A woman riding a motorcycle on rollers at the 1938 Minnesota State Fair.

Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on September 6, 1938.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this photograph in our collections database.

Learn More about the Minnesota State Fair:

• Spectacular Fair: the Minnesota State Fair podcast
• Minnesota State Fair in Archival Film Footage
• Other Collections Up Close posts featuring Fair items
• State Fair images on Collections Online

Metal shield-shaped police badge. Has a depiction of an eagle with spread wings at the top and a circle at the center depicting trees and a man with a plow. “MINNESOTA/STATE FAIR/POLICE” is written in black lettering, with a black six-pointed star on either side. Reverse has a large vertical pin. Manufacturer unknown. Owned by Jerome P. Dolan of the St. Paul Police; not used earlier than 1959 or later than 1993.

For details, view this badge in our collections database.

Learn More about the Minnesota State Fair:

• Spectacular Fair: the Minnesota State Fair podcast
• Minnesota State Fair in Archival Film Footage
• Other Collections Up Close posts featuring Fair items
• State Fair images on Collections Online

State fair souvenir of Saint Paul, Minnesota: the political, commercial, financial and social metropolis of the bright Northwest. Edited by J. H. Hanson. St. Paul: Graphic Co., 1886.

This souvenir booklet was distributed the year after the State Fair moved into its permanent home in St. Paul in 1885. It begins by describing the Fair itself and all its wonders, but quickly turns into a promotional piece for the City of St. Paul highlighting its place on the river, industries, and buildings. It was recently acquired by the Minnesota Historical Society.

Learn More about the Minnesota State Fair:

• Spectacular Fair: the Minnesota State Fair podcast
• Minnesota State Fair in Archival Film Footage
• Other Collections Up Close posts featuring Fair items
• State Fair images on Collections Online
  

1978 Minnesota State Fair button. Round pinback button, red with yellow script lettering reading “I/ Got it/ Together/ 1978 Minnesota State Fair.”

For details, view this button in our collections database.

Learn More about the Minnesota State Fair:

• Spectacular Fair: the Minnesota State Fair podcast
• Minnesota State Fair in Archival Film Footage
• Other Collections Up Close posts featuring Fair items
• State Fair images on Collections Online

‘The Man Without a Stomach’ showing off to some kids at the 1944 Minnesota State Fair.

Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on August 25, 1944.

For details, view this photograph in our collections database.

Learn More about the Minnesota State Fair:

• Spectacular Fair: the Minnesota State Fair podcast
• Minnesota State Fair in Archival Film Footage
• Other Collections Up Close posts featuring Fair items
• State Fair images on Collections Online

A daredevil jumps his car over a bus during a program in the grandstand at the Minnesota State Fair. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on August 27, 1944.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

View from the top of the Ferris Wheel on the Midway of the 1944 Minnesota State Fair. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on August 28, 1944.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Dress made out of butter cartons worn by Mary Ann Titrud (Princess Kay of the Milky Way) at the 1965 Minnesota State Fair to promote the American Dairy Association of Minnesota.

The dress has a Bertha collar and center back zipper; hook-and-eye closure at the collar; and a matching lined capelet with a center front opening and plain rounded neckline edged in rick rack.  A band with hidden buttons and snaps holds the cape and neckline in place.  The A-line skirt has a waistline band with two plastic buttons and buttonholes in front and an inverted front pleat edged in rick rack.  Round-cornered squares have been cut out from one-pound butter cartons representing various Minnesota creameries and machine-stitched onto the cape and skirt in horizontal rows to a stiffened interfacing.

Silk, velvet, taffeta and satin crazy quilt attributed to Anna and Orena Teachout, dressmakers from Farmington, Minnesota who worked in Owatonna and St. Paul.  Cordelia Teachout may have also contributed to the quilt’s construction.  The quilt is accompanied by an 1885 State Fair ribbon which reads, “27th Annual State Fair/ J.H. Mahler Co./ Carriages, Sleighs, Harness etc./ St. Paul/ 1885.”

For details, view the quilt in our online collections database.

Today’s post concludes our series highlighting State Fair-related artifacts (although the Fair runs through Labor Day, September 3).  If you missed a post, you can browse our archive of the series, which showcased a painting, a pig, a trophy awarded to a team of horses, a 1965 postcard, a milk pail and a 1918 bread-baking demonstration.

Winter bonnet made by Lucretia Brush Pomroy circa 1858 and exhibited by Pomroy’s granddaughter, Alice Pomroy, at the 1955 Minnesota State Fair.  The channel-quilted  bonnet is of black and purple checked silk with quilted curtain and damask silk ribbon ties.

For details, view the bonnet in our online collections database.

Learn More:

• Spectacular Fair: the Minnesota State Fair podcast
• Minnesota State Fair in Archival Film Footage podcast