Health and Medicine | Page 4

Anti-conference flyer

Flyer distributed prior to, and potentially at, the AIDS conference sponsored by the Berean League and held at St. Paul’s Civic Center on November 7, 1987. The flyer was created by a coalition of gay and lesbian groups that organized a rally to protest the conference. From box 22 (147.A.13.5B) of the Minnesota GLBT Movement papers, 1964—2019, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

AIDS conference schedule

Schedule of speakers and events at the AIDS conference sponsored by the Berean League and held at St. Paul Civic Center on November 7, 1987. From box 22 (147.A.13.5B) of the Minnesota GLBT Movement papers, 1964—2019, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

AIDS Conference Protest, St. Paul, 1987

On November 7, 1987, roughly 400 people representing Minnesota’s gay community—including allies and activists—protested an AIDS conference in St. Paul sponsored by a conservative Christian political organization called the Berean League. With over 1,500 people in attendance, it was the largest gathering in the state to date addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis. It was also a show of force for fundamentalist Christians and other conservatives who opposed gay rights.

Lake Owasso Children’s Home (Children’s Preventorium)

Lake Owasso Children’s Home (Children’s Preventorium of Ramsey County) in Shoreview. Photograph by Northwestern Photographic Studio, ca. 1940.

Patients dancing at the Children’s Preventorium

Patients dance the Charleston to live music at the Children’s Preventorium of Ramsey County. Photograph by the St. Paul Daily News, ca. 1930.

Children’s Preventorium patients in a “sun box”

Children’s Preventorium patients set in a “sun box,” a contraption intended to expose them to maximum sunlight. Photograph by the St. Paul Daily News, ca. 1930.

Children’s Preventorium patients fishing

Patients of the Children’s Preventorium of Ramsey County fish on Lake Owasso. Photograph by the St. Paul Daily News, ca. 1930.

Heliotherapy at the Children’s Preventorium

Patients at the Children’s Preventorium of Ramsey County play checkers while receiving “heliotherapy” under a sun lamp, ca. 1930.

Children’s Preventorium patients playing basketball

Patients of the Children’s Preventorium of Ramsey County play basketball. Photograph by the St. Paul Daily News, ca. 1926.

Children’s Preventorium of Ramsey County

Between 1915 and 1953 over 950 Ramsey County youth, most between the ages of four and fourteen, resided at the Children’s Preventorium of Ramsey County, in Shoreview. A handful stayed for a day or two; hundreds lived there for years. As its name suggests, the purpose of the Preventorium was to prevent disease—in this case, tuberculosis. It was the only such institution to function in Minnesota.

Gale Family Library