This year, 2010, is the 90th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote. Linda McShannock, Object Curator at the Minnesota Historical Society, shows objects from the Collection relating to the important Women’s Suffrage Movement. We also learn that pink was not the first color to be associated with a cause!

 

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Above, left to right, are posters in Swedish, French, and Polish.

In celebration of the new “Becoming Minnesotan” web site at the Minnesota Historical Society, we are highlighting pieces from the Collection which reflect the immigrant experience and relate to contemporary immigrants.

These posters, in a multitude of languages, are some of my favorite things in the Collection. We’ve all seen recent instruction to voters in Somali, Hmong, and other languages; these posters remind us that immigration has been part of life in Minnesota for a long time.

Above, left to right, are posters in Finnish, Norwegian, Russian.

These were issued by the Secretary of State’s office between 1920 – 1930. Not only were they written in the language of the particular immigrant group, but they also used a specific font where appropriate.

Above, left to right, are posters in Bohemian and German.

A few days ago the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office transferred records of the Minnesota Electoral College Assembly that occurred on December 15, 2008.  On that day, Minnesota’s ten Electors unanimously cast votes for Barack Obama and Joseph Biden for president and vice president in a ceremony held in the Minnesota State Capitol Rotunda.  Pictured here are the ballots cast by Minnesota’s slate of ten Electors from the Democratic-Farmer Labor Party.  Under the U.S. Constitution, Minnesota is provided ten Electors, a number equal to Minnesota’s number of senators and representatives seated in the U.S. Congress.  Also transferred with the ballots, is a photograph of the Electors with Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, the original signed Certificate of Ascertainment of Appointment of Electors for President and Vice President, a news release about the ceremony, the assembly program, and a engraved pen of the type used for the signings.   Answers to frequently asked questions about the Electoral College are available on the Secretary of State’s Web site homepage.