LAURENCE A. ROSSMAN:
An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
| | |
| Creator: |
Rossman, L. A. (Laurence Alonzo),
1890-1956, creator.
|
| Title: | Laurence A. Rossman papers, |
| Dates: | 1924-1996 (bulk
1924-1955). |
| Abstract: | Papers of the publisher of the Grand Rapids (Minn.)
Herald-Review newspaper, documenting his interests and involvement in business and
civic affairs. |
| Quantity: | 5.0 cubic feet (5 boxes). |
| Location: | See Detailed Description section for
shelf locations. |
L. A. (Laurence Alonzo) Rossman was born in Minneapolis on June 11, 1890 and grew up
in Chatfield (Minn.). He graduated from Chatfield High School in 1909 and from
Carleton College (Northfield, Minn.) in 1914. He married Elizabeth Aiton on February
21, 1916. Rossman published the Grand Rapids Herald-Review
(Minn.).newspaper from 1914 until his death on May 16, 1956. In 1929 he
served as president of the Minnesota Editorial Association, and in 1949 was honored
as one of one hundred "Living Great" Minnesotans.
Rossman was interested and active in business and civic affairs, and was a tireless
booster and promoter. A prolific writer, he authored, published, and distributed a
host of pamphlets and essays setting forth his views on the development of highway
transportation, conservation, forestry, papermaking, iron mining, and other issues
that interested him. He was particularly enthused about the development and
promotion of the inter-city motor bus industry.
Rossman's involvements were many and varied. He was an officer of the Minnesota
Historical Society, a member of the Carleton College board of trustees, chairman of
Governor Luther Youngdahl's Economic Development Council, a director and member of
the executive committee of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, chairman of the
Minnesota Highway Users Conference, a member of the Executive Committee of the
Association for Amendment No. 5 (concerned with highway financing), chairman of the
Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Mining Industry Committee, a Blandin Foundation
trustee, a director of the Ten Thousand Lakes Association, and a member of the
National Association of Motor Bus Operators' Committee on Research and Planning. He
was also associated for many years with the Greyhound Corporation as a consultant.
These undertakings are documented in varying degrees in the collection.
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The Rossman Papers consist almost entirely of bound, chronologically-arranged
documents organized by subject. They include correspondence; published pamphlets
(often referred to as "memorandums"), typewritten essays, and speech texts;
miscellaneous reports; newspaper and magazine clippings; financial statements and
data; agendas and minutes of meetings; inter-city bus schedules (timetables); a few
photographs; and various other items. The collection focuses on Rossman's
involvement in business and civic organizations and activities, and his promotion of
a variety of causes in which he was interested. It does not document the publishing
or operations of the Grand Rapids Herald-Review
newspaper.
There is biographical information about Rossman, including a copy of the centennial
edition of the Grand Rapids Herald-Review (Sept. 18,
1994); information about transportation issues, especially the development and
promotion of buses and inter-city bus travel; economic and industrial development;
banking; forestry, conservation, and the lumber industry; education; Minnesota
highways and highway funding; and other subjects and endeavors affecting northern
Minnesota.
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Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here].
Laurence A. Rossman Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional
examples.
Accession Information:
Accession numbers: 15,171; 15,457; 15,588.
Processing Information:
Processed by: David B. Peterson, January 1997, September 1999.
Catalog ID number: 990017336370104294
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Location | Box |
| 149.G.6.2F | 1 | Biographical information, 1941-1994. |
| | | Includes a copy of the Grand Rapids
Herald-Review centennial issue, Sept. 18, 1994, which contains
information about the history of the paper and about L. A. Rossman and other
publishers. There is also a biographical sketch of L. A. Rossman that was
prepared by George A. Rossman in 1991. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Blandin, C. K., 1935. |
| | | Rossman correspondence with the president of Blandin Paper Company concerning
the newsprint industry and other matters. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Blandin correspondence: |
| | | Relates to Blandin Paper Company and to the founding of the Charles K.
