CLARA JORGENSEN:
An Inventory of Her Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Jorgensen, Clara, creator. | |
| Title: | Clara Jorgensen papers. | |
| Dates: | 1935-2003 (bulk 1977-2000). | |
| Language: | Materials in English. | |
| Abstract: | Biographical and autobiographical information; letters to the editor of the Askov American newspaper; subject files that include printed materials, speeches, and correspondence; and video recordings documenting the activities and beliefs of a Pine County farm activist who worked on behalf of or otherwise supported numerous left-wing radical and progressive causes, political parties, and politicians. | |
| Quantity: | 0.75 cubic feet (1 box), 2 master video files: MOV (24.6 GB), and 2 user video files: MP4 (1 GB). | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description for shelf locations. |
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Clara Marie Jorgensen was born on June 27, 1913 in Ord, Nebraska to Lars P. and Bodil Jensen, the second of nine (?) children. The family moved to Minnesota in 1918 and settled on a farm in Partridge Township, Pine County, in which the city of Askov was located. The family was impoverished, and Jorgensen’s childhood was marked by hard labor and intermittent school attendance. Although a good student, she was forced to leave school following the eighth grade to work full time on the farm. In 1932 she married Jorgen (John) Jorgensen, and in 1936 they began dairy farming in Partridge Township. The Jorgensens had two children – Evelyn, born in 1935, and Donald, born in 1944. Beginning in the 1930s and continuing throughout her life, Jorgensen was a tireless and outspoken activist on behalf of numerous left-wing radical and progressive causes, especially those involving farmers and farming–, political parties, and politicians. Jorgensen died at Askov on April 7, 2003.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
Although there is information in the papers on Jorgensen's concerns during the 1930s-1960s, the bulk of the collection documents her activism during the 1970s through the year 2000, notably in relation to farmers and farming; farm women; uranium mining and nuclear issues; war, peace, the military, and related topics; health care coverage; women's rights; public education; and a number of other issues.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Clara Jorgensen Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 15,772
Location of Master Files:
Digital masters of the videocassettes are maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.
The original videocassettes were disposed after the material was digitally reformatted into mov files.
Processing Information:
Processed by: Deborah Kahn, March 2005.
Digitization and encoding by: April Rodriguez, September 23, 2024.
Digital video transferred from the master videocassettes by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes (September 2024).
Digitization was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.
Catalog ID number: 990036260870104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| Box | |||||||||||
| 143.B.12.8F | 1 | Biographical and autobiographical information, 1967-2003. | |||||||||
| Includes “Fierce tenacity: Clara Jorgensen, Pine County radical,” by Karen Star, Roots (Spring 1990, pp. 13-19); selected speeches and statements by Jorgensen; obituaries; and a commemorative newspaper column. | |||||||||||
| Letters to the editor of the Askov American, 1937-2000. | |||||||||||
| Photocopies of clippings of Jorgensen’s published letters. | |||||||||||
| Subject files, 1935-2000. | |||||||||||
| Formats include speeches; clippings of newspaper articles, letters to the editor, editorials, and cartoons; fliers, leaflets, broadsides, pamphlets, newsletters, programs, campaign literature, and other printed ephemera; typed and handwritten letters to the editor; eulogies; minutes; and correspondence. | |||||||||||
| Some files are in reverse chronological order. The miscellaneous and special people files are arranged alphabetically and thereunder chronologically. | |||||||||||
| There is a certain amount of topical overlap among the files. | |||||||||||
| Education and children, 1970-1996. | |||||||||||
| Farmers and farming, 1937-2000. 5 folders. | |||||||||||
| Farmers and farming – people, 1968-1993. | |||||||||||
| Farm women, 1977-1999. | |||||||||||
| Health care coverage, 1988-1999. | |||||||||||
| Miscellaneous, 1935, 1977-1999. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| Includes materials relating to civil liberties and freedoms; the civil rights movement, black history, and racism; the environment; Native Americans; older Americans and social security; politics and politicians; the poor; and workers and jobs. | |||||||||||
| Special people, 1977-1999. | |||||||||||
| Includes items relating to Elmer A. Benson, Les Blacklock, Lena Borchardt, Robert Eikum, Meridel Le Sueur, Floyd B. Olson, and Marcus Zumbrunnen. | |||||||||||
| Uranium mining and nuclear issues, 1979-1988. 3 folders. | |||||||||||
| Jorgensen became involved in the uranium mining issue when high levels of radon were detected in her farm’s water supply following exploratory drilling for uranium in Pine County. | |||||||||||
| Includes minutes and other papers relating to the Ad Hoc Coalition on Uranium Mining. | |||||||||||
| War, peace, the military, and related topics, 1937, 1950-1996. | |||||||||||
| Women, 1988-2000. | |||||||||||
| Video recordings: | |||||||||||
| “Venture North” – Clara and John Jorgensen, undated. 1 master video file (23 minutes, 14 seconds): MOV (5.2 GB) and 1 user video file: MP4 (230.2 MB). | |||||||||||
| Container note: Portion of a television program featuring the Jorgensen farm; broadcast on WDSE-TV (PBS), Duluth, Minnesota. | |||||||||||
| In copyright. | |||||||||||
| Workshop C. “Raise less corn and more hell – 100 years of farm women’s activism.” Harvesting Our Potential: Third Annual Rural Women’s Conference, Des Moines, Iowa, March 1988. 1 master video file (1 hour, 25 minutes): MOV (19.4 GB) and 1 user video file: MP4 (849.8 MB). | |||||||||||
| Presentations by Clara Jorgensen and Meridel Le Sueur, followed by questions and comments from the audience and responses from the panelists. | |||||||||||
| Video dropout at the 11:00 minute mark. | |||||||||||
 Digital video | |||||||||||
RELATED MATERIAL
CATALOG HEADINGS
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:
- Agricultural laws and legislation -- United States.
- Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Middle West.
- Educational law and legislation.
- Farmers -- Middle West -- Economic conditions.
- Farmers -- Political activity -- Middle West.
- Health care reform -- United States.
- Peace movements -- United States.
- Social security -- Law and legislation.
- Uranium -- Toxicology.
- Uranium mines and mining -- Health aspects -- Minnesota.
- Women's rights -- United States.
- Persons:
- Le Sueur, Meridel, author.
- Organizations:
- Ad Hoc Coalition on Uranium Mining.
- Places:
- Pine County (Minn.)
- Document Types:
- Letters to the editor.
- Photographs.
- Video recordings (physical artifacts).
- Occupations:
- Women farmers -- Minnesota.
- Women political activists -- Minnesota.
Collapse
All