GENE H. ROSENBLUM:

Gene Harold Rosenblum was born September 4, 1927. He graduated from St. Paul Central High School in 1945 and went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Minnesota in 1949, concentrating his studies on real estate, real estate financing, advertising, and public relations.

Rosenblum's earliest work was in the family real estate business, Rosenblum Co., Inc., of which he later became chief executive. While he continued to work in the real estate field throughout his career, he soon branched out into the law and politics. While studying at William Mitchell College of Law he was a member of the State Citizens' Committee on Public Education and the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Fair Employment Practices. After his admission to the Minnesota bar in 1959, he went on to serve as assistant corporation counsel for the city of St. Paul, assistant city attorney of St. Paul, aide to St. Paul mayor Thomas Byrne, as well as special counsel to the attorney general of Minnesota. An active member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party since youth, he held several leadership roles in the Young Democratic-Farmer-Labor Club (YDFL) including chairman of the Ramsey County YDFL, chairman of the Minnesota YDFL Civil Rights Committee, and first vice chairman of the Minnesota YDFL. Rosenblum's political career entered the local spotlight when Republican St. Paul Mayor George J. Vavoulis removed him from his position as chairman of the mayor's revenue study committee following Rosenblum's decision to run as the DFL/Labor endorsed candidate for city comptroller of St. Paul in 1962.

Rosenblum remained active in civic and Jewish organizations all his life, holding leadership roles in the Junior Chamber of Commerce, B'nai B'rith, the Minnesota Jewish Council, Temple of Aaron, the St. Paul Heritage Preservation Commission, and the Association for Non-Smokers Rights. In later years, he became involved in health care-related issues, volunteering for organizations including the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association/ Policyholders Rights Organization (of which he was president from 1991-1992) and the Minnesota Long Term Health Care Campaign.

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Correspondence, newspaper clippings, a scrapbook, minutes, legal briefs, and legislative files of Gene Harold Rosenblum, a St. Paul (Minn.) attorney, documenting his involvement in numerous local and national political, civic, and religious organizations, in most of which he held a leadership role. Materials are organized into broad series representing Rosenblum's activities.

The series on politics includes files on the (Estes) Kefauver for President campaign (1952), Democrats for Nixon (1972), and a substantial group of files on the Young Democratic-Farmer-Labor Clubs of Minnesota (1947-1958). In addition there are files documenting Rosenblum's unsuccessful campaign for city comptroller of St. Paul in 1962 and a second, aborted campaign in 1966.

The series on Jewish organizations includes files on the Temple of Aaron (St. Paul, Minn.) Board of Directors (1962-1963, 1971-1975) and B'nai B'rith and B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (1945-1957-1966). The bulk of the files concern the St. Paul Jewish Council and its later incarnations, the Minnesota Jewish Council, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota, and the Jewish Community Relations Council-Anti-Defamation League of Minnesota and the Dakotas (1953-1977). A number of files document his publications on St. Paul Jewish history.

The series on St. Paul and Minnesota issues include a large group of files on the St. Paul Heritage Preservation Commission. The other major series in the collection concerns Rosenblum's work for the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association/Policyholder Rights Organization (1988-1994).

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Gene H. Rosenblum Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 13,412; 15,078; 15,532; 16,080

Processing Information:

Processed by: Lara D. Friedman-Shedlov, April 1996; May 2000

Catalog ID number: 990017329340104294

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Documentation of Rosenblum's political activities includes materials relating to the Kefauver for President campaign (1952), Democrats for Nixon (1972), and the Young Democratic Farmer Labor (YDFL) Clubs of Minnesota (1947-1958), as well as Rosenblum's 1962 and 1966 campaigns for city comptroller of St. Paul. The Kefauver for President file includes correspondence giving insights into Minnesota DFL politics and the early days of Hubert H. Humphrey's bid for President. Rosenblum's city comptroller campaigns, while unsuccessful, provide a vibrant portrait of municipal politics in 1960s St. Paul. In addition to the files, a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings from the 1962 campaign coverage is available in a separate oversize folder. The YDFL files, which constitute the bulk of this series, further document the nuances of the Minnesota political scene in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as many of the hot issues of the day, particularly civil rights legislation. Correspondents include senators Eugene J. McCarthy, Estes Kefauver, and Hubert Humphrey; Representative Joseph E. Karth; St. Paul mayor Joseph E. Dillon; Minnesota governors Orville L. Freeman and Karl F. Rolvaag; and Fargo, North Dakota mayor Herschel Lashkowitz.

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Files of particular interest in this series are the Public Affairs Committee on Community Development, 1958-1959. These files include industrial profiles of many cities in outstate Minnesota as of 1957, containing information such as the average wage rates in that community, level of unionization, labor supply, transportation, and local development action.

