Minnesota Historical Society Oral History Project: Interview with Janis Obst

Titles: Minnesota Historical Society Oral History Project: Interview with Janis Obst (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Janis Obst began working at the Minnesota Historical Society in 1958 as an assistant to the head of the museum department. She became head of the historic houses department in 1969 and continued in that position until her retirement in 1980. In 1977 she was granted a year's sabbatical leave to research and work on her writings about the life and activities of Abigail Adams and the Adams children at Fort Snelling, and on "Minnesota interiors of the nineteenth century." Since retirement, Obst has done volunteer work at Murphy's Landing near Shakopee, Minnesota, and has been active in the American Association for State and Local History. She also has started a local chapter of the Victorian Society and done consulting for other historical societies and organizations. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Obst describes conditions at the Minnesota Historical Society in 1958, her duties as an assistant to the head of the museum department, storage problems, loan policies, and the relationship of the museum to other departments. She also discusses the growth of the Historic Sites program in the 1960s, reorganization of the archaeology department, her duties as head of historic houses, including restoring the Comstock, Ramsey and Griggs houses and opening them to the public, and her research on the furnishings of the commandant's house at Fort Snelling. Obst also talks about her work with county historical societies, her associations with MHS staff including Donn Coddington, Russell Fridley, June Holmquist, Alan Woolworth and others, discrimination against women as professionals, chauvinism, political patronage, and volunteerism.

Dates

• 04/11/1990 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Obst, Janis
• interviewer: Gilman, Rhoda R.

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 82.9
• Accession Number: AV1990.139

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minnesota Historical Society Oral History Project' <OH 82>

Quantity: 1.5 hours sound cassette 42 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 01:33:13 running time

Subjects

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