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The final lecture sponsored by the Society for the Study of Local and Regional History (SSLRH) will be from 6-8 p.m. Thursday Sept. 17, at the Marshall-Lyon County Library. Under the title "Remembering Home: Perspectives on Change," the speakers are former congressman, lawyer, and judge David Minge and Stephen Carpenter, the deputy director and senior staff attorney for the Farmer's Legal Action Group (FLAG).
Minge served as a Minnesota congressman for the second congressional district of southwestern Minnesota from 1993 to 2001 and was appointed judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 2002. He served as judge for 10 years, retiring in 2012. Minge has served on many conservation-focused boards and the Minnesota River Watershed Collaborative.
Carpenter serves as the deputy director and senior staff attorney at the Farmer's Legal Action Coalition (FLAG). He joined FLAG in 1993, supporting the non-profit's mission to provide legal services and support to family farmers and their communities to help keep family farmers on the land. At FLAG, Carpenter's work has centered on discrimination in ag lending policies, debtor-creditor issues, help for beginning farmers and federal farm programs.
The SSLRH began in 1990 with the mission to preserve and promote the study of Southwest Minnesota's historical, cultural, ethnic and religious heritage. With publications and conferences devoted to new themes and approaches to rural history and contemporary life, the SSLRH sought to show that this region and its people deserved careful study and broad reflection. The group brought national scholars together with local historians and students to study this region.
Over the span of 30 years, under the direction of Professor Joseph Amato, the SSLRH produced the Rural and Regional Essay Series and Historical Essays of Rural Life Series on topics as diverse as the changes in midwestern meatpacking to the sounds of a developing prairie town. The SSLRH published almost thirty different essay chapbooks written by national scholars as well as Southwest State University students and local historians.
With the loss of Amato in January of 2025, the remaining board members have chosen to close the books on the SSLRH with one last lecture dedicated to his memory. There will be a time to share memories of Dr. Amato from those who knew him as a teacher, friend and colleague. The SSLRH will have a selection of books to give away to participants.
For more information contact: jan.louwagie@smsu.edu