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Death of Anna Salzer in Rochester State Hospital, 1897

When Anna Salzer died while a patient at Rochester State Hospital in 1897, her death was first reported as the result of heart failure after a twelve-hour illness. Later, the cause of death was changed to pneumonia. But another patient, Lydia B. Angier, reported details about Salzer’s death to officials, writing that “every day I saw her abused—shoved about—and on the last day actually kicked.” The incident reveals how abuse contributed to excess mortality among patients confined to insane hospitals at the turn of the twentieth century.

Detail of Anna Salzer’s cemetery marker

Detail of Anna Salzer’s cemetery marker in Calvary Cemetery (Rochester). Photo by Alison Bergblom Johnson, 2024.

Anna Salzer’s cemetery marker

Anna Salzer’s cemetery marker in Calvary Cemetery (Rochester). Photograph by Alison Bergblom Johnson, 2024.

Alice S. Onqué

Hallie Q. Brown Director Alice S. Onqué at her desk, ca. 1955. Image courtesy of Hallie Q. Brown Community Archives.

Hat worn to Pilgrim Baptist Church

Hat retailed by Newman's department store and worn by Merrie E. Barr to Pilgrim Baptist Church in St. Paul in 1956. Barr lived on Fuller Avenue in the Rondo neighborhood.

The Willmar 8 on the picket line

The Willmar 8 outside the Citizens National Bank of Willmar (Kandiyohi County) during their first days on the picket line, December 1977. From box 51 of the St. Paul Dispatch/Pioneer Press photographs arranged by subject (photographs collection), ca. 1910–1985, Minnesota Historical Society.

MN90: In the Aftermath of Pearl Harbor

Not every West Coast American of Japanese descent was herded into an internment camp after Pearl Harbor. Some, like Ruth Tanbara and her husband, Earl, were compelled to relocate to places like St. Paul, Minnesota. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Freedom Ride

Claire O'Connor was a freshman at the University of Minnesota in June 1961, when she took a Greyhound bus into the heart of Jim Crow. The Freedom Rider shares her story with Britt Aamodt.

Lena Olive Smith

Lena Olive Smith, ca. 1920s.

Commitment and Guardianship of Lydia B. Angier, 1896–1907

Lydia B. Angier was declared insane and committed against her will to Rochester State Hospital in 1896. For the next three years, she wrote letters arguing for her release and restoration to her old life in St. Paul, where she had run a newspaper stand. Her letters provide a window into life inside hospitals for the insane at the turn of the twentieth century, where many people faced poor living conditions and abuse.

Gale Family Library