History Lounge

Lounge with us!

Join local historians, authors and experts for evening conversations about the history that shapes Minnesota and its people.

• Select Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. October through May
• Free; no reservations needed
• Enjoy dessert, snacks, beer and wine available from Café Minnesota during the program.

Upcoming History Lounge Events

The Anglo-Dakota Life of Celia Campbell Stay

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - 7:00pm

In the wake of the US-Dakota War of 1862, the government expelled most Dakota Indians from Minnesota. One of the few permitted to remain was Celia Campbell Stay, a woman of mixed Anglo-Dakota ancestry. Forced by war to refashion her life, she disguised her Dakota roots and created a new identity for herself as a non-Indian settler. With historian Annette Atkins.

Stand Up! MN’s Protest Tradition

Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - 7:00pm

Join eminent Minnesota historian Rhoda R. Gilman, author of the book Stand Up! The Story of Minnesota’s Protest Tradition (MHS Press, 2011), as she profiles some of the state’s most charismatic and quirky political leaders and explores the major protest movements of the last 150 years. Book signing will follow the program.

Lost Mansions and Estates of the Twin Cities

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - 7:00pm

Take an armchair tour of the lost mansions of the Twin Cities with Larry Millett, author of the new book Once There Were Castles: Lost Mansions and Estates of the Twin Cities (U of M Press, 2011). Join Millett as he brings back to life the lost mansions that haunt the Twin Cities, and explores how railroad and freeway building, commercial and institutional expansion, fires, and financial disasters all claimed their share of these local “castles.” Hear the stories of these grand houses and of those who built and lived in them—men and women who poured all their dreams, desires, and obsessions into extravagant homes designed to display wealth and solidify social standing in a constantly changing world. Millett will sign copies of his new book after the program.

Dakota Women’s Work

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - 7:00pm

Join Professor Colette Hyman, author of the new book Dakota Women’s Work (MHS Press, 2012), as she discusses how Dakota Indian women continued the traditions of their people, and worked for their cultural and spiritual survival, even as the Dakota experienced removal and repeated attempts at their extermination. Book signing to follow program.

Made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008. Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.

Thank God and FDR! New Deal Art in Minnesota

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 7:00pm

One of the most enduring and popular legacies of Roosevelt’s New Deal was the art that was created under the W.P.A. Minnesota received millions of dollars and employing scores of artists. Discover how this experiment in public art became a golden age of art making in Minnesota. With MHS Curator of Art Brian Szott.