Spray of the Falls

The Journal of the Living History Society of Minnesota

Every issue contains articles of interest to students of the mid-19th Century, including the Civil War era in the United States , as well as listings of upcoming events, reviews of past events, photographs from various group activities, original artwork, a gossip column (The Whispers) and other bits and pieces of information about and for members of the Living History Society of Minnesota, Inc.

Back Issues Available

• Volume XVIII, No. 2, June 2006, focuses on Transportation and features, in part, the following articles:
  • M&PRR: Then and Now, Minnesota Transportation History Timeline, and A Trio of Transportation Book Reviews, by Maj. Jos. Lucking
  • The First Railroad in Minnesota, by Col. Wm. Crooks (submitted by Herr D. Grabitske)
  • History of the Hastings & Dakota Railway: A Letter, written by William LeDuc, transcribed by Mr. F.LaBreck (submitted by Mrs. S. LaBreck)
  • Book Review: Minneapolis and the Age of Railways, by Judge Wm. Wittenbreer
  • "Mrs. Henry H. Sibley is Admirably Qualified": The Mount Vernon Ladies Association in Minnesota, 1858-1869, by Herr D. Grabitske (part 2 of 3)
• Volume XVIII, No. 2, January 2006:
• Volume XVII, No. 2, November 2005:
• Volume XVII, No. 1, January 2005: Cover art
  • How to Wear the Beard, excerpted from Wilkes' Spirit of the Times, October 8, 1859, page 77, column 3
  • The Season for Skating, excerpted from [Little Rock] National Democrat, January 16, 1864. From The Chicago Journal. Chicago on Ice.
  • Advice to Green Skaters, excerpted from Vanity Fair, January 28, 1860
  • Behind a Mask, A Theatrical Review by Miss Claire Wickland
  • Early Minnesota Baseball in the Pre-Professional Era, 1857-1868, Part 2, by Mr. Dean R. Thilgen
• Volume XVI, No. 4, October 2004: Cover art
  • Early Minnesota Baseball in the Pre-Professional Era, 1857-1868, Part 1, by Mr. Dean R. Thilgen
  • The Tradition of Toasting by Herr Doktor T. Crumbbs
  • Base Ball 1860s Ballpark Food by Mr. J. Lucking and Mr. Dean R. Thilgen
  • Popular Vote for President in 1860, excerpted from The Ladies' Repository: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. XXII, February 1861.
• Volume XVI, No. 3, July 2004: Cover art
  • Exhibit Review: "Currents of Chagne: Art and Life Along the Mississippi 1850-1861" at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, by Mr. W. Wittenbreer
  • Book Review: Grand Excursion: Antebellum America Discovers the Upper Mississippi by Steven J. Keillor, Afton Historical Society Press, 2004. Reviewed by Mr. W. Wittenbreer
  • No More Waltzing, excerpted from The Ranchero [Corpus Christi, TX], November 19, 1859, page 4, column 2.
• Volume XVI, No. 2, April 2004: Cover art
  • Book Review: Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave. by Jennifer Fleischner. Broadway Books: ISBN 0-7679-0258-0. Reviewed by Mrs. Longley
  • Spring Cleaning with the Sibleys, excerpted from a letter from Sarah Jane Sibley to Mary Bronson LeDuc, April 30, 1869.
  • Thoughts on Housekeeping, excerpted from And You Think You've Got It Bad: Turn of the Century Life and Housekeeping. Barabara Fairchild Graham, North Star Press of ST. Cloud, Inc. 1989
  • Theatrical Review: An Evening at the Theatre: The Alamo by Mr. D. M. Grabitske
  • A Season for Cleaning, excerpted from At Home: The American Family 1750-1870 by Elisabeth Donaghy Garrett; Harry N. Abrams, NY, 1990
  • Three-Cent Meals from an Iowa Housekeeper, excerpted from A Prairie Kitchen: Recipes, Poems & Colorful Storeis From The Prairie Farmer Magazine, 1841-1900. By Rae K. Eighmey, 2001.
• Volume XVI, No. 1, January 2004: Cover art
  • A Strauss Concert, excerpted from "Invalid Rambles in Germany In The Summer of 1845", from Rural Letters and Other Thoughts At Leisuer, by N. P. Willis, Baker & Scribner, New York, 1849.
