They Chose Minnesota: A Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups

by June Drenning Holmquist (Editor), David Vassar Taylor (Contributor)

Why did emigrants leave their homeland and move to Minnesota? Where in the state did they settle? What did they do, and how did they organize? How did they maintain their ethnicity? Based on ground-breaking research. Each chapter of They Chose Minnesota describes the unique concerns of individual groups and delves into personal stories. Farmers and factory workers, men, women, and children, families and single people, idealists and pragmatists, people who were devout or irreligious or enthusiastic or fearful, those who cut ties with their homeland or intended to return—all form part of Minnesota’s ethnic saga.

628 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

June Drenning Holmquist served as head of the Minnesota Historical Society's publishing program from 1956 to 1981 and was the first woman to be named an assistant director of the society. She also served as editor of the Minnesota Ethnic History Project.

Her career at the Minnesota Historical Society began in 1949 as assistant to Mary W. Berthel and to Bertha L. Heilbron, then editor of Minnesota History. June assumed full responsibility for the journal from December, 1956, until March, 1958, during which time she also directed the society's book publishing program.

Reviews

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Put the settling of Minnesota in perspective for me. Answered questions I had about my own family - why they came. Good overview, selectively specific.