M’haha Window on “History Detectives”

Tony D. Jun 24, 2011 6 Comments

Duluth’s “Minnehaha” Tiffany window (sometimes referred to as the “Hiawatha” window) designed by Duluth’s Ann Weston-and a watercolor associated with it-will be featured on next week’s “History Detectives” on PBS North. Look for Wade Lawrence, former director of Glensheen, for his expert analysis of the window.

Here are the air times/dates/PBS description:

Tuesday, June 28 – 7pm on PBS North
Tuesday, June 28 – midnight on PBS North
Saturday, July 2 – 6pm on PBS 2ndChance
Sunday, July 3 – 5pm on PBS North

“A local Duluth link pops up in the new season of History Detectives. In the second episode airing June 28, History Detective Gwen Wright traces a cherished family heirloom, a watercolor, to the world of Tiffany stained glass. Find out how Tiffany opened a window of opportunity for early 20th Century women and its connection to a female Duluth artist.”

Some background for the uninitiated (from the forthcoming “Lost Duluth”)

Duluthian Ann Weston designed this Tiffany window of Minnehaha, commissioned by the St. Louis County Women’s Auxilliary (predecessor of the St. Louis County Historical Society) to represent Duluth and St. Louis County in the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.

After the fair it was presented as a gift to the Duluth Public Library and was installed in the library’s rooms within the Temple Opera Block.

A new library was built in 1902. As the library prepared to move to its new location the Minnehaha window went missing. Edward P. Alexander, an owner of the Temple Opera Block, claimed the window belonged to the building-and took it home. After public outcry, he returned the window to the libray as “his gift.”

In 1904 another Tiffany window honoring Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Luht was commissioned to hang in balance with the Minnehaha at the new library, and once again Ann Weston designed it. They hung together in the 1902 DPL until 1982; they now hang side-by-side at the Duluth Depot.

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6 Comments

emmadogs

about 13 years ago 

Is this the window that the city wanted to sell a couple of years back to deal with the budget shortfall?

Tony D.

about 13 years ago 

Yup....

Sid Pernicious

about 13 years ago 

Maybe it's part of the mystery, and at the end of the show they have a crisis hotline for Big D.  'How did one city become so desperate as to consider selling this priceless heirloom?  Stay tuned...'

moosetracks

about 13 years ago 

Apparently there is going to be a viewing party at the Depot of the show along with an "important announcement about the future of the windows."  Here's the press release regarding it:

Duluth's Heirlooms; the Tiffany Windows To Find New Owners in Old Home!

PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT
Ken Buehler (HUDC)
733-7590
JoAnne Coombe (SLCHS)                                                                                                     733-7581
Brita Bergerton (WDSE)
788-2831
 
On Tuesday evening, June 28, 2011, WDSE-TV, Duluth's Public Television station (Ch.8/Cable 12), will broadcast the premier of a new season of History Detectives featuring a segment on former Duluthian Anne Weston and the two beautiful Tiffany Windows she designed that are on display at the St. Louis County Heritage & Arts Center, the Depot, in downtown Duluth.  The "mystery" explored on the show is whether a painting found in Montana, and done by Weston, was ever made into a stained glass window, like the two Tiffany Windows at the Depot.
 
The public is invited to watch the show with friends and family at a FREE Open House to be held Tuesday evening starting at 6:30PM in the Great Hall here at the Depot.  There will be light snacks and refreshments before and during the show, which starts at 7:00PM. 
 
Representatives from PBS/WDSE, the City of Duluth, which owns the Tiffany Windows, the St. Louis County Historical Society and Historic Union Depot Corporation, the managing agent for the Depot, will all be on hand.  Following the broadcast, the City of Duluth will make an important announcement about the future of the windows and their care and preservation so that future citizens of the city and our guest/visitors will be able to enjoy these incredible works of art and history.   
 
The windows date back to a time on either side of the turn of the century when Anne Weston and her husband moved to Duluth from New York where she worked at the Tiffany Studios.  Here she continued to design works of art in stained glass for Tiffany that is still at locations around the city today.  Over the last couple of years successful efforts by the Studios of Potente to restore the Tiffany Windows at the St. Louis County Heritage & Arts Center, the Depot, have been enhanced by a recent collaboration with the Midwest Arts Conservancy Center.  The goal is the long term preservation, safety and display to the public of two of Duluth's most famous heirlooms, soon to become even more famous on Tuesday night.
 
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Approximately 7:35PM on Tuesday June 28th in the Depot Great Hall, address by the Mayor of Duluth (or his representative) on the future of the Tiffany Windows.
 
The press release was provided by Ken Buehler, Executive Director of the Historic Union Depot Corporation (HUDC).

Tom

about 13 years ago 

If you're like me and you forgot about this the other night and know you'll forget about it the next two times it's on, luckily you can watch it online through PBS.com.  Unfortunately, it seems that you have to view it as a full episode, but it's better than nothing.

History Detectives: Propaganda Leaflet,Tiffany Window & Spanish Civil War Eulogy

Tom

about 13 years ago 

By the way, the segment on the Tiffany Window begins at 37:50 of that video.

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