STATEHOOD CENTENNIAL COMMISSION:

F. William Stohr and Art Nyhus, the Commission's field representatives, served as liaisons to the county Centennial committees. They traveled over 150,000 miles visiting committees to make suggestions, build enthusiasm, and advise in planning, preparing, and executing local events. They also worked closely in the development of the Speaker's Information Bureau, the promotional filmstrip "Everybody Ready? Let's Go!," and the twenty-one issues of the monthly Centennial Bulletin, and coordinated the September 1957 St. Paul clinic for county chairmen and seven regional clinics in January 1958.

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The subject files document the many activities and responsibilities of the representatives and include correspondence with the Commission, the county committees, and vendors and donors; statistics; lists of county chairs and committee members; legal and financial documents; and monthly reports. They cover such varied topics as county Centennial buttons and stationery, the Centennial calendar, clinics, county appropriations, a county fair competition and relations with the Minnesota Federation of County Fairs, 1957 legislation allowing counties to appropriate money for Centennial events, the Centennial float schedule, commemorative Red River Trail oxcart trek, Miss Centennial Minnesota, Statehood Week, and the Centennial Train.

The county files, organized alphabetically by county name, document both the activities of the county Centennial committees and special Centennial events and projects in each county, including festivals; pageants; pioneer recognitions; fine art events; nationality events; county fairs; Centennial publications; radio, television, magazine, or newspaper special coverage; and women's committee activities. They include reports, correspondence, schedules, brochures and programs, contest forms, publications, press releases, budget and financial data, newsletters, statistics, and clippings.

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These records 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 folder title here]. Minnesota Statehood Centennial Commission. Field Files. Minnesota Historical Society. State Archives.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number(s): None, 988-156

Processing Information:

Processed by: Charles Rodgers and Cheri Thies, October 2003

Catalog ID No.: 0900323720

RLIN ID No.: MNHV1696-A

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Correspondence with the Commission, the county committees, and vendors and donors; statistics; lists of county chairs and committee members; legal and financial documents; and related documents kept by Stohr and Nyhus.

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Files kept for each county documenting both the activities of the county Centennial committees and special Centennial events and projects in each county, including festivals; pageants; pioneer recognitions; fine art events; nationality events; county fairs; Centennial publications; radio, television, magazine, or newspaper special coverage; and woman's committee activities. Included are reports, correspondence, schedules, brochures and programs, contest forms, publications, press releases, budget and financial data, newsletters, statistics, and clippings.

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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:

Agricultural exhibitions -- Minnesota.

Beauty contestants -- Minnesota.

Carriages and carts -- Red River Valley (Minn. and N.D.-Man.).

Citizens' advisory committees -- Minnesota.

Parade floats -- Minnesota.

Filmstrips -- Minnesota.

Souvenirs (Keepsakes) -- Minnesota.

Tourism -- Minnesota.

Trails -- Red River Valley (Minn. and N.D.-Man.).

Volunteers -- Minnesota.

Places:

Minnesota -- Centennial celebrations, etc. -- 1958.

Minnesota -- Laws and legislation -- Centennial celebrations, etc. -- 1958.

Red River Trail (Minn.).

Persons:

Nyhus, Arthur.

Stohr, F. William.

Organizations:

Minnesota Federation of County Fairs.

Minnesota Statehood Centennial Commission. Speaker's Information Bureau.

Miss Centennial Minnesota Pageant.

Types of Documents:

Newsletters.

Press releases.

Titles:

Centennial bulletin.

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