SUSIE STAGEBERG:
An Inventory of Her Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
Creator: | Stageberg, Susie Williamson, approximately 1877-1961, creator. | |
Title: | Susie Stageberg papers. | |
Dates: | 1881-1961. | |
Abstract: | Correspondence, clippings, articles, organizational records, campaign literature, and songbooks of Stageberg, executive secretary of the Women's Nonpartisan Clubs of Minnesota (ca.1922-1925) and a candidate for various state offices on the Farmer-Labor and Progressive party tickets. | |
Quantity: | 1.25 cubic feet (3 boxes). | |
Location: | P1: See Detailed Description for shelf locations. |
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Susie W. Stageberg was born on a farm near Bader, Iowa on January 30, 1877, the daughter of Ole and Kristi (Sagaard) Williamson. In her early years she taught rural schools in Iowa and was a reporter for the Fort Dodge Messenger. She married (1898) Olaf O. Stageberg, a mathematics professor, and later moved to Red Wing, Minnesota, where Olaf joined the Red Wing Seminary faculty.
Susie Stageberg was active in church, community, and temperance affairs. Her political activities began in the Nonpartisan League and, in the 1920s, she became a founder of the Farmer-Labor Party. She was the Farmer-Labor candidate for secretary of state in 1922, 1924, and 1928, and for Congress in 1932. In 1950 she was a candidate for lieutenant governor on the Progressive ticket.
As a journalist she revitalized The Organized Farmer of Red Wing; authored a column, "As a Woman Sees It," which appeared in the Minnesota Leader, Willmar Tribune, and other Minnesota newspapers; and a column, "This and That," which appeared in the Norwegian Minnesota Posten. She died in Red Wing on March 15, 1961.
Biographical information was taken from the papers.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
There is information on her campaigns, the Farmer-Labor Party, the Farmer-Labor Association, the Hennepin County Farmer-Labor Association and its alleged infiltration by communists, the Women's Nonpartisan Clubs, the Farmer-Labor Women's Federation of Minnesota, the merger (1944) of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor and Democratic parties, Henry A. Wallace's presidential campaign (1948), reform of the U.S. Supreme Court (1937), support of the republican forces during the Spanish Civil War (1937), women's suffrage, temperance, and personal affairs. Included also are newsletters issued by Minnesota Congressman Henry G. Teigan (1937).
ARRANGEMENT
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Correspondence and Related Papers | ||
Writings |
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Susie Stageberg Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples
Accession Information:
Accession number: 9981; 13,379; 14,588
Processing Information:
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, September 1986
Catalog ID number: 990017309150104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
CORRESPONDENCE AND RELATED PAPERS
The undated section of the papers and those dated 1881-1900 contain constitutions, campaign literature, and other papers relating to the Farmer-Labor Party and the Farmer-Labor Association; and printed materials on temperance, including copies of song books (1881, 1888), the Minnesota White Ribboner (1894), and Western Womanhood (1896).
There are a few papers in the 1922-1934 period, and they concern the Farmer-Labor Association and Party. There are letters regarding Stageberg's defeat in the 1922 election, materials relating to the Women's Nonpartisan Clubs of Minnesota (of which she was executive secretary), campaign literature, convention programs, and similar materials. Letter writers in this period include O. J. Kvale, Senator Edwin F. Ladd (regarding the proposed appointment of John F. McGee to a federal judgeship), Belle Case LaFollette, Jean Wittich (All Party Volunteer Committee for Floyd B. Olson), and Ernest Lundeen.
Papers for the years 1936-1940 relate almost exclusively to the Hennepin County Farmer-Labor Association. Much of the correspondence is between members of the Association and its secretary, Selma Seestrom. Papers for the years 1936 and 1937 are substantial. This section includes Farmer-Labor Party platforms, financial reports, ballots, campaign materials, resolutions, newsletters from Congressman Henry G. Teigan, executive committee minutes of the state Farmer-Labor Association (Nov. 21, 1936; March 20, April 10, May 1, July 17 and 24, Sept. 10, and Dec. 3, 1938), and minutes of the Hennepin County Farmer-Labor Association (Jan. 31. and March 22, 1939; Jan. 31 and Feb. 29, 1940).
Issues discussed during this period include the 1936 and 1938 elections, the U.S. Supreme Court Reform Act (1937), support for the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War (1937), the Farmer-Labor Women's Federation of Minnesota, and the struggle within the Hennepin County Farmer-Labor Association over alleged Communist influence. Letter writers include Elmer A. Benson, Irwin C. Strout, John T. Bernard, Henry G. Teigan, and Dewey Johnson.
