Minneapolis and St. Paul American. (original) (raw)

OVERVIEW Minnesota Historical Society St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer Press (Saint Paul, Minn.). Historical materials. 1862-2001 (bulk 1862-1948). Correspondence and memoranda, minute books, court and legal records, and clippings relating to the operation of theSt. Paul Pioneer Press and St. Paul Dispatch newspapers and their parent companies, as well as pamphlets and manuscripts on various public interest topics. 1.7 cubic feet (2 boxes). See Detailed Description for shelf locations. HISTORICAL NOTE

The Minnesota Pioneer, Minnesota's first newspaper and a forerunner of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, was founded in 1849. The St. Paul Dispatch newspaper was begun in 1868. The Dispatch Printing Company (DPC) was formed in 1885 when George Thompson purchased theDispatch newspaper. The DPC bought thePioneer Press in 1909, and ran the two newspapers separately. Charles K. Blandin was hired as business manager for the DPC at around that time, and became a small shareholder. In 1916 the DPC bought the Itasca Paper Company, in order to control the newspapers' source of newsprint. Thompson died in 1917, and Blandin bought a controlling interest in the DPC from Thompson's widow Abigail. In 1923 Abigail Thompson died, and Blandin acquired her shares as well. In 1923 he reorganized the DPC into the Dispatch and Pioneer Press Company, and shifted legal incorporation from Minnesota to Delaware. Ridder Publications acquired the morning Pioneer Press and the evening Dispatch from Charles K. Blandin in 1927. After the sale, Blandin changed the name of the Dispatch and Pioneer Press Company to the Blandin Development Company. At that point, the Blandin Development Company was the parent corporation of the Blandin Paper Company, and was the owner of all of its stock.

The Pioneer Press andDispatch newspapers merged in 1985 and became a morning-only daily in 1990 known as the St. Paul Pioneer Press; its primary circulation area included St. Paul and Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties in Minnesota, and other areas of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. The paper was owned by Northwest Publications, a subsidiary of Miami-based Knight-Ridder, Inc.

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

Includes materials relating to the construction of the Pioneer Press Building in downtown St. Paul (1888-1890); interoffice memos and miscellaneous correspondence; and information about censorship procedures to be followed by newspaper editors and writers during World War II. There is information about legal matters, including testimony and other papers relating to a murder case connected with illegal liquor operations in St. Paul during the prohibition era, the federal government's lease of a post office facility in St. Paul (1920s), and a lawsuit against the National Nonpartisan League. There is also information about Catholics in Minnesota, conservation of natural resources, state and national farm organizations, public utilities, legislative reapportionment, Fort Snelling, the Third U.S. Infantry, and municipal problems in St. Paul.

This material does not comprise the corporate records of theDispatch or the Pioneer Press, but is instead the artificially-created product of a number of small accessions from a variety of sources over a period of many years.

RELATED MATERIALS

The St. Paul Pioneer Press andDispatch newspapers are in the Minnesota Historical Society newspaper collection.

Some employee newsletters are in the Minnesota Historical Society serials collection.

The National Nonpartisan League Papers are in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.

CATALOG HEADINGS Topics: Buildings -- Specifications. Catholics -- Minnesota. Censorship. Conservation of natural resources -- Minnesota. Construction contracts. Crime -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Criminals -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Jews -- Minnesota. Political conventions. Post office buildings -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Prohibition -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Public utilities. Streets -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Social elements -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Socialism. World War, 1939-1945. Places: Fort Snelling (Minn.). Minnesota -- Politics and government. Saint Paul (Minn.) -- Newspapers. Persons: Ames, Charles W. (Charles Wilberforce), 1855-1921. Appelbaum, Saul B. Beman, Solon Spencer, 1853-1914. Blandin, Charles K., 1872-1958. Christianson, Theodore, 1883-1948. Dickinson, Leonard. Driscoll, Frederick, 1834-1907. Galt, Herbert Randolph, 1881-1926. Gilbert, Joseph, 1865-1956. Gleeman, Abe. Gleeman, Bennie. Hurley, Helen Angela. Ingalls, James S. La Follette, Robert M. (Robert Marion), 1855-1925. Larsen, Arthur J. (Arthur James), 1903-. Lommen, George H., 1895-1942. Moore, Frank, 1828-1904. Price, Byron. Teigen, Ferdinand A. Thompson, George, 1840-1917. Townley, A. C. (Arthur Charles), 1880-1959. Wright, Cushing F., 1880 or 81-1961. Organizations: Blandin Development Company (Saint Paul, Minn.). Dispatch-Pioneer Press Company (Saint Paul, Minn.). Dispatch Printing Company (Saint Paul, Minn.). Farmers Union Terminal Association (Minn.). Itasca Paper Company (Saint Paul, Minn.). Lennox and Haldeman (Saint Paul, Minn.). Mantel Club. Minnesota. Rural Credit Bureau. Minnesota Commission of Public Safety. Mt. Zion Hebrew Association. National Nonpartisan League. Neighborhood House (Saint Paul, Minn.). Northern States Power Company (Minnesota). Pioneer Press Co. (Saint Paul, Minn.). Saint Paul (Minn.). City Planning Board. United States. Army. Infantry Division, 3rd. Types of Documents: Minute books. Title: Minneapolis and St. Paul American. North-Western Democrat (Saint Anthony, Minn.). St. Paul dispatch. St. Paul pioneer press. Winona Republican (Winona, Minn.). ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer Press Historical Materials. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 1780D15; 3539; 5471; 7426; 7838; 8417; 9405; 15,643

