Don Fraser's career spanned the last half of the twentieth century. As a Minnesota state senator, U.S. congressman, and Minneapolis mayor Fraser was deeply involved in the key issues of his era, including the civil rights struggle, opposition to the war in Viet Nam, and efforts to combat urban poverty. Historian Iric Nathanson's new biography, […]

We will explore the history and philosophy behind the Arts and Crafts and Prairie School movements by focusing on six rules for architecture stated by John Ruskin in an 1854 lecture. Architectural historian Richard Kronick will show how several A&C and Prairie School architects responded to and expressed Ruskin’s ideas. He will also provide a […]

Join R.T. Rybak for a talk about Pothole Confidential: My Life as Mayor of Minneapolis. In a memoir that is at once a political coming-of-age story and a behind-the-scenes look at the running of a great city, three-term Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak takes readers into the highs and lows and the daily drama of a […]

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, pioneer aerial photographer Joe Quigley was hired to take images of all Minneapolis schools. These remarkable high-resolution photos have been in the school district files for 80 years. Join local historians Michael Wilson and Tom Balcom to view the Southwest neighborhoods circa 1930.

Most known for Widow Hamilton's guest house overlooking Lake Calhoun (now called Bde Maka Ska), where Henry David Thoreau stayed in June 1861, members of the Hamilton family lived at times on both the south and west shores of the lake for more than 40 years. Explore this untold history of early days before the […]

Racial covenants were used to bar people of a given race, ethnic origin, or religion, from buying or occupying property in Minneapolis. These discriminatory deeds underpinned an invisible system of American apartheid. This project, Mapping Prejudice, is headed up by a team of activists and scholars who are researching the city covenants with the help […]