What era should we cover next? What other entries would you like to see?

Minnesota has a long and proud military history. Will you be adding this category?

Thanks,
Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Ewer
Minnesota National Guard

There's a historical marker in Saint Peter that shows up as a mapped destination on Google Maps ("First Minnesota Hospital for Insane Historical Marker") which is no longer available for public viewing on the closed campus of the St Peter Regional Treatment Center. It would be interesting to learn more about the history of such facilities in our state and what they show about the changes in society's thinking:over time about mental illness and incarceration.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=North+Minnesota+Avenue,+St.+Peter,+MN&daddr=Historical+marker,+Freeman+Drive,+St.+Peter,+MN&hl=en&sll=44.32457,-
93.96351&sspn=0.057841,0.11776&geocode=FemUpAIdC3Zm-in7YlpF18z1hzGQYaNDNhXLuw%3BFQ4NpAIdcwJm-iFf3kVxZ56X9g&mra=ls&dirflg=b&vpsrc=0&lci=bike&z=13

He is was a very interesting guy. He made his money selling fish in downtown Minneapolis with a pet bear tied to the front of his store. He started collecting animals until the city complained that his lion was too loud. He bought land by Minnehaha Falls and started Longfellow Gardens with many animals running loose, greeting people at the front gate. He admired Longfellow, the poet, so commissioned a statue of him to be placed in the Gardens. He also built his house there, a 3/4 replica of Longfellow's home. Both still stand in the current Longfellow Garden. Soon after his death his animals were used to start the Komo Zoo. Although some seals were left to play in Minnehaha Creek.

I'd love to see a definitive list of every museum in Minnesota with maps, and web links, and remarks about the collections. I'd also love to see a list with maps of every historical marker. And to be able to read the text of those markers if not able to travel to them.

I suppose there were people on the MN side of the Red River of the North when Pembina was an important colony, and I'd love to hear more about that. Also, the grasshopper plagues (including why we don't have them any more), the Eric Severeid canoe trip from Minneapolis to Hudson's Bay, Minnesota's contributions to the Olympics (speed skater's home ice: Powderhorn Park; Herb Brooks); a short bio on all of our governors and lt. govs, something about (the establishing of) every county; Dred Scott, Native history, discovery of iron ore here, a timeline of immigrant waves and their contributions, Brown's Valley Man, something about the fisheries of MN (is Red Lake bouncing back?), steamboats on the Minnesota, "blue earth", and that venerable list of Minnesota inventions (waterskiing! roller blades! pacemakers!). Oh, and the railroad surveys, and Wm. H. S. Cleveland's influence on the MPLS parks, and the WPA works like Lake Itasca and Como Zoo, and various stories of people introducing non-native plants and animals to Minnesota.

Since you admitted to borrowing the idea of the online encyclopedia from others, check out the interactive literary map of Edinburgh.
http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/fictionmap
You may want to consider doing something similar for the State of Minnesota. (Finally, people will be able to know where Lake Woebegone is located.)

Here is a news story that appeared in that city’s local newspaper, the Scotsman about the map.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/Librarians-produce-interactive-literary-map.6801302.jp

I often serve as a judge for Minnesota History Day, and I would like to suggest a category that would allow many of the students who participate in History Day to submit their work for inclusion in MNopedia. I'm not sure how it would work, but maybe all regional winners, or at least all state winners going to nationals, should have a place where their hard work and extensive research could be presented, if only for a year. The diversity and quality of what I've seen presented by students during History Day deserves an outlet such as this, and if it was limited to its own special category, that might make the process a little easier to organize and control.

Thank you for your suggestion! We are exploring ways to connect more directly to History Day and the teachers and students involved. This is one we will definitely keep in mind.

Was surprised to see an entry for the Basilica of St. Mary, but none for the Saint Paul Cathedral. I suppose it's a matter of time...

I'd like to learn more about life for immigrants on the Iron Range (and loved the articles about the Mesabi Range strike and Hibbing's move), foundries and labor history (thinking in particular of the Henry Orme & Sons foundry in St. Paul), the Faribault state school, job options for new immigrants including domestic service, and the W.H. Parsons & Sons architectural firm - I think his son Cyrus actually worked out of Minneapolis and specialized in school houses but they had an office in Duluth.