Happy 2017!  The new year will definitely be happy if you're interested in the history of Minneapolis or Hennepin County. The Hennepin County Library is continually digitizing records and adding content weekly. You don't even need a Hennepin County Library card to search the 34 digitized collections! All content can be viewed online and downloaded. Access is free and images are usable as long as the library is given credit. The library website lists a variety of treasures: digitized maps, atlases, yearbooks, newspaper photos; artifacts such as theater programs, posters, business trade cards, and editorial cartoons; and diaries, letters and manuscripts. 

The Minneapolis Newspaper Photographs Collection caught my fancy. I queried a few family surnames and came up with several pictures of interest. The photo at right is described this way: "Christine and Gunnar Ellison were shot at while returning home by a mystery gunman in the bushes. Their phone lines were also cut. Mrs. Ellison was struck in the ankle and is recovering at Swedish Hospital."

I recall a photo found among my mother-in-law's belongings labeled as "Gunnar Ellison," but I don't know if it's the same person.  

Pictured at left is Mrs. Earl S. Pierce and Judge James G. Kehoe.

Description: "Pierce, shown in St. Mary's Hospital, gives testimony."

James G. Kehoe was a Hennepin County Probate Court Judge and

my father-in-law's first cousin. Unfortunately the photo collection

doesn't include full stories and leaves one curious about details.

Click here for the link to the library's collection.