February 2024

LIBRARY NEWS

Adult Winter Reads

Although spring has been in the air recently, we're still in the midst of our Winter Reads Reading Challenge. Now through the end of February, submit your bingo cards and book reviews for a chance to win a book bundle.   

• BINGO: Settle into your armchair and embark on a reading journey this winter. Explore different genres with our Winter Reads bingo game. Enjoy a mystery set in the Northwoods, warm up with a romance in a tropical location, or go deep into space with a sci-fi adventure. Four in a row earns a prize.
• READ. REVIEW. REPEAT.: Your book reviews and ratings are wanted! Help us find the next great read … or tell us what books to avoid. Read or listen to a book and provide us with a short review and rating. Then read the next book and repeat.

Stop by the library to pick up a bingo card, submit a book review, or both. You can also join in online at stillwaterbayportlibrary.beanstack.org. With your first book review or completed bingo square, earn a participation prize while supplies last. All entries will be placed in a drawing for book bundles at the end of February. The more entries you submit, the better your chances of winning! 

Tiny Art Competition

As part of Winter Reads, we’re currently accepting submissions for our tiny art competition. Let your creativity soar but keep your work smaller than five inches by five inches. Pick up your art supply kit at the information desk (while supplies last), or use your own materials to create something in a different medium.

Submissions are due by Friday, February 23, 2024. Entries will be judged during the last week in February and entered works will be displayed in the library. The competition is for adult patrons.

WINTER READS: READER PICKS

Settle into your armchair with a local reader recommendation. These books received a 5-star rating or top review in submissions from readers during the Winter Reading Challenge. Do you have a review you'd like to share? Submit online at Beanstack.

From Our Archives

Minnesota State Prison, Circa 1900

Pictured above is one of two prisoner dining halls at the old Minnesota State Prison at Stillwater. The photo dates to around 1900. There were two dining halls for prisoners, one reserved for the “first-grade” prisoners and one for the “second-grade” prisoners (the remaining third-grade prisoners dined in their cells). The dining halls had strict rules, that prohibited talking, laughing or even looking around the room. Prisoners were only permitted to eat and drink once the gong had sounded signaling the beginning of the meal and had to stop once the gong ending the meal had sounded. Other rules included not putting meat on the table or vinegar in drinking water (perhaps a form of poor man’s wine?).

Pictured below are the uniforms worn by prisoners. As described in the 1909 book, Convict Life at the Minnesota State Prison, prisoners were grouped into three grades and each grade had its own uniform.

• First-grade (right in photos): This uniform consisted of a “neat gray suit and cap.” First-grade prisoners were permitted to write one letter each week, received a ration of 4 oz. of tobacco per week, and were allowed to have visitors once every four weeks. They also dined in a separate dining room where they received a greater variety of food, such as “butter and other relishes,” which prisoners in the lower grades did not receive.

• Second-grade (middle in photos): Prisoners of this grade wore a black and grey check suit and cap. They were permitted to write one letter every two weeks, received “a small ration” of tobacco each week, and were allowed visitors once a month. They also had their own dining room but were served food of less variety than the first grade.

• Third-grade (left in photos): Uniforms were black and white striped. They received no writing, tobacco or visiting privileges and had their meals served in their cells. According to “Convict Life…”, all new prisoners donned the second-grade uniform when they were admitted to the prison. The book does not confirm, but we presume that their subsequent behavior would lead to either promotion or demotion. 

These photographs are part of the John Runk Photograph Collection at the library. Dining hall rules and other aspects of prison life can be found in Convict Life at the Minnesota State Prison. Although not credited, John Runk is believed to have been the photographer for many of the photographs that appear in the book. He is also known to have been the photographer for many of the prison’s mugshots. This photo is part of a large group of prison photographs in the John Runk Photograph Collection. They, as well as the other photos in the Runk collection, can be viewed in the St. Croix Collection at the library.

UPCOMING EVENTS

IN THE GALLERY

Student Art Show

Visit the gallery in February to view the beautiful and inspirational works by young students of Lena Wolf Rothman. The exhibit includes work from 20 of Rothman’s students and features subjects ranging from animals, nature scenes, boats, and even dinosaurs. 

