Monthly Archives: April 2012

The Next Chapter

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Carrie Zeman

Sunday April 29, 2012, the Mankato Free Press ran a pair of articles (see the “In the News” tab at the top of this page) opening  the latest chapter in the story of the mystery beam at the Blue Earth County … Continue reading →

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The 19 foot by 9 inch Splinter

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Carrie Zeman

This week I finished my first-pass research  on the execution artifacts, including my findings on the beam reputed to be from the gallows that executed 38 Dakota men in Mankato in 1862:  Execution Artifacts Report in PDF form, “A Veiled Cabinet of … Continue reading →

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“The scaffolding must have been sufficient to build the state capitol”

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Carrie Zeman

Truth be told, one of the reasons I love doing history is that there’s always something new just around the corner. Today, filing sources that I pulled to write about the execution artifacts, I encountered two more newspaper clippings about … Continue reading →

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“The No Win War”

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Carrie Zeman

The May 2012 issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine contains a well-written article by Gregory J. Scott about the controversy of commemorating the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862: “The No Win War.” If you are new to the subject –as I was twenty years … Continue reading →

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Up in Smoke, Twice?

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Carrie Zeman

I’m writing a paper on the provenance of a collection of 1862 execution-related artifacts, inluding the mystery beam in Blue Earth County and have a pile of sources on my desk to digest, including a newspaper clippings file. Clippings files are a … Continue reading →

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