SPEAKER LIST
Below is a list of individuals available for speaking engagements provided courtesy of the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center and St. Louis County Historical Society. Please contact the speaker at least one month in advance to schedule a presentation. Honorariums or fees may be required. Consult the speaker for further details.
BECK, WILLIAM
Topics for High School and Adult Audiences:
• Author of Pride of the Inland Seas (his history of Duluth-Superior Port/Maritime History)
• Iron Ore and Mining History
• Logging and Timber Harvesting History
• Hydroelectric and Electric Utility History
• Radical Labor History
• St. Louis County History
Contact information:
Bill Beck, Lakeside Writers' Group
653 North Ritter Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46219
317-358-1832
BeckoIndy@aol.com
BUEHLER, KEN
Topic: Trains, Trains, & More Trains
Contact Information:
Ken Buehler, Executive Director of the Historic Union Depot
Executive Director of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum
506 Michigan Street
Duluth, MN 55802
218-727-8025
kenbuehler@aol.com
BRUNFELT, PAMELA
Topics for High School, College and Adult Audiences:
• Discussion and showing of the documentary, “Iron Range: Minnesota Building America”
• “Iron and Steel in WWII and the Arsenal of Democracy” - NEW TOPIC
• “Labor History and Minnesota’s Iron Ranges”
• “Minnesota’s Iron Ranges: the Key to American Industrialization”
• “Industrialization in the United States”
• “The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety in WWI: Suppression of Free Expression”
• “Exploring the Riddle of Iron Range Politics”
• “The American Constitution: It’s Meaning in Our Lives”
• “The Search for Economic Justice: Radicalism on the Cuyuna Range, 1911-1935”
• “Dark Days, Hope, and the New Deal at the Grass Roots”
• “Visions and Realities on the Iron Range”
Other topics are available or can be shaped to meet a group’s interests.
Contact Information:
Pamela A. Brunfelt, Mining Our History
244 East Pattison Street
Ely, MN 55731
218-365-5727 (home office)
218-235-2136 (office at Vermilion Community College – late August through early May)
pam.brunfelt.moh@gmail.com
COCHRAN, MICHAEL J.
Topic: Author of Invincible: History of the Duluth Boat Club, his lecture spans from the establishment of the Duluth Boat Club through and including the present day
Contact Information:
mcochran@allete.com
EVANS, MARY
Topics:
• Author of A Twentieth Century Lady, which covers the life of one woman who lived in all the decades of the 20th century
• Searching Family History
• Volunteering
Contact Information:
mevans@d.umn.edu
GASTLER, RICHARD
Topic: Hutterite Colony, a German Communal Society in Minnesota
Contact Information:
218-728-4359
HARTMAN, DANIEL
Topics:
• Duluth at War in WW II
• History of Local Units in Duluth
• 125th Field Artillery in Duluth
• History of the Navy in Duluth
• Early Development of Duluth and St. Louis County
• History of Veterans’ Memorial Hall
• The First Memorial Day in Duluth
Contact Information:
Daniel Hartman, Veterans’ Memorial Hall Program Curator (and Duluth City Councilor)
St. Louis County Historical Society
506 West Michigan Street
Duluth, MN 55802
218-733-7500
dhartman@vets-hall.org
HOLDEN, THOM
Topics for Audiences 4th Grade thru Adults or Family Groups:
• Lake Superior Shipwrecks
• Isle Royale Shipwrecks
• MATAAFA Storm of 1905
• Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
• Twin Ports Lighthouses
• “Dead End Street: A Brief History of the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center”
Contact Information:
Thomas R. Holden, Director
Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
600 Lake Avenue South
Duluth MN 55802
218-720-5260 ext 35271
Thomas.R.Holden@LRE02.usace.army.mil
HUDELSON, RICHARD
Topics for Adult Audiences:
• “A Labor History of Duluth”
• “Four Duluth Women”
• Radical Politics in the Lake Superior Region
Contact Information:
Richard Hudelson, Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of Wisconsin – Superior
715-394-8476 (office)
218-724-3865 (home)
rhudelso@uwsuper.edu
LAMKIN, DENNIS
Topics for High School Students and Adults Audiences:
• The history and contributions of Bernard Silberstein, a pioneer settler of Duluth and one of the first Jewish settlers
• A slide presentation called "Behind the Scenes at Glensheen"... not just the beautiful rooms, but some of the infrastructure which makes the home function
• A history of Duluth
Contact Information:
Dennis Lamkin, Vice President-Senior Property Manager
U.S. Bank Corporate Real Estate
Mail Station EP MN 0400
630 U.S. Bank Place
Duluth, MN 55802
218-720-1027 (office)
218-728-0350 (home)
dennis.lamkin@usbank.com
MERSHART, RONALD V.
Topics:
• Author of several books including Frontier Village, published in February, 2003
• William Morrison and the discovery of the headwaters of the Mississippi
• Mary Clara Post and Ellen Norton Ashton--pioneer women journalists
• Stephen Bungo and western identity
• Edmund Franklin Ely, Indian Educator and pioneer of Duluth/Superior settlement
• Thomas Clark of Beaver Bay, MN state senator in 1858-1859
• The Superior Chronicle, first newspaper at the head of the lakes
• Robert C. Mitchell, founder of the Duluth Tribune
Other topics available that relate to the earliest days
Contact Information:
Ronald V. Mershart, PhD
Professor Emeritus of History, University of Wisconsin--Superior
Sesquicentennial Committee Chair of Superior/Douglas County (celebrated in 2004)
rmershart@chartermi.net
REES, WILLIAM H., LT. COL. USAF (RET.)
Topic for Junior High Students through Adults:
“The Fantastic Story of the Cold War air defense systems – from the viewpoint of the Northland of the U.S. and also of Canada”
Contact Information:
William H. Rees, Lt. Col. USAF (Ret.)
C/O St. Louis County Historical Society
506 W Michigan Street
Duluth, MN 55802
218-733-7586
history@thehistorypeople.org
RYAN, MARK
Topic for Mid-level Elementary School Students through College and Adults: The History of Seven Bridges Road and Skyline Parkway and Former Duluth Mayor Samuel Snively's Involvement in their Development, Construction and Promotion
Related Topic Information:
• Published two magazine articles on the subject:
1) "Snively’s Road" (Minnesota History vol. 54 no. 4, Winter 1994/95)
2) "Mr. Snively: Roadbuilder, the History (and Mystery) of Seven Bridges Road", (Lake Superior Magazine, Sept 1998)
• Produced a documentary entitled Snively’s Road
• Created two websites in 1999:
1) The History of Duluth, Minnesota’s Seven Bridges Road: www.amitycreek.com/sevenbridges
2) The History of Skyline Parkway: http://www.amitycreek.com/sevenbridges/skyline1.html
Contact Information:
Mark Ryan
5604 Upton Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55410
612-926-6095
mark@amitycreek.com
mark_ryan@earthlink.net
SALMELA, JACK
Topic: Author of the novel Of Vikings & Voyageurs, a fascinating mystery based in the Northland, which combines the fictional tale of a treasure hunt with historical facts
Contact Information:
218-724-2902
jack_salmela@clearwire.net
SUNDQUIST, CAROLYN
Topic: "Historic Preservation--Public Policy and Trends"
Contact Information:
Carolyn Sundquist
President of the Duluth Preservation Alliance
Member of the Board of Advisors for the National Trust for Historic Preservation
2510 East 6th Street
Duluth, MN 55812
218- 724-4143
carolyns@cpinternet.com
To view the list of speakers in a separate screen, select presentations.