Blandin Foundation. |
| | | 1936-1940. 2 folders |
| | | 1945-1955. 5 folders |
| | | Newsprint, 1934-1938. 2 folders |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Location | Box |
| 149.G.6.2F | 1 | Carleton College, 1954-1955. 3 folders |
| | | Include minutes of the trustees and executive committee, as well as
correspondence with president Laurence M. Gould and other college officials
concerning fund raising activities and other matters. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Economic Development Council, 1947-1950. 5 folders |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Efficiency in Government Commission, 1950. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Federal Aid to Education, 1949-1950. 3 folders |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Federal Home Loan Bank: |
| | | Include minutes of executive committee meetings and correspondence with the
organization's officials, bankers and savings and loan officials, and the
Federal Home Loan Bank Board (Washington, D.C.). |
| | | Jan.-Sept. 1954. 5 folders |
| Location | Box |
| 149.G.6.3B | 2 | | Nov. 1954-Dec. 1955. 4 folders |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Forestry program, 1949-1951. 3 folders |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | General correspondence, 1941-1955. 7 folders |
| | | Includes compliments on Rossman's pamphlets and Herald-Review editorials,
discussions about politics and legislation, newspaper publishing, the
newsprint industry, highway transportation and finance issues, agriculture,
mining and iron ore, conservation, taxes, inter-city bus transportation,
education, fishing, deer hunting, the retirements of friends and associates,
and the progress of the Rossman children at Carleton College. There are also
letters concerning the struggling Arrowhead Canning Company (Grand Rapids,
Minn.), Rossman's purchase of shirts from the Marshall Field & Company
department store (Chicago), and the need for a sewage treatment plant at
Grand Rapids. Correspondents include business executives; Carleton College
president Gould; president J. L. Morrill and other University of Minnesota
officials; elected officials, including United States senators Edward J.
Thye and Hubert H. Humphrey, and Minnesota governors Luther W. Youngdahl, C.
Elmer Anderson, and Orville L. Freeman; state agencies; newspaper
publishers; the National Editorial Association; and a variety of friends and
associates. There is also correspondence (1948) between Rossman and his
cousin, Jessie Gould Hannon, concerning two diaries of their grandfather,
Charles Gould, that Rossman donated to the Minnesota Historical Society (See
the public catalog for their location). |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Location | Box |
| 149.G.6.3B | 2 | Grand Rapids Herald-Review: "Up in This
Neck of the Woods": |
| | | Photocopies of a column published in the Grand Rapids Herald Review
newspaper. The columns contain the publisher's opinions and observations
about people, places, events, and organizations in the Grand Rapids area.
Includes a subject and date index. |
| | | Topical index, 1996. |
| | | Columns, 1931-1949. 19 folders |
| Location | Box |
| 149.G.6.4F | 3 | | Columns, 1950-1965. 16 folders |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Greyhound Bus Lines: |
| | | Correspondence, 1945-1954. 19 folders |
| | | | Documents Rossman's many years as a consultant to the Greyhound
Corporation, particularly his research, writing, speaking, and related
activities with regard to such issues as government regulation of the
bus industry, fuel tax apportionment, fares, public relations, and
larger buses. A March 13, 1956 letter from Rossman to Greyhound official
R. A. L. Bogan explains the circumstances of his association with the
company. The letters also discuss legislation, license fees, highway
finance, the trucking industry, and competition from railroads.
Correspondents include Greyhound Corporation executives; officials of
Northland Greyhound Lines and other affiliated companies; the National
Association of Motor Bus Operators; the National Highway Users
Conference; trucking companies; and the Minnesota Motor Transport
Association. |
| Location | Box |
| 149.G.6.5B | 4 | | Correspondence, 1955-1956. |
| | | Schedules (timetables), 1924-1927, 1929. 4 folders |
| | | | Includes bus schedules of Minnesota Motor Bus Association member lines
(1924-1926), of the Northland Transportation Company (1926-1929), and of
Northland Greyhound Lines and Royal Rapid Lines (1929). Many of these
are published under the title Travel by Bus, a publication of the
Minnesota Motor Bus Association. |
| | | Walsh, Margaret, undated and 1985. |
| | | | A University of Birmingham (England) faculty member who researched and wrote
an article ("Tracing the Hound") published in Minnesota History magazine
(Winter 1985) about the history of Greyhound Bus Lines and its corporate
roots in Hibbing, Minnesota. Includes a few photographs of early and later
