October 2023 Posts

Rachael Kilgour – “Ontario”

“Ontario” is the third single from Duluth native Rachael Kilgour‘s new album, My Father Loved Me.

Postcards from Bill’s Mount Silver Motel and Cabins

The postcard above, and the one below, were both published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography circa the 1950s. And both were made to promote Bill’s Mount Silver Motel and Cabins on Silver Cliff Bay, northeast of Two Harbors. The location now features private residences.

Hayward record and book store will move to Duluth

The former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. in Lincoln Park will be home to a new record and book store. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

A Superior native and long-time music collector who haunted some legendary, long-lost Twin Ports area record stores plans to open his own shop in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District.

Todd Hanson, owner of Hole in the Wall Books and Records in Hayward, has announced plans to open a new store in the former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. this fall. The store will be called River City Records and Books.

Poet Laureate Collection unveiled at UMD

The Twin Ports area has long been a literary center for Minnesota. Now, the history of the literary community in Duluth is open and available to researchers and readers alike in the Archives and Special Collections of the Kathryn A. Martin Library at the University of Minnesota Duluth. The Poet Laureate Program is the heart of a collection of materials available to the public.

Northeastern Minnesota Book Award Winners for 2023

An old fire tower in the north woods, a busy Duluth harbor on the day tall ships arrive, and an 1894 murder on Minnesota Point are just some of the settings for books honored in this year’s Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards.

Twain’s coldest winter revisited

Dave Wilton at wordorigins.org delves into a famous-though-probably-inaccurate Mark Twain quote in his latest article. “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,” has of course also been spun as “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Duluth.” Wilton covers it all in detail, as did Tony Dierckins some years ago on zenithcity.com. Lake Superior Magazine also covered the subject in 2003.

Sherlockiana at the Book Sale: Barry Day and Val Andrews

There was an entire bookcase of books about Sherlock Holmes at Friends of the Library Book Sale at the Superior Public Library. I took home two full shelves.

Duluth and the Harbor from Highway 11 in 1923

Photo by William L. Barker, Jr. for the U.S. Forest Service.

This photograph from the National Archive is dated Oct. 1, 1923 — 100 years ago today. The caption reads: “Duluth and the harbor on Lake Superior from Highway #11.”