This collection encompasses 50-plus years of interviews, readings, speeches, and reports on the vibrant literary scene in Minnesota. Not only home to giants F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis, our state has an array of incredible contemporary poets, novelists, and playwrights. Their words make up majority of this collection.
Repeatedly being named the “Most Literate City in the United States,” the Twin Cities has played host to numerous visiting national writers via book tours, festivals, and lectures. Many recordings of these are also included.
This project was funded by the National Historical Publications & Records Commission.
July 30, 1983 - Gary Wynia, an author and professor of political science at University of Minnesota, shares an overview on Latin American politics and U.S. Relations with Latin American countries.
July 30, 1983 - Gary Wynia, an author and professor of political science at University of Minnesota, addresses on two different fronts if the situation is Nicaragua is another Vietnam.
July 30, 1983 - Gary Wynia, an author and professor of political science at University of Minnesota, details Latin American countries El Salvador and Honduras.
July 30, 1983 - Gary Wynia, an author and professor of political science at University of Minnesota, details reaction to U.S. military maneuvers near Latin American countries.
August 23, 1983 - Dr. Paul Rosenblatt, author of Bitter, Bitter Tears: Nineteenth Century Diarists and Twentieth Century Grief Theories, answers listeners' questions about grief and bereavement.
September 8, 1983 - Dr. Robert S. Bilheimer, executive director of The Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at Collegeville, talks about the results of a three-year study documenting the beliefs and attitudes of more than 1,000 Minnesotans from all the major Christian denominations. Dr. Bilheimer directed the research project.
October 7, 1983 - Charles Schultz talks about America's vanishing industry.
October 24, 1983 - MPR’s Dennis Hamilton interviews Minnesota author Lee Henschel Jr. about his book, Short Stories of Vietnam.
November 15, 1983 - Eugene McCarthy, former Minnesota senator and presidential candidate, speaks at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. McCarthy’s address was titled "Growing Up in Rural Minnesota.” McCarthy speaks of experiences in his hometown of Watkins, some of which were expressed in a collection of poems entitled Gene McCarthy's Minnesota.
November 21, 1983 - On this Midday, Richard Ojakangas and Charles Matsch, authors of Minnesota Geology, answer questions on Minnesota’s ground and bedrock.