Spotlight Oral History

I am looking forward to being part of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation's Minnesota Homeless Study 2023 on Thursday, October 26. It will be a different style of interviewing than my typical one, but it is for such a good cause. AND they still need interviewers! Anyone can volunteer. They provide training; you help gather data that can change homelessness and those it affects in Minnesota. Consider signing up today! There's still time.

Minnesota Homeless Study Get results from the 2018 Minnesota Homeless Study, a comprehensive source of information on the prevalence of homelessness and the circumstances of those experiencing homelessness statewide.

I am happy to once again be working with the history team at Face to Face Health & Counseling on the next phase of the Face to Face Oral History Project. The organization received a second Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage (i.e. Legacy) Grant to do another set of interviews, this time focusing on the agency’s second 25 years. Over the next few months, I will post brief recaps of my interviews with people who have made helping young people their life’s work. Stay tuned!

*This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant awarded to Face to Face and funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here are those of the authors/narrators and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.

It is with great satisfaction, and a little sadness, that I announce the end of the AAUW Minneapolis Oral History Project. Over the past six months, I have had the great honor of talking to some truly inspiring women – women who put their educations to good purpose in their professions, communities, homes, and, not least, at AAUW Minneapolis. They embodied AAUW’s mission of “advance[ing] equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research.” They devoted energy, enthusiasm, and countless hours to making AAUW Minneapolis one of the most vibrant chapters in the country. They cared for the historic Gale Mansion for 75 years. Perhaps most importantly, they supported each other – in their development of leadership skills, in their ongoing thirst for knowledge, in their commitment to remaining engaged in their community’s most pressing issues. Each of them spoke with reverence of AAUW Minneapolis and the women who have made it what it is. As Ann Harding said, “It has been like a sisterhood.”

I look forward to sharing some of these stories at AAUW Minneapolis in September. It will be the third time I have had the pleasure of speaking to this extraordinary assembly of women. And this time, it will be in celebration of them!



*This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant awarded to AAUW Minneapolis and funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.

This is a win!

The Supreme Court leaves Indian Child Welfare Act intact The case pit prospective adoptive parents and Texas against the act, a federal law aimed at preventing Native American children from being separated from their extended families and their tribes.

Carol Sheldon earned her bachelor’s degree in math from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1965 and her M.D. from the University of Colorado in 1979. She enjoyed a successful career in radiology at Oklahoma City Clinic, a multispecialty clinic of 120 doctors, becoming the first woman to chair the Radiology Department, the first woman to serve on the executive board, and the first woman president of the Central Oklahoma Radiological Society. She practiced general radiology until 1998, then focused her attention on breast diagnoses when she moved to the University of Oklahoma Breast Imaging Center. In 2003, she established a breast diagnostic center with two female colleagues before retiring in 2010. Carol thus brought a long history of leadership when she joined AAUW Minneapolis in the spring of 2013.

And, luckily, she was at the helm of the organization when COVID-19 came calling.

Carol was in the second year of her presidency in March of 2020, when the pandemic sent everyone home and threatened the very existence of groups such as AAUW Minneapolis. Rather than capitulate to the threat, Carol rose to the occasion and shepherded AAUW Minneapolis and its members through the new landscape. She quickly transitioned the programs to Zoom and devised detailed training protocols so that every member could learn the technology and maintain the all-important social connections provided by AAUW Minneapolis. Members attended weekly Zoom meetings throughout the summer – typically a period of hiatus - so that by the time the regular season opened in September of 2020, everything and everyone was set to go. AAUW Minneapolis had transitioned its three-speakers-every-Monday programs and its special interest groups to Zoom. To this day, even after in-person programming has resumed, Zoom allows members to participate in AAUW Minneapolis programs as need and interest dictate.

Carol’s technical and leadership skills, along with the dedicated effort of the AV committee, made this opportunity available and the women of AAUW Minneapolis took advantage. They adapted to challenging circumstances so that the camaraderie and intellectual stimulation they so valued could survive the pandemic. That’s the AAUW Minneapolis spirit.