Processing Information:

Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson; David B. Peterson, September 2001

Catalog ID number: 09-00026052

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 147.B.14.16F 1 Censorship:

Disassembled loose leaf notebook containing information on censorship procedures to be followed by newspaper editors and writers during World War II. The material is arranged by subject. Includes miscellaneous papers which were found unfiled in the volume.

General file; airplanes, 1942-1945. Casualties; correspondence; defense plants, 1941-1944. Personalities; Selective Service, 1942-1945. Ships; troop movements; weather; miscellaneous, 1941-1945. Compositor's account book, St. Paul Press, 1862-1865.

Volume supposedly kept by Frank Moore, superintendent of theSt. Paul Pioneer Press composing room, 1858-1909. The volume also contains a few notations of accounts kept for theWinona Republican and the North-Western Democrat. Pasted inside the front cover is an article on the career of Frank Moore. The volume includes daily entries for the period July 12,1862-May 10, 1865.

Correspondence (miscellaneous), 1927-1948.

Correspondence concerns a variety of topics and includes a letter from Governor Theodore Christianson on the sale of timber lands, March 27, 1930; from Senator George H. Lommen on labor legislation and the "gag law," October 8, 1930; memorandum on the Quetico-Superior National Forest, April 24, 1931; information on the investigation of Northern States Power Company by the Federal Power Commission; a memorandum on the "Mantel Club," January 6, 1940; and letters from Leonard Dickinson on Beltrami items in the possession of Mr. Dickinson, 1947-1948.

Gleeman Case, St. Paul: Testimony and affidavits, 1925.

Includes copies of testimony given by Abe and Bennie Gleeman concerning illegal liquor operations in St. Paul during the 1920s. The testimony is primarily concerned with the conviction of the Gleeman brothers for the murder of Burton Stevens in St. Paul, February 16, 1925. Also included are a number of affidavits signed by friends and relations of the Gleemans.

Historical information, 1983-2001.

Includes an historical chronology and other information about thePioneer Press and Dispatch newspapers taken from History at Your Door: The Story of the Dispatch and Pioneer Press, 1849-1983 by Donald J. O'Grady, and information about Knight-Ridder, Inc. This material was brought together and added to the collection by the cataloger.

Interoffice memos, 1924.

Written mostly by H. R. Galt to various members of theDispatch-Pioneer Press staff on routine matters and news stories.

Minute books:

Include articles of incorporation, bylaws, minutes of directors and stockholders meetings, resolutions, and miscellaneous other information and data. There is information about the election of corporate officers and directors, the purchase of printing equipment and machinery, corporate finances, the acquisition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (1909), and the sale of the Dispatch andPioneer Press newspapers to the Ridder interests.

Dispatch Printing Company: May 18, 1885-May 16, 1908. 1 volume. Dec. 16, 1908-Jan. 17, 1922. 1 volume.

Includes an accompanying folder of miscellaneous loose papers that was found inside of the volume.

Dispatch-Pioneer Press Company, Dec. 2, 1925-Sept. 30, 1927/Blandin Development Company, Jan. 17, 1928-Dec. 20, 1938. 1 volume. Pioneer Press Building: Miscellaneous papers, 1888-1890.

Includes articles of agreement, specifications, bonds, correspondence, and invoices relating to the construction of the Pioneer Press Building in downtown St. Paul. Frequent letter writers were: Frederick Driscoll of the Pioneer Press; S. S. Beman, Chicago, architect of the building; and Lennox and Haldeman, plasterers, St. Paul.

