LUCILE M. KANE:

Lucile Marie Kane, a nationally recognized scholar in the fields of state and western American history, was born at Maiden Rock, Wisconsin on March 17, 1920, to Emery John and Ruth (Coty) Kane. She earned a bachelor of science degree at River Falls State Teacher's College (later known as the University of Wisconsin-River Falls) in 1942, and a master of arts degree in history from the University of Minnesota in 1946.

She taught at Osceola High School (Osceola, Wisconsin) from 1942 to 1946; worked for the University of Minnesota Press (1945-1946); and was a research fellow and editor for the Forest Products History Foundation (Saint Paul, 1946-1948). She was curator of manuscripts at the Minnesota Historical Society from 1948 to 1975, and Minnesota state archivist from 1975 until retiring on July 1, 1979. Kane was a senior research fellow at the Society (1979-1985), and a senior research fellow emeritus (1985- ).

Kane edited and translated a substantial book entitled Military Life in Dakota: The Journal of Philippe Regis de Trobriand (1951). She contributed to The Public Lands: Studies in the History of the Public Domain, which was edited by Vernon Carstensen (1963). In 1966 she published The Waterfall that Built a City: The Falls of St. Anthony in Minneapolis, which was later updated and published as The Falls of St. Anthony: The Waterfall that Built Minneapolis (1987). She helped edit The Northern Expeditions of Major Stephen H. Long (1978), and with colleague Alan Ominsky co-authored Twin Cities: A Pictorial History of Saint Paul and Minneapolis (1983). Kane authored various articles that appeared in such periodicals as Minnesota History, Wisconsin Magazine of History, Business History Review, Agricultural History, and The American Archivist.

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The collection consists mainly of notes made by Kane from Twin Cities newspapers, trade journals, The Northwest Magazine, The Commercial West and (to a lesser extent) reports of boards of trade and chambers of commerce. There is information on the Falls of St. Anthony and the development of the cities of St. Anthony and Minneapolis; the lumber, flour, and other manufacturing industries and enterprises in Minneapolis; the development of manufacturing in St. Paul; and trade territories, transportation issues, and economic competition and civic rivalry between the two Twin Cities.

The first phase of the research was done in the 1950s when Miss Kane was preparing to write The Waterfall that Built a City: The Falls of Saint Anthony in Minneapolis. In the second phase of her research, which took place chiefly in the 1970s and 1980s and led up to the reissuance of the book, Miss Kane added material, particularly from The Commercial West.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Lucile M. Kane Saint Anthony Milling District Research Notes. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,855

Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, July 2006

Catalog ID number: 990061732310104294

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Lucile Kane's books, The Waterfall the Built a City: The Falls of St. Anthony in Minneapolis and The Falls of St. Anthony: The Waterfall that Built Minneapolis, are in the Minnesota Historical Society library.

A variety of other monographs, analytics, collection guides, and professional manuals authored by Kane are in the Minnesota Historical Society library.

Transcripts of a series of oral history interviews conducted by Kane are in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscripts collection.

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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:

Flour industry -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Grain trade -- Minnesota.

History -- Research -- Minnesota.

Lumber trade -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Manufacturing industries -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Manufacturing industries -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Places:

Minneapolis (Minn.) -- Commerce.

Saint Anthony (Hennepin County, Minn. : 1855-1872).

Saint Anthony Falls (Minn.).

Saint Paul (Minn.) -- Commerce.

Organizations:

Minnesota Historical Society -- Officials and employees.

Types of Documents:

Research notes.

Occupations:

Archivists -- Minnesota.

Authors.

Historians -- Minnesota.

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