Duluth Stories: People and Events from the Zenith City’s Past was published by the author with the help of X-Presso Books in January.

Did you know that German prisoners of war worked in local lumber camps during World War Two? That the Zenith City produced four opera divas and eight classical-music composers? That no fewer than six Duluthians worked on the Manhattan Project, developing the world’s first atomic bombs? Inside these pages, retired Duluth Public Library reference librarian David Ouse tells the tales of not only accomplished Duluthians — including local women who broke down barriers by becoming the first female practitioners of traditionally male professions — but also of visits from the famous, the exploits of a couple of “human flies,” two early (and lost) motion pictures set in the Zenith City, and much more.

Contents
Preface
1. German Prisoners of War in Northeastern Minnesota
2. First Duluth Women in Traditionally Male Jobs
3. Some of Duluth’s Historical Pageants
4. Duluth’s Four Opera Divas
5. Babe Ruth Visits Duluth
6. Early History of Duluth’s Emerson School
7. Early Duluth Casualties in World War 2
8. The Duluth Public Library Cornerstone
9. Two Early Duluth Films
10. Duluth Composers
11. Poem “Duluth” attributed to Walt Whitman
12. Duluth’s Lady Godiva
13. Billy Sunday Preaches in Duluth
14. Some Duluth Programs of Scandinavian Singing Societies
15. Early Duluth Inventors
16. Fritz Kreisler’s Duluth Performances
17. Duluthians Involved in the Manhattan Project
18. Duluth is Visited by Two Human Flies
19. Duluth’s “Hotpoint House of the ’50s”
20. Duluth’s Lydia Whiteside: World War I U. S. Army Nurse
Sources
Image Credits
Index

David Ouse is a Duluth native and a graduate of Duluth Central High School, UMD and the University of Minnesota. He worked for the Duluth Public Library for 35 years as a Reference Librarian, supervisor of Reference & Information Services and of Adult Services, and also served as Interim Director in 2007 and 2008. He retired in 2015. He is the author of the 2010 book Forgotten Duluthians, and has written the “Bygones” column in the Duluth News Tribune since 2007.

Available for purchase at the Duluth Library Foundation’s website. All proceeds from sales go to the foundation.

Also available for checkout at the Duluth Public Library.