St. Paul Post Office case:

Material is concerned with the legal difficulties arising over the construction of a new post office building in St. Paul. The controversy was between the Investors Company, Inc., of Chicago, owners of the property used by the government as a postal station, and the U.S. Government, which was attempting to break the lease with the company.

Correspondence, 1921-1930. Leases, 1922-1925. Townley lawsuit: Correspondence, September 1917-May 1918.

Includes letters between Charles W. Ames, of the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety, and various citizens reporting on organizing activities of the Nonpartisan League in their areas.

Newspaper clippings, 1917-1918.

Clippings pasted onto 28 pages of bond paper. Especially concerned with the activities of the League as reported in Minnesota and North Dakota newspapers.

147.B.15.1B 2 Newspaper clippings: Clippings scrapbook (disassembled), 1918.

Especially concerned with the activities of the League as reported in Minnesota and North Dakota newspapers.

Testimony before the Minnesota Commission on Public Safety, 1917-1918. 2 folders.

Transcripts of testimony given by Ferdinand Teigen (December 14, 1917 and January 31, 1918); James S. Ingalls (January 7, 1917); and Arthur Townley (September 25, 1917). The testimony deals with the organizing activities of the Nonpartisan League, its affiliations with socialists, and its alleged disloyal activities.

Transcript of Nonpartisan League rally, March 1918. 2 folders.

Transcript of Proceedings of a rally held at the St. Paul Municipal Auditorium, March 19, 20, 21, 1918. 381-page typed carbon copy.

Miscellaneous papers and printed data (1 folder): Pamphlets: Address of Arthur C. Townley at Farmers and Workers Conference, St. Paul, 1917. A Socialist Constitution for North Dakota, 4th edition, undated.

No author; anti-League.

This is My War by Tom Parker Junkin, 1918.

Anti-League.

The Farmer and Townleyism by J. D. Bacon, 1918.

Anti-League.

Hearings before the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, May 1, 1918.

Townley's testimony before the committee regarding S.4364, which involved extending jurisdiction of military tribunals.

Manuscript material: Demands for retraction of libelous statements made by the Dispatch-Pioneer Press from Arthur Townley and Joseph Gilbert, undated. State of Minnesota v. A. C. Townley and Joseph Gilbert, 1918. Report on the activities of theMinneapolis and St. Paul American and the men connected with it, undated. Reports on financial conditions of Nonpartisan League newspapers in North Dakota, undated. United States against James A. Peterson: Indictment, plea, and verdict, 1918. Excerpts of speeches delivered by Joseph Gilbert and Arthur Townley, undated and 1917. Miscellaneous papers arranged alphabetically by topic: Catholics-LaFollette (1 folder): Territorial Daguerreotypes: Minnesota Convent Life in the 1850s: The Sisters of St. Joseph, andThe Sisters of St. Joseph in Minnesota (both written by Sister Helen Angela Hurley), undated. Outline of a Proposed Water Conservation and Utilization Plan, State Department of Conservation, October 1932. Miscellaneous papers relating to the Farmers Union Terminal Association, the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation, the Farmers National Grain Corporation, and the American Wheat Growers Association, undated and 1931-1933. Farmer Labor Party platform, 1926. Biographical sketch of Rabbi Saul B. Appelbaum, Mt. Zion Temple, 1946. Paper on the Mt. Zion Hebrew Association, undated. Excerpts from two speeches made by Robert M. LaFollette in St. Paul, September 1917 and November 4, 1922. Minnesota Credit Bureau Report on Survey of Accounting System and Office procedure, December 1931. Neighborhood House - Third Infantry (1 folder): Neighborhood House, [1945?].

Typed illustrated narrative history of a social settlement house located on the West Side of St. Paul. No author given.

Post Office, 1945.

An article on the history of St. Paul post offices by Cushing F. Wright.

Miscellaneous papers on public utilities, dealing mostly with Northern States Power Company's dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a paper entitled Taxes and Municipal Utilities that contains arguments in favor of municipally-owned utilities, undated and 1932-1934. Reapportionment of the Minnesota legislature, undated.

Author unknown.

The Shadow of Fort Snelling, undated.

Typescript essay by Arthur J. Larsen.

The Third Infantry, a paper of unknown authorship on the history of the United States Army Third Infantry from its historical antecedents in 1784 to 1921, undated. St. Paul municipal problems, 1925-1933.

Includes a manuscript on the St. Paul City Market, a resolution to change the name of Third Street to Kellogg Blvd., a report on water rates by Leonard N. Thompson, a City Planning Board report on house numbering and the re-naming of streets; Planning an Improvement Program, a report prepared by the Bureau of Municipal Research; and a report on an inspection made of the city workhouse by William N. Carey.