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Posts in History 21: The Podcast

History 21 The Podcast - 1.14 Anoka 1939 Tornado

Folklore held that a tornado would never strike where two rivers met. Residents of Anoka, located at the confluence of the Rum River and Mississippi River, believed their community safe until June 18, 1939, 3:17 p.m. In this episode, hear the voices of Anokans who experienced the tornado as they tell their stories of that day.

TW: severe weather, injuries, death.

Interview transcript, map of location and Peterson’s video of the aftermath available in the episode show notes.

Hosts Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director, Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Erin McBrien, ACHS Archivist.

History 21 The Podcast, History 21: The Podcast, PodcastSara GivenJune 18, 2021Anoka County Historical SocietyACHS, Anoka, 1939 tornado, Episode 14

History 21 The Podcast - 1.13 Charles Horn Jr

What stories would you tell about your parents? Charles L. Horn, Jr. took time in 1993 to remember his father and namesake Charles L Horn, Sr. He shared details on everything from Sr’s signature mustache and the first days of Federal, to President FDR’s secret visit to a Federal-run ammunition plant during World War II.

Hosts Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director, Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Erin McBrien, ACHS Archivist.

History 21 The Podcast, History 21: The Podcast, PodcastSara GivenJune 4, 2021Anoka County Historical SocietyACHS, Anoka, Episode 13, Charles Horn, Charles Horn Jr, Federal Cartridge

History 21 The Podcast - 1.12 Tory Arfstrom

On board the USS Alabama in 1942, Glen Lindstrom set up his sewing machine, fabric and thread. He sailed with the ship as the on-board tailor, skills he picked up helping his mother, in the pacific theater during WWII. In this oral history interview recorded April 7, 2005 ,Glen describes why he enlisted in the Navy, and his time aboard ship.

Hosts Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director, Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Erin McBrien, ACHS Archivist.

History 21 The Podcast, History 21: The Podcast, PodcastSara GivenMay 21, 2021Anoka County Historical SocietyACHS, Anoka, Collections, Episode 12, Tory Arfstrom, Jon Arfstrom, Art

History 21 The Podcast - 1.11 Federal Project

On board the USS Alabama in 1942, Glen Lindstrom set up his sewing machine, fabric and thread. He sailed with the ship as the on-board tailor, skills he picked up helping his mother, in the pacific theater during WWII. In this oral history interview recorded April 7, 2005 ,Glen describes why he enlisted in the Navy, and his time aboard ship.

Hosts Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director, Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Erin McBrien, ACHS Archivist.

History 21 The Podcast, History 21: The Podcast, PodcastSara GivenMay 7, 2021Anoka County Historical SocietyACHS, Anoka, Collections, Federal Cartridge, Episode 11, JJ Reich, Don Johnson

History 21 The Podcast - 1.10 Glen Lindstrom

On board the USS Alabama in 1942, Glen Lindstrom set up his sewing machine, fabric and thread. He sailed with the ship as the on-board tailor, skills he picked up helping his mother, in the pacific theater during WWII. In this oral history interview recorded April 7, 2005 ,Glen describes why he enlisted in the Navy, and his time aboard ship.

Hosts Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director, Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Erin McBrien, ACHS Archivist.

History 21 The Podcast, History 21: The Podcast, PodcastSara GivenApril 15, 2021Anoka County Historical SocietyACHS, Anoka, wwii, WWII, Episode 10, Glen Lindstrom

History 21 The Podcast - 1.09 Gina Overacker

On the first day of 2021 Terry Overacker died after over a month in the hospital battling Covid-19. In this episode, his wife and business partner, Gina, shares her deeply personal experience with this terrible disease, her grief after Terry’s death, and how sharing your story can bring healing.

Hosts Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director, Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Erin McBrien, ACHS Archivist.

History 21 The Podcast, History 21: The Podcast, PodcastSara GivenApril 1, 2021Anoka County Historical SocietyACHS, Anoka, Gina Overacker, Terry Overacker, Overacker Plumbing, COVID-19, curatingcovid19

History 21 The Podcast - 1.08 Anna Gorham

Anna Gorham taught classes of students at Franklin Elementary School for 26 years. In 1989, she sat down to record some of her experiences with education starting with describing the one-room schoolhouse she attended in Burns, and then what Franklin Elementary was like when she started teaching there in 1946.

Note: This recording is digitized from the original cassette tape. The recording has been enhanced where possible, but for clarity an edited transcript of Anna’s interview is also provided below.

Hosts Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director, Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Erin McBrien, ACHS Archivist.

History 21 The Podcast, History 21: The Podcast, PodcastSara GivenMarch 18, 2021Anoka County Historical SocietyACHS, Anoka High School, school, Franklin Elementary, One Room school, Burns, Anoka, Episode 8

History 21 The Podcast - 1.07 Maddie McNamara

A sophomore at Anoka High School, Maddie shares her experiences over the past year of distance learning in the midst of a global pandemic and social upheaval. She discusses how it feels to go to school remotely, how it affected classroom dynamics, relationships, and her own mental health.

Hosts Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director and Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator.

History 21 The Podcast, History 21: The Podcast, PodcastSara GivenMarch 5, 2021Anoka County Historical SocietyACHS, Maddison McNamara, Episode 7, Anoka High School, COVID-19, curatingcovid19, school

Columbia Heights’ first female firefighter looks back

Columbia Heights’ first female firefighter looks back

Part of the joy of working at the Anoka County Historical Society is having history at your fingertips as you J-O-B. One of the challenges is deciding how best to share this trove of information with the community.

We launched History 21: The Podcast in late December to engage people who prefer an audio delivery to a more visual format. As podcast lovers ourselves, staff often drive, wash dishes or take a walk with various programs chatting in their ears — and there is NOBODY else out there focusing on Anoka County History!

Herald Columns, History 21: The PodcastAnoka County Historical SocietyMarch 2, 2021Anoka County Historical SocietyColumbia heights, fire department, Fire Marshal, first woman, denise demars