The few papers for the 1942-1950 period include Hennepin County Farmer-Labor Association Central Committee minutes (April 22, 1942), minutes of the executive committee of the state Farmer-Labor Association (April 12, 1942; Dec. 15, 1943), information on Henry A. Wallace (1944 and 1948), and a campaign leaflet from Stageberg's campaign for lieutenant governor (1950). Major topics include alleged Communist influence in the Hennepin County Farmer-Labor Association, the merger of the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties, and the Henry Wallace presidential campaign of 1948.
Box | |||||||||||||
P1 | 1 | Undated, 1881-1938. |
Box | |||||||||||||
P1 | 2 | 1939-1950. 5 folders. |
WRITINGS
Box | |||||||||||||
P1 | 2 | Typescripts of articles by Stageberg, undated, 1937-1950. 5 folders. | |||||||||||
Articles written by Stageberg for various publications. One folder contains copies of the articles from "This and That" (undated), and four folders contain articles from "As a Woman Sees It" (undated and 1937-1950). The articles discuss family matters, temperance, religion, and world peace, among other topics. | |||||||||||||
There is also a folder of miscellaneous Stageberg articles (1936 and 1945) similar in content to those described above. |
Box | |||||||||||||
P1 | 3 | "Susie Stageberg, An Incomplete Collection of Her Writings and Memorabilia," undated. | |||||||||||
The undated manuscript (182 pp., mimeographed) compiled by her son Rolf, contains copies of newspaper clippings, letters to the editor, campaign literature, pictures, and other materials reflecting Stageberg's career, the majority of them written by her. Stageberg's articles appeared in many newspapers, including the Red Wing Republican-Eagle, the Willmar Tribune, and the Minnesota Posten. Topics covered include the Farmer-Labor Party, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Henry A. Wallace and the 1948 presidential campaign, militarism, farm issues, women's issues, and her 1938 visit to Norway. There are also reminiscent accounts of leaders such as Floyd B. Olson, Magnus Johnson, and Charles A. Lindbergh. | |||||||||||||
The earliest article (undated, but probably 1893, on p. 6) was written by Stageberg and printed in the Fort Dodge Messenger (Iowa) . Another item of interest is her undated speech recounting the founding of the Red Wing Seminary (p. 145). |
"Journal of My 1958 Norway Tour" and related newspaper columns written by Stageberg, undated, June-October 1958. | |||||||||||||
A typed transcription of a diary (June 1-29, 1958) and newspaper columns (undated, July 24, 1958, Oct. 30, 1958) written by Stageberg during a trip to Norway and Sweden. Topics include the accommodations, service, and social activities on board the ocean liner to Norway; visiting relatives and sightseeing in and around Stavanger and Trondheim, Norway; the proceedings of the Congress for Disarmament and International Cooperation held in Stockholm, Sweden (July 16-22, 1958), which Stageberg attended as a reporter for the Minnesota Posten, and her stop in New York City on the trip home, including a description of her visit to the United Nations. |
Newspaper clippings, 1894-1961. | |||||||||||||
Most of the clippings date from the 1911-1912 period and relate to women's suffrage. |
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:
- Communism -- Minnesota -- Hennepin County.
- Disarmament.
- Lutheran Church -- Minnesota.
- Militarism.
- Norwegian Americans -- Minnesota.
- Political conventions -- Minnesota.
- Temperance -- Minnesota.
- Women -- Suffrage -- United States.
- Women -- Political activity -- Minnesota.
- Persons:
- Benson, Elmer A. (Elmer Austin), 1895-1985.
- Bernard, John T. (John Toussaint), 1893-1983.
- Johnson, Dewey W. (Dewey Wilson), 1899-1941.
- Kvale, Ole Juulson, 1869-1929.
- Ladd, Edwin Fremont, 1859-1925.
- La Follette, Belle Case, 1859-1931.
- Lundeen, Ernest, 1878-1940.
- McGee, John F. (John Franklin), 1861-1925.
- Olson, Floyd Björnstjerne, 1891-1936.
- Seestrom, Selma.
- Stageberg, Rolf.
- Strout, Irwin Charles, 1893-1954.
- Teigan, Henry G. (Henry George), 1881-1941.
- Wallace, Henry A. (Henry Agard), 1888-1965.
- Wittich, Jean W.
- Organizations:
- Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
- Farmer-Labor Association of Minnesota.
- Farmer-Labor Party.
- Farmer-Labor Women's Federation of Minnesota.
- Hennepin County Farmer-Labor Association (Hennepin County, Minn.).
- Minnesota. Legislature.
- Progressive Party (U.S. : 1948).
- Red Wing Seminary.
- United States. Supreme Court.
- Women's Nonpartisan Clubs of Minnesota.
- Places:
- Minnesota -- Politics and government.
- Spain -- History -- Civil War, 1936-1939.