  • Book Review: Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century and Other Lost Stores by Jack Finney, Doubleday & Company, New York, 1983. Reviewed by Mrs. LaBreck
  • Excerpts from The Piano in the United States by James Parton. From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, Issue 117, July 1867.
  • A Music Teacher Out West, from Dwight's Journal of Music, Boston, Dec 24, 1859
• Volume XV, No. 4, October 2003: Cover art
  • When Hamlet Came to Minnesota, by Mr. Peter Clark
  • Amateur Theatricals Recall Homemade Entertainment, by Miss Cathy Taylor, reprinted from The Old Times, March 2001
• Volume XV, No. 3, July 2003: Cover art
  • River vs. Rail and How We Got to the State Fair in 1865, by Paul E. Nordell
  • The Dakota War of 1862 - Inevitable?, by Miss Osman
  • Book Review: Nothing Like It in the World, reviewed by Mr. J. Lucking
• Volume XV, No. 2, April 2003: Cover art
  • The Age of the Crinoline, by Miss Elizabeth Harkness
  • The Language of Flowers, excerpted from Wood's Class-Book of Botany, designed for Colleges, Academies and other Seminaries. by Alphonso A. M. Wood, 41st Edition, Crocker & Brewster, Boston, MA, 1856
• Volume XIV, No. 2:
  • American Sublime: An Artistic Review, by Mr. W. Wittenbreer
  • Early Celebrations, by Mr. David M. Grabitske
  • The Drolleries of Santa Claus, excerpted from Woodworth's American Miscellany of Entertaining Knowledge, Francis Woodworth, Boston, Phillips, Sampson, and Company, 1855
  • Our National Thanksgiving, excerpted from Editor's Table by Sarah J. Hale, Godey's Lady's Book, November 1858
• Volume XIII, No. 2:
  • Mary Mc.Donald: a Sibley County Mystery by Mr. D.M. Grabitske
    The story of a female recruit in 1862
  • Letters from the Frontier 1861-64 ­ Exerpts from "A Frontier Family In Minnesota: Letters of Theodore and Sophie Bost 1851-1920 Ed. Ralph H. Bowen, 1981
• Volume XII, No. 2:
  • Bouquets and How to Arrange Them, excerpted from Peterson's Magazine, 1860
  • Bibliography of Gardening Books, by Miss Weinhold
  • A Review of High Life in New York by Jonathon Slick, 1854
  • "Weird Victorian Crafts Department, or, Why Would Anyone Want to do That?" For Crystalizing Grasses, Flowers, etc. by Mrs. A.M. Hollingsworth, excerpted from Peterson's Magazine, 1860
  • Gail Hamilton on Farming in Minnesota, excerpted from Wool-Gathering by Gail Hamilton, Ticknor and Fields, Boston, 1867
  • On the Preservation of Vegetables, J.D. Easter, from The Southern Banner, Athens, Georgia, July 22, 1863
  • Lavender Basket, Mrs. Jane Weaver, excerpted from Peterson's Magazine, 1860
• Volume XII, No. 1:
  • Dress Under Difficulties; or, Passages from the Blockade Experience of Rebel Women, by Elzey Hay, of Georgia, reprinted from Godey's Lady's Book, July 1866
  • Mrs. L. N. Monmouth, and How She Lived on Forty Dollars a Year, by James Parton, excerpted from Daughters of Genius: A Series of Sketches of Authors, Artists, Reformers, and Heroines, Queens, Princesses, and Women of Society, Women Eccentric and Peculiar From the Most Recent and Authentic Sources, Hubbard Brothers, Philladelphia, 1886
  • Feather Flowers from the Southern Banner, Athens, GA, May 18, 1864
  • Godey's on Fashion, excerpts from Mr. Godey's Ladies, Ed. Robert Kunciov, Bonanza Books, New York
  • An Observation Regarding the Peculiar Fashion of Battered Headwear, from The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Second Series, by Robert Newell, Carleton, Publisher, New York, 1862
  • A Fern Soliloquy, by Fanny Fern, Fern Leaves From Fanny's Portfolio, 1853
  • Oscar Wilde in the South, excerpts from Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellman, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1988