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Materials in this series include files on B'nai B'rith (1945-1957, 1966), St. Paul's Temple of Aaron board of directors (1962-1963, 1971-1975), the St. Paul Jewish Council, the Minnesota Jewish Council (later known as the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and subsequently the Jewish Community Relations Council - Anti-Defamation League of Minnesota and the Dakotas) (1953-1977), and the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (1963-1966, 1969-1976). Records from the B'nai B'rith Young Men, a college-aged Jewish men's organization, are significant because they cover the entire period from its inception in St. Paul just after World War II up to the Korean War, when it was dissolved. The records from the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, of which Rosenblum served on the Board and in 1975 as Chairman of its Executive Committee, are also notable. This group was a joint action-lobbying group of the main Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic social action groups in Minnesota, and helped influence much legislation. Among other things, its files document local controversies relating to prayer in schools and tax credits and busing for private and parochial schools. Files relating to the Minnesota Jewish Council/Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota deal primarily with matters leading to the merger with the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.

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Rosenblum's extensive activities on behalf of the city of St. Paul are documented by files on civic organizations related to revenue raising and charter reform. A substantial amount of materials concern the St. Paul Heritage Preservation Commission, for which Rosenblum lobbied and became a founding member when the organization was established in November 1976. The files include detailed architectural histories and evaluations of the historical significance of such famous St. Paul landmarks as the Como Park Conservatory, the James J. Hill House, the Landmark Center, Rice Park, the St. Paul Cathedral, the St. Paul Public Library, and the Alexander Ramsey House.

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Of particular interest are materials documenting the campaign to amend the Minnesota constitution to allow local self-government; to extend the terms of the constitutional officers from two to four years; and to allow state legislators to be elected or appointed to other offices during their current terms. Other topics include the Governor's Committee on Metropolitan Problems' recommendations regarding the issue of sanitary sewage disposal and proposed changes to laws governing wage garnishment to protect the public from unscrupulous collection agencies.

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The majority are files relating to Rosenblum's several publications on St. Paul Jewish history, especially the city's Jewish pioneers. The series also contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, membership cards, photographs, and several single files relating to miscellaneous human rights-related organizations and issues, and a small segment reflecting Rosenblum's role as the chairman of the University of Minnesota chapter of the United World Federalists (1946-1950), including a letter from Harris Wofford, later a high official in the John F. Kennedy administration.

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This series is primarily devoted to Rosenblum's files from the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association/Policyholder Rights Organization (MCHA/PRO). Created by the Minnesota Legislature in 1976, MCHA was the insurance program mandated for high-risk individuals who were otherwise unable to acquire health insurance due to pre-existing conditions and other high risk factors. MCHA/PRO represented the interests of the policyholders to the MCHA board and the Minnesota Legislature. During Rosenblum's leadership (1991-1992) MCHA/PRO campaigned for required public hearings before changes to premiums or benefits in the MCHA program were made, an increase to the lifetime benefit limit from $500,000 to $1,000,000, and a cap on annual premium increases, and fought against domination by insurance industry representatives on the MCHA board. Rosenblum also worked with the Minnesota and National Long Term Care Campaigns, organizations that lobbied for adequate long term health care coverage as part of a comprehensive state or national health care plan. Files of particular interest concern the response to the Clinton administration health plan proposed in 1993.

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Additional records of the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association are available as part of the subject files of Human Services Division of the Minnesota State Planning Agency, separately cataloged in the Minnesota Historical Society state archives collections.

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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:

Insurance, Health -- Minnesota.

Health planning -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Long-term care of the sick -- Minnesota.

Finance, Public -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1952.

Civil rights -- Minnesota.

Jews -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul -- History.

Religion and state -- Minnesota.

Jews -- Societies, etc.

Jews in public life -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Antismoking movement.

Smoking -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Historic Buildings -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul -- Conservation and restoration.

Persons:

Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978.

Kefauver, Estes, 1903-1963.

Lashkowitz, Herschel, 1919-.

McCarthy, Eugene J., 1961-2005.

Mitchell, Joseph.

Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994.

Vavoulis, George J.

Organizations:

Association for Non-Smokers' Rights (Minn.).

Association of MCHA Policyholders.

B'nai B'rith. Lodge 157 (Saint Paul, Minn.).

B'nai B'rith Young Men. Liebfield Chapter (Saint Paul, Minn.).

B'nai B'rith Youth Organization.

Communicating for Agriculture, inc.

Democrats for Nixon.

Highland Park Senior High School (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Jewish Community Relations Council-Anti-Defamation League of Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota.

Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (Minn.).

Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association/Policyholders Rights Organization.

Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association.

Minnesota Jewish Council.

Minnesota Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Minnesota Long Term Health Care Commission.

Minnesota State Bar Association. Civil Rights Committee.

Rosenblum Company (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Saint Paul (Minn.). City Comptroller.

Saint Paul Heritage Preservation Commission.

Saint Paul Junior Chamber of Commerce.

St. Paul Jewish Council.

Temple of Aaron (Saint Paul, Minn.).

United World Federalists (U.S.).

University of Minnesota -- Students -- Political activity.

Young Democratic-Farmer-Labor Clubs of Minnesota.

Places:

Saint Paul (Minn.) -- Politics and government.

Document Types:

Photographs.

Occupations:

Lawyers -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

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