• Thaddeus DeCaro (10): Thaddeus DeCaro lives in Stillwater with his parents, siblings and grandma. Besides art, he loves reading, soccer, baseball, and planes. His favorite artistic medium is graphite.
• Estelle Erickson (11): Estelle is 11 years old and attends 6th grade. When not experimenting with baking recipes with her older sister, she loves practicing the physical artform of contortion, acrobatics and plays the piano and baritone. Her favorite art medium is pencil, where she expresses her creative talents.
• Evalina Erickson (13): Evalina is 13 years old and attends 7th grade. She loves to bake with her younger sister, fostering the bond between them. Evalina plays both the piano and guitar, yet her true passions lie in painting, sketching, and drawing. These pursuits serve exhibit her creativity and dedication to the visual arts.
• Brooklyn Flansburg (12): Brooklyn is 12 years old and loves animals and gymnastics. She loves mountains, the ocean, exploring outside and getting her hands dirty. Brooklyn also likes games and puzzles.
• WoonYi Hanson (13): WoonYi enjoys art, music and sports. He attends 7th grade at St. Croix Preparatory Academy. He is the middle of 3 boys. He attended three art classes with Lena Rothman last summer, and they were the highlight of his summer.
• Clara Jones (12): Not only does Clara enjoy drawing, she also creates a range of textile arts including sewing garments, making plush animals, embroidery, and other crafts. She also loves downhill skiing and swimming.
• Ester Jones (13): In addition to drawing, Ester loves dancing ballet. This year she danced in her 7th Nutcracker. Ester is also an accomplished pianist and an enthusiastic amateur herpetologist.
• Victor Jones (11): Victor, and his sister, Clara, love to draw together. They particularly love to create whole worlds that span reams of paper. Victor also enjoys practicing jiu jitsu and downhill skiing. 
• Ella Kromer (11): Ella is 11 years old and homeschooled in Stillwater Township. She has three younger siblings, two guinea pigs, and a dog. Her interests include drawing, baking, reading and doing crafts.
• Hugo Krueger (14): Hugo loves to learn about nature and science.
• Jenna Lang (11): Jenna lives in Stillwater. She enjoys gymnastics, being outdoors, and spending time with her parents and 5 siblings.
• Eden Lund (14): Eden is 14. Eden is a hard worker and loves to do art in free time.  Eden is proud of ‘Tolls of Life’ and hopes you will like it, too.
• Derionna Rushing (14): In her free time, Derionna loves to play sports, paint, crochet, and watch movies. She has enjoyed learning new drawing techniques this past summer.
• Alice Sanders (9): Alice loves to dance, do acrobatics, and perform for those around her. She also likes to go ice fishing with her Dad.
• Emily Sanders (13): Emily loves to read and spends most of her days doing so. She also enjoys gymnastics, and is hoping to soon join a team.
• Grace Sanders (15): Grace enjoys playing the guitar and piano, as well as singing along. She is also a bit of a book lover as well.
• Paige Sanders (11): Paige is an animal lover, mostly of dogs. She enjoys listening and singing to music. Paige also loves serving those around her.
• Chloe Smith (12): Chloe enjoys reading, writing short stories with illustrations and mountain biking. Her favorite subjects are art, math, piano and percussion.
• Abram Williams (11): Abram loves to be outside in creation. It is the source for a lot of his creativity. He is a deep thinker with clear ideas in music, drawing and building. He plays the cello and is learning guitar. He also has a particular love of horses and has studied them for several years.
• David Williams (13): David is a great caretaker of birds. He is currently responsible for a flock of ducks, a flock of chickens and has recently hatched a quail. David is a multi-instrumentalist, playing violin, mandolin, and banjo. His art work reflects his admiration for creation and the details of design he sees in it.

Lena Wolf Rothman, a celebrated local artist, has been working with students since the early 1980s to pass on her love of art and classical Dutch and Flemish principles learned through years of training. She studied at Atelier Lack with Stephen Gjertson and Richard Lack. More recently, Rothman studied with Jeff Hurinenko, a Dutch Flemish portrait and genre painter; Joseph Paquet, a plein air painter; and at the Florence Academy of Art. Rothman teaches the principles she learned in her extensive studies – beginning in black and white, learning basic skills such as rendering accurately what you see, seeing relationships, and how to make the subject three-dimensional.

Lena says that it has been a great joy for her to teach and see her students produce such wonderful work. She has been richly blessed with wonderful students and families!