IHRC Updates

- reads a headline from the London Times above an article reporting on refugee crisis in the Middle East. "About three million [Afghan] refugees in Pakistan, two million in Iran, and two million so called 'internal refugees' mostly living in Kabul, together constitute the world's biggest refugee population." The date is not in 2006 or 2007 but rather March 26, 1988, following the announcement of the anticipated withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Someone working at the United States Committee for Refugees clipped this article, and now it can be found - along with many other items providing information on refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and many other parts of the world over two and a half decades from ca. 1970 to 1995 - in one of the major archival collections held at the Immigration History Research Center - the Records of the United States Committee for Refugees (recently renamed United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants). A new, preliminary folder inventory for the collection has been made available for the first time on-line.

Images of several items selected from this collection are available for viewing at the IHRC web site by clicking here.

Posted by Daniel Necas at 04:24 PM | Permalink

A museum exhibit in the first floor gallery of Andersen Library, cosponsored by the Friends of the IHRC, free and open to the public. The exhibit will be available from March 8 to May 7, 2007. Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. The gallery is also open Saturday, May 5 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Directions and parking for Andersen Library.

In 1969, just months after Hubert H. Humphrey narrowly lost the Presidential election to Richard Nixon, the city where he began his political career, Minneapolis, elected a mayor with no previous political experience, no party affiliation, and no platform aside from his pledge to “take the handcuffs off the police.” Labeled the “George Wallace of the North” by his opponents, Charles Stenvig’s 1969 mayoral victory marked a decisive shift in Minneapolis’ political landscape.

Minnesota had long been a stronghold of New Deal liberalism and progressive politics as illustrated by the careers
of Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, and Walter Mondale. Campaigning on the themes of “law and order,” resentment against so-called student and black militants, Christian values, and fiscal conservatism, Stenvig was elected
for three separate terms as mayor.

Law and Order: The Career and Legacy of Minneapolis Mayor Charles Stenvig, an exhibit on display at the University’s Andersen Library Gallery, explores not only Stenvig’s local impact but also his connection to a burgeoning national movement. Jeff Manuel and Andy Urban, PhD candidates in History at the University of Minnesota and the exhibit’s curators, began looking at Stenvig’s career during a graduate seminar in public history that encouraged students to research topics of local interest. Using video footage, historical photographs, campaign memorabilia, audio clips, and oral histories, the exhibit examines Stenvig’s relationship to the anti-war movement, affirmative action and busing, crime, moral values, and masculinity.

See also related Star Tribune news article: Nick Coleman:" Charlie Stenvig:We're still trying to figure him out"

Posted by Cynthia Herring at 04:00 PM | Permalink

The IHRC is pleased to announce Paul Anthony Lubotina as the recipient of the 2006-2007 Michael G. Karni Scholarship. Dr. Lubotina is an instructor in American History at Northern Michigan University. The title of his project is “Political Activities of Finnish Immigrants during the Great Depression.” The IHRC will host an informal noon presentation by Dr. Lubotina in May 2007.

The Karni Scholarship, established as a memorial tribute to the pioneering historian and publisher of Finnish American research and literature, is intended to help defray expenses of visiting professors, lecturers, and graduate students from the U.S. or abroad consulting the archival collections of the IHRC, with particular emphasis on its Finnish American holdings. This is the third year of the award competition.

Posted by Cynthia Herring at 05:03 PM | Permalink