Minnesota Historical Society Oral History Project: Interview with Carleton C. Qualey

Titles: Minnesota Historical Society Oral History Project: Interview with Carleton C. Qualey (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Studied at St. Olaf College; graduate work at Columbia; involved in Norwegian American Historical Association; taught at Carleton College; published a book in 1938 on Norwegian settlement; appointed director of Minnesota Historical Society in 1940; returned to teaching at Carleton College; served as visiting professor at Cleveland State University in 1972-1973; in 1973 began editing Immigration History Newsletter. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Work with Theodore Blegen; charm and persuasive abilities of Blegen and what it was like working with him; Solon Buck; Blegen's great scholarship; the link with the University of Minnesota; Qualey's appointment as director of the MHS by Blegen in 1940; remembrances of other staff members: Bertha Heilbron, Mary Berthel, Grace Lee Nute, Willoughby Babcock, Esther Jerabek, Lois Fawcett; primary emphasis on scholarship at the MHS; elitism in the Society; relationships with the legislature; leaving to work full-time at Carleton College; the Ethnic History Project/Minnesota History project: funding, hiring graduate students; remembrances of students who worked on project; utilizing census data for ethnic history research; trying to organize the data; June Holmquist; uniqueness of census project within the United States; early ethnic experiences; ethnists: those who have a defensive approach about their ethnic group that can do no wrong; the rise of ethnic feeling in the late sixties and early seventies and its impact on historical study of immigration; the Folk Arts Foundation; the Immigration History Newsletter; the Kensington Runestone and Qualey's disinterest in it.

Dates

• 04/28/1987 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Qualey, Carlton C. (Carlton Chester)
• interviewer: Gilman, Rhoda R.
• interviewer: Kane, Lucile M.

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 82.4
• Accession Number: AV1990.157

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

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

Quantity: 2 hours sound cassette 32 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 01:13:01 running time

Subjects

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