Whatever happened to the portraits of Winter Carnival queens that hung in a hallway at the St. Paul Hotel?
Those colored pictures of the tiara-wearing young women, which several generations of St. Paulites enjoyed, disappeared when the hotel was closed for renovation in the late 1970s. The good news is that the portraits, shot by well-known St. Paul photographer Kenneth Wright, were donated to the Ramsey County Historical Society and are safe in storage for showing at future carnivals.
“Ken Wright was the official Winter Carnival photographer, and our collection of his pictures dates from 1937 to 1979,” said Mollie Spillman, RCHS curator/archivist.
Other carnival memorabilia in the RCHS collection was donated about 10 years ago by the Winter Carnival Association. It includes clothing worn by former royalty as well as marching band uniforms and smaller items ranging from postcards and buttons to a 1937 songbook. There’s a mockup of the 1986 ice palace, designed by Ellerbe Associates, and a box of Ellerbe material regarding construction of the palace. Former carnival king Wallace Boss’ papers are in the collection, along with the carnival association’s financial ledgers from 1937 to 1959.
“People love to look at Winter Carnival things,” Spillman says. That’s why she organized a display of carnival material outside the RCHS’s new research center at Landmark Center, in the lower level area vacated by the Schubert Club.
Among the more intriguing items is a little booklet, probably dating from the 1920s, titled Rules of the Court. Apparently written as a guide to princesses, it sternly warns the women that they must be escorted to their hotel rooms between official appearances and must not leave until the next event.
Winter Carnival items, though, make up only 2 percent of the society’s holdings. A piece of the RCHS collection that could benefit many St. Paulites is the 191 boxes of St. Paul city building permits dating from 1883 to 1975.
Anyone researching a St. Paul building can find a record of construction done at that address through the years.
“We were given these records by the City of St. Paul in 2002, to improve the care and accessibility of these fragile documents,” Spillman said. “The records were in storage at a warehouse and not archived. Some were in apple crates and cardboard boxes.”
Spillman and research assistant Eliza Rosenberg arranged for the 200,000-plus documents to be placed in acid-free boxes, which are now in a climate- and humidity-controlled storage space.
“This is such fun, because you can touch the actual permit and people relate on a personal and emotional level to these kinds of historical documents,” says Rosenberg, who helps visitors do research.
Since RCHS has no money for acquisitions, Spillman is interested in looking at anything the public might want to donate.
“I can’t say what I want, because I don’t know what’s out there,” she says. “But I’m interested in things people might not consider donating, like hatboxes from Field-Schlick. Interior shots of local commercial buildings are very rare. So are pictures of neighborhoods.”
The public is invited to use the society’s research collection or talk to Spillman about donations. For hours and other information, call 651-222-0701 or go to rchs.com.
Mary Ann Grossmann can be reached at 651-228-5574.
Copyright 2011 Pioneer Press.
