Questions arise as Rochester's history makes its way to Mazeppa
Aug. 14—Dear Answer Man: The Mazeppa Area Historical Society just received a scrapbook with pictures of Old and New Rochester. Some have numbers on them, example: "252nd of a Series — Old and New." That's the largest number. My question is: What year did they do this and how many were there? I am guessing it must have been in the 1960s? — Helen Reiland.
Dear Helen,
Lately, I've spent some time at some of our historical societies in Southeast Minnesota, so first and foremost I want to thank you for keeping alive the history of the region.
That's what the Post Bulletin was doing with the above-mentioned column called Old and New Rochester, which ran from Sept. 4, 1959, to Aug. 18, 1964. Each column featured an old and a new photo of the same scene and a short description of that scene. If you have 252 of them, you're missing eight because there were 260 in total.
That series gave way to a new version called
Lens on History,
which under its first iteration was written and curated by Jerry Reising from Sept. 27, 2002, to Dec. 3, 2004, according to Lee Hilgendorf. That column took a break, but was revived by Cindy Scott, who wrote Lens on History from Nov. 24, 2009, to April 7, 2015. After a two-month hiatus, Hilgendorf wrote and curated the column from June 9, 2015, to his last one on Jan. 3, 2023.
Today, history in the Post Bulletin is kept alive by our daily (except Sundays)
Day in History column
that is researched and put together by Loren Else. And, of course, Tom Weber writes the weekly Then & Now column that appears each Tuesday.
If Answer Man can get up on his soap box for a moment, I'd like to impart this bit of wisdom about our society. Being a part of the historical record is one of the functions of a newspaper. There's a good reason why any historical society — the one in Mazeppa, the History Center of Olmsted County, and even the Minnesota Historical Society — all use newspapers as a source for people who are conducting research on social issues, family histories or just newspaper columns. We call the media the "fourth estate" for a reason. The media, particularly something that has the tangible staying power of newspapers, have the power to help us keep our facts straight.
These columns also show the value of photojournalists. Some newspapers do not have full-time photojournalists, and I think that's a shame. Photojournalists — notice, I'm not using the word photographers — capture history as it happens with images that make a difference in our lives.
The column you mention, Helen, was designed to show how a city was changing over time. That's a powerful tool. I hope everyone in Mazeppa enjoys those old columns and learns the lessons they tell.
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