Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Feb 5, 2012, 3:21 pm
This is NOT your Grandfather's Punch! A collaboration between UK and US individuals and groups, performances are happening now at the Barbican;  US productions were performed in two locations last year -  Minneapolis in May, and Philadelphia in September; the production evolved as it went along. ...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Feb 4, 2012, 9:17 am
"...don't let the bed bugs bite!"The Old Kittson County jail was visited May 6, 1896. This jail was condemned by Judge Ives in June, 1895, and has since been disused. It is a wooden building, containing four cells, 8'x9'...and thousands of bedbugs, and is unfit for any use. A prisoner set fire to...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Feb 1, 2012, 9:06 pm
The latest Dramatis Personae catalogue is out! As always, this amazing quarterly ephemera sale include several vintage juvenile drama-related items of the highest quality. Several juvenile portraits are being offered, including one by Skelt (1836), two by Fairburn (1835 and 1838), and one by Jameson...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Jan 28, 2012, 9:12 pm
Back Row:  Ronald Cox, Phyllis Brown, Wilbert Clow, William H. Ash  Middle Row:  Donald Shaw, Roy Webster, Hugh Griffith, Jim Griffith Front Row:  Leo Ash, Kathryn Griffith, and Laurance Shaw Teacher (not shown):  Lillian BillNot far from St. Vincent, is an area called Joe River. As the crow ...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Jan 25, 2012, 6:54 pm
The mind boggles at the small scale!Playlab NYC will present Poe-Dunk – A Matchbox Entertainment as a part of the 2012 FRIGID New York Festival. Kevin performs a matchbox productionKevin P. Hale, one of the founding members of Playlab NYC, is the creative mind behind these exceedingly small toy th...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Jan 23, 2012, 2:07 pm
Alfred "Rusty" Rustad with the family's 'new' combine By Michael Rustad As a child growing up in Northwest Minnesota, I remember that all of the town's activities centered around the harvest in late August, early September. Football practice often had to be scheduled in the wee hours of the morning...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Jan 18, 2012, 3:45 pm
St. Vincent was a termination point for one of the earliest trunk highways in Minnesota...People were sick of (getting stuck in) mud. They wanted good roads. Lobbyists - first for the bicycle manufacturers (in the 1880s), then later the new-fangled automobile manufacturers - began pressuring Congre...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Jan 11, 2012, 11:45 am
I recently began watching the incredible film, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS. I did some research on the film, and lo and behold, someone has made a wee toy theatre kit based on the traveling theatred featured in the film!
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Jan 8, 2012, 3:29 pm
Front: Eileen Twamley, Mamie Cleem (Captain), Mae Gamble Back: Isabelle Fitzpatrick, Verlie Cameron, Fidessa Wilkie,  Dick Lapp (coach), Leila Davis, Violet Cleem, Fern Fitzpatrick. ARE THE NAMES in the RIGHT ORDER?When growing up in St. Vincent, I regularly heard stories told by my mother, father...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Jan 5, 2012, 7:35 pm
I encourage you to view the trailer, then support Andrew's film project, PuppetVision: The Movie.
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Jan 1, 2012, 11:59 am
Originally issued in 1888, this is an 1891 copy of a Declaration of Intention This Declaration of Intention certificate is for Magnus Benjaminson.  He emigrated from Iceland in 1886, and arrived in the United States via the Port of St. Vincent. Many entered the United States via the Port of St. V...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Dec 26, 2011, 2:33 pm
Postcard:  Late 1800s Market Day in Hallock (Photographer:  William Kelson - Minnesota Historical Society)
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Dec 24, 2011, 11:10 pm
An early Christmas Eve in Pembina/St. Vincent tells how when Lord Selkirk's settlers had an insufficient harvest that fall, and came south looking for a place to winter when their supplies ran out, they were met with compassion by the locals... The night of their arrival was Christmas eve of 1817, a...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Dec 14, 2011, 11:38 pm
Rev. Beer did his best to nurture the small church in St. Vincent; He later went on to start missions in far off Alaska...March 28, 1890 News Snippets There has been a butter famine at St. Vincent lately...Water is accumulating on the sides of the Red River...The carpenters are altering part of the ...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Dec 13, 2011, 1:18 pm
A scene from a recent toy theatre adaption of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol"...This year, Macy's famous storefront displays are using a Steampunk theme for Christmas, with puppets!