*This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant awarded to AAUW Minneapolis and funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.

Ann Harding has a degree in international relations from the University of Minnesota and is a 50-year member of AAUW. Although she first joined AAUW branches in Long Island, NY, and Charlotte, NC, she’s spent most of her AAUW life at the Minneapolis branch, including the 10 years (1980-1990) she lived at the Gale Mansion and served as house and office manager. Among her many unique experiences during those years: living in rooms that had once been occupied by Richard Gale, son of Edward Chenery and Sarah Pillsbury Gale; serving actors Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy at an AAUW luncheon in 1980; hiring, managing, and firing catering business staff, including the chef who ran out of food on a Monday program day; witnessing a wedding held at the Gale for which everyone arrived in costume; being required to become a licensed, if not practicing, boiler operator; walking the Whittier neighborhood with her dog; being too busy to attend Monday programs but actively participating in Tuesday evening programs; watching joyful children arrive by the busload for performances by the marionette troupe.

Ann resigned her live-in position in 1990 and in the 30+ years since then has remained an active “regular” member of the branch. Clearly, she has made extraordinary contributions to the organization. When asked what AAUW Minneapolis has contributed to *her* life, she says “It has been like a sisterhood. The contacts, the members, the mental stimulation and life-long learning and the people. And of course I have to say the house. My house.”



*This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant awarded to AAUW Minneapolis and funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.

This will be an exciting week for the AAUW Minneapolis Oral History Project! I will be interviewing two women who helped shape the history of the organization in unique ways during challenging times. Ann Harding lived at the Gale Mansion from 1980 to 1990, during which time she managed the office and catering business. Carol Sheldon guided AAUW Minneapolis through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic during her presidency.

Stay tuned for more information about these interviews and brief profiles of these accomplished women!



*This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant awarded to AAUW Minneapolis and funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.

Thinking of all the moms out there today, from the ones who approach the day with joy and fulfillment to those that face it with grief and loss.

This NPR story reminds us of the personal, political, social, and historical forces that shape motherhood. It echoes so much of what "Booth Girls" of mid-20th century America experienced.

Maternity homes provide support in a post-Roe world, but not without conditions A crisis pregnancy center in Idaho opened a maternity home in the months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The residents have more complicated stories than the home's founders expected.

Sharon Bigot had a lot of living under her belt by the time she joined AAUW Minneapolis in 1984. She had earned a B.S. degree in pharmacy from the University of Minnesota in 1961 and had spent the summer of 1960 in Australia with a Student Project for Amity Among Nations scholarship. After graduating, she went to East Africa with the Agency for International Development, earning a Diploma of Education from Makerere College in Uganda so she could teach chemistry at a boys’ school in Kenya. When she returned to Minnesota in 1963, she started a graduate program in pharmacognosy, during which time she met her husband and became pregnant with their son. When her graduate adviser moved to North Carolina (and took with him the grant money that was funding her research), Sharon decided to stay put and concentrate on her family…which she did, for 10 years. In 1977, she took a job as a pharmacist at the University of Minnesota hospital, a position she would hold until she retired in 2003.

Shortly after she started working at the university, Sharon visited AAUW Minneapolis with a friend. She had never heard of AAUW but was immediately drawn in by its excellent programming and the collegiality of its members. She enjoyed the company of “like-minded women” who wanted to learn and experience new things. Though she had plenty of intellectual stimulation in her work at the hospital – she specialized in intravenous medications – AAUW Minneapolis provided an outlet for her other skills and interests. “I was interested in something that was a contrast to work,” she says. She became deeply involved in programming around women’s issues, the arts, the marionette troupe, and the scholarship fund. She was branch president from 2010 to 2012 and president of the Minnesota AAUW after that.

Sharon worked at the university for 26 years, but has been a member of AAUW Minneapolis for nearly 40. Even after moving to Arizona, she maintains her membership in AAUW Minneapolis. “To have such a large group of diverse like-minded women to stimulate me,” she says, “has given me the stimulation to move on to lots of things that I probably would not have done otherwise. I’m very grateful to AAUW [Minneapolis] for that.”



