Winter/Spring Lecture Series
Featuring area historians, instructors, poets and authors, Ironworlds 2008 Winter/Spring Lecture Series explores the history, heritage and people of the Iron Range. All lectures are on Saturdays at 2 p.m. in Ironworld's Theater.January 26th: Prairies and Pines to Paddies: Minnesotans and the Vietnam War
Steve Potts, Hibbing Community College
A strong sense of place identifies the people of both Minnesota and Vietnam, people whose identities and histories were forever linked by the war that drew the two places together between 1954 and 1975. This talk is designed as a general overview of Minnesotans role in the Vietnam War and the impact of the war, then and now, on our state. The presentation is designed to introduce the �Requiem� exhibit. Contents include a brief summary of the Vietnam War chronology; a more detailed view of Minnesotas role in the conflict; and discussion of the wars impact on the state.
Speaker Biography: Steve Potts teaches history and social science at Hibbing Community College. He began teaching a course on the Vietnam War at Minnesota State University-Mankato in the mid 1980s and has continued to teach the class at Hibbing Community College. In 1991, he edited a special issue of Roots (Minnesota Historical Society) focusing on Minnesotans and the war, and worked on a subsequent exhibit based on the public�s response to Roots. He has worked extensively with veterans recording oral history interviews and has taught English As A Second Language to Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees. In addition to several articles and book chapters on the war, he is currently completing two full-length books on aspects of the war. A frequent presenter at conferences on the war, he has also worked with teachers on developing curriculum on the war. He was a visiting instructor in 1995-1996 at a teacher institute in New Haven, Connecticut and has worked with the Center for the Study of the Vietnam Conflict at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, to promote teaching about the war.
February 9: The Evolution of Place: Good and Evil on the Iron Range
Peter Leschak, author
A local writer explores our sense of home and belonging, how it can shift and expand, and why that's important to the world in the 21st Century. Book signing and sales will follow the lecture.
Speaker Biography: Peter M. Leschak is the author of ten books, including "Letters from Side Lake" and "Ghosts of the Fireground," and has also published over 250 magazine articles -- for Harper's, National Geographic Adventure, the New York Times, and dozens of other periodicals. He also works as a firefighter and fire instructor the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources Division of Forestry.
February 23: Exploring the Riddle of Iron Range Politics
Pam Brunfelt, Vermilion Community College
Why is Iron Range politics different from the rest of Minnesota? What influenced the formation of a distinct political culture on the Iron Ranges of Minnesota? This program will highlight how the Iron Range developed a moralistic political culture that was different from the rest of the state largely because of the massive wave of immigrants who settled in northeastern Minnesota between 1882 and 1920. This program explores how the creation of social and cultural organizations, consumer cooperatives, workers� halls and labor union locals, membership in radical political groups, and the philosophies of the New Deal and the Farmer-Labor party were crucial in the development of a distinctly Iron Range political culture.
Speaker Biography: Currently an instructor in the History and Political Science departments at Vermilion Community College, Pam Brunfelt brings years of experience in the study, presentation, and preservation of Iron Range history. She holds a Bachelor�s degree in History and Master of Arts Degree in Minnesota History both from Minnesota State University-Mankato. In August 2007 her chapter, �Political Culture in Microcosm: The Iron Range� was published in the Sixth Edition of Perspectives on Minnesota Politics and Government.
March 8: Range Women�s Advocates: Women Organizing for Change
Kerry Duncan, Mesabi Range Community and Technical College
The lecture will provide the history of one of the most successful programs for battered women in the country. In 1979, several women on the Iron Range met to address the issue of battering, and out of that informal beginning emerged a program that has served as a model throughout the country. The lecture will address the causes of battering, the scope of the issue in our region and elsewhere, and the history of the battered women's movement, including Range Women's Advocates' unique organization in northern Minnesota.
Speaker Biography: Kerry Duncan was a co-founder of Range Women's Advocates and worked with the organization as staff and board member for over 10 years. She was raised in Chisholm, attended Hibbing Community College, and graduated from UMD in 1978 with an MA in English. She was also a founding member and trustee of The Northland Foundation and a founding member of the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund. She has worked for Hibbing Technical College, The Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, and has taught English at Mesabi Range Community and Technical College for
March 22: The Bovey Detachment Election of 1906: A Town's Changed Future
Don Boese, historian and author
Bovey was the first town on the western Mesabi. Platted before mining operations began, the incorporated boundaries of the town were extensive including land known to hold large ore deposits. Bovey was on the way to becoming another Hibbing with rich promise of many benefits in the future. All that changed with the arrival of John C. Greenway, newly appointed Oliver Iron Mining Company General Superintendent for the new western Mesabi Canisteo District.
Greenway arranged for a detachment election and by a close margin it passed drastically changing the future for Bovey.
Speaker Biography: Donald L. Boese is retired after teaching history at Mankato State for eight years and then at Itasca Community College for 30 years. He is the author of John C. Greenway and the Opening of the Western Mesabi and Papermakers dealing with the history of Grand Rapids and the Blandin Paper Company as well as four other books on regional history.
April 12: Whiskey Was a Life Waiting for Someone to Marry It
Sheila Packa, poet
Poet and writing teacher, Sheila Packa was raised on the Iron Range as the granddaughter of Finnish immigrants. Using poetry and story, Sheila will share how the place of the Iron Range has impacted her life and writing. Topics to be covered include: work in the mines, the impact of immigration of 2nd and 3rd generation families, and Iron Range culture.
Speaker Biography: Sheila Packa grew up on the Iron Range, is the granddaughter of Finnish immigrants, and lives in Duluth. She has an MFA in Creative Writing. She is a mental health social worker for St. Louis County and an adjunct teacher at Lake Superior College. She has published poems, short stories, and essays in many literary magazines and anthologies. She has two chapbooks, Always Saying Good-bye (Poetry Harbor) and Dear Bird (poetry chapbook and a collaborative poetry/music CD with Kathy McTavish, cellist). Her work has been featured in To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets from Pre-Territorial Days to the Present, edited by Joyce Sutphen, Thom Tammaro, and Connie Wanek by New Rivers Press. She has received two Arrowhead Regional Arts Council fellowships for poetry and two Loft McKnight Awards, one for poetry and one for prose.
She also received a poetry award from the Finnish American Reporter. Her book of poems, The Mother Tongue, is published by Calyx Press, Duluth this year.