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Dec 10, 2011, 5:02 pm
Little Minnesota has finally been published! I was excited to get a copy in the mail this week, and of course, looked up the entry on St. Vincent right away... It was worth the wait! Jill did a great job on my hometown. One of her sources was this website, I am pleased to say. This is the first time...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Dec 4, 2011, 2:45 pm
I come across ephemera quite often that touches on my hometown area.  Journal entries, newspaper articles, letters, etc.  The following is a letter being shared from the past, 1854 to be exact, of an early Minnesota politician seeing Pembina for the first time.  He discusses the geography of the ...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Dec 1, 2011, 2:45 pm
I wrote about the Alice Theatre previously, when it was being offered in a 3-D format. Now, the creator has made it available in good old fashioned 2-D.  You can print and use as a traditional theatre (which is amazing enough), but they also demonstrate how it can be inventively used with other im...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Nov 29, 2011, 1:26 pm
I wrote about this before... The above clip is from a new documentary explaining who the artists were that created the huge, wall mural depicting a very LARGE toy theatre several stories high!  It's the story behind the story...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Nov 27, 2011, 4:21 pm
The Thorne Collection is getting dressed up for Christmas!Here are a few slides showing this miniature collection being decorated for the holidays...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Nov 27, 2011, 12:26 am
Back in the day, just as now, lawmen worked together between Canada and America.  There was less red tape then, although that was there, too.  The excerpt below is about one of the early lawmen of our area, this time on the Canadian side of the 49th parallel.  He has been mentioned in passing bef...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Nov 19, 2011, 6:24 pm
Co-Workers of my Grandpa Fitzpatrick at Humboldt Hill Farm:  'Illegal' Canadians?We often hear about illegal aliens working in America nowadays.  We normally think of them as coming from Mexico, South America, or even refugees that have entered the country illegally. This problem is nothing new. ...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Nov 2, 2011, 9:32 am
Lake Stella as sunset approaches Sunset on Lake StellaDay's end at Lake Stella, looking west towards the Red River...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Oct 28, 2011, 3:22 pm
St. Vincent 1900 Census - William Ash, EnumeratorCensus Population Counts: 1880 - 4891890 - 5071900 - 2561910 - 3281920 - 3431930 - 3041940 - 3271950 - 2721960 - 2171970 - 1771980 - 1411990 - 116 I don't remember where I ran across the census figures for St. Vincent through the years, but since the...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Oct 26, 2011, 1:40 pm
The two Alices on their Wonderland toy theatre stage...Rebeca Cano makes amazing dolls, yes, but she makes much more than dolls.  She makes an entire world for her dolls down to the smallest, most exquisite detail.  It is truly a joy to behold. "...she came upon a low curtain she has not noticed b...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Oct 25, 2011, 1:39 pm
The Toy Theatre is a mural created by artist Peter Waddell on a wall at 1914 Sunderland Place NW at New Hampshire, a block south of Dupont Circle, in Washington, DC...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Oct 23, 2011, 6:35 pm
Ruth Younggren, a first grade teacher of poor children in Minnesota, yearly spent the first two weeks teaching the sounds of English and their corresponding letters. Then through the year, she taught 50 spelling words each morning to her first graders. These first graders were not only good spellers...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Oct 23, 2011, 10:50 am
I love how the Occupy movement is inspiring people of all sorts to communicate about building a better society. It's what most people want...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Oct 20, 2011, 5:43 pm
The other day, I mentioned crows, which brought up some interesting responses.  My cousin told me how our Grandpa and Grandma Fitzpatrick had a pet crow of sorts that lived on the farm.  Someone had split its tongue so it could talk.  It wasn't kept captive, but hung around the farm, picking up h...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Oct 14, 2011, 3:00 am
Who was Col. Fisk?Try as I might, I have not been able to find out anything definitive about the mysterious 'Colonel Fisk' mentioned in old newspapers and even in histories of St. Vincent. He appears to have been an early resident during the boom times, perhaps a land speculator.  Having recently b...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Oct 10, 2011, 10:16 pm
Hallock, 2010 - Beau Bakken creates mural on side of his parents' business based on an old photograph...Hallock, 1910 - Note the building on right, midway down with same balcony on it as recreated in the 2010 mural...Hallock, 1911 - A year later, this photograph is a nice, clear shot of the sam...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Oct 7, 2011, 10:36 am

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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Oct 5, 2011, 1:21 pm
Fire escape slide on west side of St. Vincent SchoolI am not sure when the fire escape was put in, but laws were proposed to mandate them by the state as early as the late 1880s. The type of slide St. Vincent installed was a metal slide/chute, the type commonly installed in the 1930s... Another sh...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Oct 3, 2011, 11:27 am
I don't know about you, but I think anthropomorphic taxidermy has a great power to convey stories and ideas. I adore them...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Sep 25, 2011, 11:12 am