*This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant awarded to AAUW Minneapolis and funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.

One of the AAUW’s central missions is to support educational opportunities for girls and women by providing fellowships, scholarships, grants and awards. AAUW Minneapolis has long been offering such support to female scholars, whether through contributions to the national AAUW Educational Fund, state and regional funds, or, more recently, its scholarship program for young women in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

These efforts have deep roots at AAUW Minneapolis. As early as 1929, Dorothy Bridgman Atkinson (a.k.a. “Mrs. Frederick G. Atkinson”) of the Minneapolis branch (then known as the College Women’s Club) played a central role in awarding the first $1,500 Northwest Central Fellowship. Local members were encouraged to donate $2 each in support of the fund. (Recipient Ruth Bourne planned to use the funds to complete her doctorate in history.) Atkinson also served as national vice president of AAUW and chair of its fellowship committee, coordinating the Million Dollar Campaign for fellowship funds.

In the ensuing decades, AAUW Minneapolis continued its strong financial support of the AAUW Educational Foundation, based in Washington, D.C. In 1966-67, for example, the branch contributed $2,746 to the national fellowship fund. In 1989-90, Minneapolis women sent $40,000 to the Educational Foundation, ranking it #2 of all U.S. branches in terms of total contributions. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, AAUW Minneapolis earned consistent recognition for its support of the AAUW EF.

Then, in the early 2000s, AAUW Minneapolis established its own scholarship fund dedicated to young women in the Minneapolis Public Schools. The branch currently offers 4 four-year scholarships to graduating seniors planning to pursue a college degree. The women I’ve interviewed for this project have all been very proud of the branch’s ability to create and sustain a fund that supports local scholars. We’ll hear from one of them next time…

Sources:
-Minneapolis Star, January 5, 1929
-Minneapolis Star, March 30, 1929
-Minneapolis Star, December 10, 1929
-Susan Levine, Degrees of Equality: The American Association of University Women and the Challenge of Twentieth-Century Feminism (Philadelpha: Temple University Press, 1995), 18-20.
-Historians’ Reports and general historical files, AAUW Minneapolis archives

https://minneapolis-mn.aauw.net/scholarship-outreach/scholarships/

*This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant awarded to AAUW Minneapolis and funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.

Sheila Lind came by many of her leadership skills naturally. Her mother had graduated from the College of St. Catherine, married and raised seven children with her husband, and was a vocal advocate for people with developmental disabilities. “She was a very strong leader,” Sheila said. “I had leadership modeled for me by my mother.”

Little wonder, then, that Sheila brought with her a comfort with public speaking when she joined AAUW Minneapolis in 1982. But over the next four decades she had the opportunity to develop and deploy her leadership abilities in new and varied ways. She chaired the Recent Grads group and led the effort to produce and distribute the AAUW Minneapolis cookbook. She served as secretary, treasurer, parliamentarian, and co-president. She helped establish AAUW Minneapolis as a 501(c)(3), sat on the scholarship board for six years, and hosted fundraising events at her home. She also played a key role in managing a major remodel of the Gale Mansion, a project that was honored by the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission, Preserve Minneapolis, and the Minneapolis branch of the American Institute of Architects in 2011. She is the current chair of the Long-Range Planning Committee, helping to lead AAUW Minneapolis into the future.

“Everyone has things in their life that they spend more time on than others, and AAUW has been it for me,” she said. “But I also received an awful lot.” She values the leadership opportunities AAUW Minneapolis has offered her, to be sure, “but most important are the people and the friends. …That’s been the big bonus for my life.”

The recording and transcript of my interview with Sheila will be available at the Hennepin County Library – Minneapolis Central by the end of this year, but you can stay apprised of project developments here!



AAUW Minneapolis

*This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant awarded to AAUW Minneapolis and funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.