buses. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Location | Box |
| 149.G.6.5B | 4 | Wickman, C. E., 1954. |
| | | Retired board chairman; Greyhound founder. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Miscellany, undated and 1942-1955. |
| | | Includes a Rossman photograph of an early (1916) bus and a Greyhound
Scenicruiser bus (ca.1950). |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Highway amendment: |
| | | Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 5; concerned apportionment of state
excise tax on motor vehicles among trunk highway sinking fund; cities,
villages, and boroughs; and counties. Rossman supported the amendment. |
| | | Correspondence, 1951-1952. 3 folders |
| | | County information sheets, [1951?]. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Industry and Forty-seven Million People,
1938. 4 folders |
| | | Includes copies of Rossman's pamphlet which he sent to business executives
throughout the United States, his cover letters, and thank-you letters from
recipients. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Iron mining: |
| | | Includes correspondence, booklets, speech outlines, news clippings, and other
material documenting Rossman's efforts to promote more sympathetic public
opinion of the iron mining industry. Much of the material centers on
tax-related issues affecting the industry. There is also some discussion of
labor issues, Minnesota politics, the leasing of state iron mining lands,
and other matters. Most of the correspondence is with mining company
officials. |
| | | 1946-1954. 10 folders |
| | | | Includes Rossman's pamphlet, The Minnesota Iron Mining Industry
(1948). |
| Location | Box |
| 144.E.7.6F | 5 | | 1954-1955. 2 folders |
| | | Mining Symposium, Jan. 18-19, 1949. |
| | | | Includes a Rossman speech entitled "A Century of Red Iron." |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | "Memorandums," 1932-1939, 1948-1951. 3 folders |
| | | Rossman's writings and speeches on business and industry, economic
development, and related topics. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Minnesota Historical Society, 1954-1955. 4 folders |
| | | Includes information about management issues, particularly the dismissal of
the Society's director, Harold Dean Cater (1954). |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Location | Box |
| 144.E.7.6F | 5 | Minnesota Sports, Inc., 1949-1951. |
| | | "A Non-Profit Organization for the Development of Sports in Minnesota." |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Newsprint industry: |
| | | Petition, 1935. |
| | | F. E. Murphy correspondence, 1934-1939. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Swanson, Herbert: "Why Study" essays, [1930s?]. |
| | | A collection of typewritten essays (mid- to late-1930s?) on the virtues of
studying various academic subjects. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Transportation issues: |
| | | Motor bus industry, 1934-1942. |
| | | Pamphlets, 1929-1955. 6 folders |
| | | | Typewritten manuscripts and printed pamphlets. Themes include motor
buses, railroads, taxation of transportation, Greyhound Lines, motor
trucks, and highways. Most were written by Rossman. Includes A Romance
of Transportation [1937]. Some newspaper clippings are also
included. |
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Banks and banking.
- Bus lines -- Middle West.
- Bus travel.
- Federal aid to education.
- Forests and forestry -- Minnesota.
- Iron mines and mining -- Minnesota.
- Newsprint industry.
- Paper industry -- Minnesota.
- Roads -- Minnesota -- Finance.
- Savings and loan associations.
- Taxation.
- Transportation.
- Publishers and publishing -- Minnesota -- Grand Rapids.
- Places:
- Minnesota -- Industries.
- Persons:
- Cater, Harold Dean, 1908-
- Blandin, Charles K., 1872-1958.
- Caesar, O. S. (Orville Swan), 1892-1965.
- Gould, Charles, 1824-1913.
- Gould, Laurence McKinley, 1896-1995.
- Hannon, Jessie Gould, 1895-
- Wickman, Carl Eric.
- Youngdahl, Luther W., 1896-
- Organizations:
- Blandin Paper Company.
- Carleton College (Northfield, Minn.).
- Charles K. Blandin Foundation.
- Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines.
- Grand Rapids Herald-Review (Grand Rapids, Minn.).
- Greyhound Corporation.
- Minnesota. Department of Business Research and Development.
- Minnesota. Department of Conservation.
- Minnesota Efficiency in Government Commission.
- Minnesota Historical Society.
- Minnesota Motor Bus Association.
- Minnesota Sports, Inc.
- Northland Greyhound Lines.
- Oliver Iron Mining Company (Duluth, Minn.).
- Royal Rapid Transit Corporation.
- Savings and Loan League of Minnesota.
- United States Steel Corporation. Oliver Iron Mining Division.
- Types of Documentation:
- Pamphlets.
- Schedules.
- Occupations:
- Businessmen -- Minnesota -- Grand Rapids.
- Civic leaders -- Minnesota -- Grand Rapids.
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