Military

When the United States made a formal declaration of war on April 6, 1917, Minnesotans answered the call to arms. Duluth, with its strategic location at the head of the Great Lakes, emerged as a major shipbuilding center. Over forty thousand men registered for the draft in Minneapolis alone. Yet many members of the state's large German American population struggled with divided loyalties. A xenophobic fervor swept through the state at an alarming rate, forcing the government to establish a Commission on Public Safety to stifle wartime dissent. With more than fifty period photos and illustrations, author Iric Nathanson brings to life the daily struggles and triumphs of Minnesotans in the Great War.

Camp Ripley is the successor to Minnesota's first formally established National Guard training facility, Camp Lakeview, which was located on the shores of Lake Pepin and south of the town of Lake City. The new post took its name from Fort Ripley, a U.S. Army frontier fort that opened in 1849. The fort's original site with its remaining ruins are encompassed within the current boundaries of the
Camp Ripley Military Reservation. Since the camp was expanding its facilities during the Great Depression, numerous individuals employed by federal New Deal programs participated in the building of Camp Ripley. In words and images, Camp Ripley: 1930-1960 documents the history of the camp during the first three decades of its existence. The images in this book have been selected from the archives of the Minnesota Military Museum as well as the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs and private collections.