog

  Minnesota Artist Anton Gag (1859-1908), self portrait This past week, at the Sherburne History Center, the annual Sherburne Area Visual Arts Showcase exhibited work from several local artists.   With art history playing around in my mind, I wanted to take a moment and give mention to a couple of Minnesota visual artists.   I want to acknowledge there is a force within the state that inspires painters, illustrators, photographers, and other visual artists.   Here are four artists born or lived in Minnesota and played a significant impact on the national art world. Sarah Louise Judd (1802-1881) born in Farmington, Connecticut.   She came to Stillwater, Minnesota in 1845 as an educator.   She also produced daguerreotypes and later, other portrait images.   She is regarded as the first photographer in the state of Minnesota. Perhaps the best known of all Minnesota visual artists, Wanda Gag (1893-1946) trained under the tutelage of her father, artist ...

  WAAC recruitment poster, 1943 During World War Two, young men receive a significant amount of attention in joining the service or being drafted to serve.   Rightly, we need to recognize their service to the country.   Yet, many young women also served in the military.   Their service also warrants recognition. There were a few opportunities for young women to serve the country during the war.   The government called upon women flyers to ferry aircraft to Britain that had been manufactured in the United States.   Nurses served an equally important role in the military.   And a multitude of administrative duties put the efforts of women enlistees to the task. The first of the women branches of service, other than nurses, organized as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.   Beginning in 1942, the Army recruited 150,000 women to serve in administrative duties and still later as mechanics stationed around the United States.   In February 1943, C...

  With the coming holiday weekend, we need to stretch outside of Sherburne County History to explore the origins of Labor Day.   Beginning in the late 1800s and continuing to the declaration of a national holiday, the day to celebrate workers remains important.   Quarry workers in west Sherburne County The commemoration of labor and working often associated with May 1, May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day.   In the United States, in the late 1880s, May Day became more closely associated with radical philosophies often associated with socialism, anarchy, and communism.   A variety of more conservative labor unions and activists started promoting the first weekend in September as an alternative; a new Labor Day.   The Haymarket Massacre, on 4 May 1886, further solidified May Day as a celebration of radicalism.   In 1887, Oregon became the first state to recognize the Labor Day holiday in September.   Within 7 years, thirty stat...