Nigel Peevers shared this recently:The Lyceum Theatre in Crewe was 100 years old this year and for their centenary they had a specially commissioned light show projected on the front of the building...in one of life's weird little coincidences I'd already been telephoned and asked if they could use ...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Sep 24, 2011, 11:45 pm
"HISSSSssss..." - I remember well the sounds of the radiators...After writing about the St. Vincent School recently, I remembered coming across a mention once of it being assigned as District No. 2 under the early state education system.  I got curious, and went looking for more information... Acco...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Sep 17, 2011, 3:47 pm
Rev. Appleby circa 1890 Photographer: W. H. Stalee From the records left behind, it's clear that life could be difficult in the late 1800's on the frontiers, including here in Minnesota.  Even for pioneers of the Christian churches.  As with any group, there were good and bad 'men of the cloth'. ...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Sep 12, 2011, 11:27 pm
"The Toy Theatre is a mural being created by artist  Peter Waddell with the assistance of fellow artists..."An amazing public space arts project is unfolding right now in the Washington, DC area. An artist is painting a large-scale mural on a side of a historical building, in a historical neighbor...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Sep 10, 2011, 7:12 pm
My friend Ann (who I hope to meet in person some day), her talented husband, George...and friends!A lovely article about George and Ann Neff, who kindly built me a toy theatre a few years ago. They are a very talented couple who love the world of puppets!
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Sep 8, 2011, 3:00 am
Farmer's Store in Hallock (1910).  Note tea chest on left...  My Mom and I often shopped at the old Farmer's store in downtown Hallock in the 1960's and 1970's.  Even then, it was somewhat of a general store, having a dry goods area where we would sometimes buy fabric and notions for sewing proje...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Sep 4, 2011, 3:31 pm
St. Vincent Classroom, circa 1903: My great uncle Charlie is the boy against the window shade in the far back, on right; my great aunt Hannah is to his left - our right - in front of him, hair in bun...I recently posted about the St. Vincent School. After that post, a cousin of mine discovered this...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Sep 2, 2011, 12:00 am
I received an email from Michael Rustad saying my recent post about P.N. Tri brought back some memories of his own, and that he hoped those reading the posts here will share with me any such triggered memories they may have.  That's always been one of my hopes, that people reading these memories an...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Aug 30, 2011, 10:51 pm
The story I'm about to share has been shared here before.  While the first version was full of character (based on solid research), this one has  more background as well as details regarding the final showdown...An outlaw from an infamous gang.  A U.S. Marshall on his trail all the way from Texas...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Aug 29, 2011, 9:04 pm
I came across an article describing an upcoming public art event featuring a giant "Toy Theatre".Created by a UK designer, it is described as being "...based on a Victorian children’s toy theatre built to life-size proportions...The huge cube-shaped stage has incorporated a vibrant Victorian desig...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Aug 26, 2011, 1:00 am
From 1920 "Farm Boys & Girls Leader". Organized in 1919, it was the start of what would be known as the the 4-H club of the same name.  It's fun to read the origin of the club, and the meaning of the name...I was recently told that "...P.N. Tri was a world renowned beekeeper and featured in apia...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Aug 23, 2011, 9:45 pm
Mosquito Swarm The newspaper article excerpt below describes a truly horrifying situation. I hate to think of the suffering the poor animals had to endure, ending in their deaths... Many horses have died in Kittson County the past week or 10 days.  Recently, examination of one of the dead animals...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Aug 21, 2011, 1:03 pm
So many children entered through these doorsThe sign is blank.  The steps are mostly buried, a railing rises from the earth.  A gibbet of sorts protrudes from the front.  It's obvious that just about everything needs help.  Roof, siding, windows, foundation.  The "Grand Old Lady" of St. Vince...
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Trish L. posted an article on Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured - Aug 20, 2011, 5:10 pm
I happened upon these fun little theatres thanks to Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop today. The maker is a very talented young woman who also makes dolls...
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Aug 11, 2011, 1:27 pm
Rev. Kimberley's Grandson In my eternal quest for stories and history about my beloved hometown, I came across a former resident's grandson1 who lives in far off Oregon. Here is a story the grandson remembers being told about... Yes, I am the grandson of Rev. James Kimberley.My father grew up in St....
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Trish L. posted an article on St. Vincent Memories - Aug 8, 2011, 1:21 pm
Anthony "Tony" Merck Humboldt Depot agentThis reminicense by Margaret Matthew Panzer is full of memories and names of old Humboldt in the way a poem about the town was.  As you will read, there was a lot of community and fellowship as people strove to make a good life for themselves and their fam...
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