Cokato Museum & Gust Akerlund Studio

Last updated
Cokato Museum & Gust Akerlund Studio
Cokato Museum 2017.jpg
The Cokato Museum from the southwest
USA Minnesota location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Minnesota
Established1976 (1976)
Location175 4th Street Southwest, Cokato, Minnesota
Coordinates 45°4′31.5″N94°11′26″W / 45.075417°N 94.19056°W / 45.075417; -94.19056 Coordinates: 45°4′31.5″N94°11′26″W / 45.075417°N 94.19056°W / 45.075417; -94.19056
TypeLocal history
Website http://www.cokatomuseum.org/
August Akerlund Photographic Studio
August Akerlund Photographic Studio 2015.jpg
The August Akerlund Photographic Studio from the southeast
Location390 Broadway Avenue, Cokato, Minnesota
Coordinates 45°4′31.3″N94°11′25″W / 45.075361°N 94.19028°W / 45.075361; -94.19028
AreaLess than one acre
Built1905
ArchitectGust Akerlund
NRHP reference No. 77000777 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 11, 1977

The Cokato Museum & Gust Akerlund Studio is a local history museum in Cokato, Minnesota, United States, focused on the city of Cokato and the surrounding townships of southwest Wright County. The museum comprises two adjacent buildings, the modern museum hall and the August Akerlund Photographic Studio—the only known early-20th-century photographic studio still standing in the Upper Midwest. [2] The museum is operated through a partnership between the City of Cokato and the Cokato Historical Society, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Cokato Museum

The Cokato Museum opened in 1976. [3] Its permanent displays explore the region's cultural, economic, and social history. A second gallery features temporary exhibits built around local history themes. [4] Within the museum are several full-size replicas, including a furnished log cabin, a partial reconstruction of the Titrud Round Barn, and an early-20th-century streetscape. [3] The museum also has a research area, which includes local newspapers, state and federal census records, church records, cemetery listings, and family histories. [5]

Gust Akerlund Studio

The Gust Akerlund Studio was the commercial photography studio of Swedish immigrant August "Gust" Akerlund (1872–1954). Akerlund operated the studio for most of the first half of the 20th century. Akerlund purchased the building from another Cokato photographer in 1902. In 1905 he had the studio moved to its current location and added a skylight. [6] In 1927 he married Esther Hanson, who was thirty years his junior, and within the next few years he had an apartment added to the rear of the studio to serve as their living quarters. [3]

The studio was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 for its local significance in architecture and commerce. [7] It was nominated for being one of the few surviving examples of an early-20th-century photography studio. [8]

Esther Akerlund continued to live in the studio apartment until shortly before her death in 1985. Their son Ted donated the studio and its contents to the city for restoration, and it opened to the public in 1986. [3] The building still contains its original furnishings, arrayed as they appeared in the 1930s, including the Akerlunds' pump organ, horsehair couch, and Mission style rocking chair. [3] In the studio are Akerlund's cameras and other equipment, plus his collection of over 14,000 negatives, of which over 11,000 are glass plate negatives. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cokato, Minnesota</span> City in Minnesota, United States

Cokato is a city in Wright County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,799 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cokato Township, Wright County, Minnesota</span> Township in Minnesota, United States

Cokato Township is a township in Wright County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,238 at the 2000 census. Cokato Township was organized in 1868, and named for the Sioux language word meaning "at the middle". The 1896 Cokato Temperance Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Steichen</span> American photographer, artist, and curator

Edward Jean Steichen was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography.

New Zealand photography first emerged in the mid-nineteenth century, and over time has become an important part of New Zealand art. A number of photography associations exist to support photographers in New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two Harbors Light</span> Lighthouse

The Two Harbors Light is the oldest operating lighthouse in the US state of Minnesota. Overlooking Lake Superior's Agate Bay, the lighthouse is located in Two Harbors, Minnesota. The construction of the lighthouse began in 1891 and was completed the following year, with the light being lit for the first time on April 14, 1892. The first Two Harbors keeper was Charles Lederle and there were normally three keepers assigned to make sure the light was lit every day. The Lighthouse was built to provide safe passage into the Agate Bay Harbor during the early 20th century, as Two Harbors was a major shipping point for the iron ore of the Mesabi Range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Swedish Institute</span>

The American Swedish Institute (ASI) is a museum and cultural center in the Phillips West neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The organization is dedicated to the preservation and study of the historic role Sweden and Swedish Americans have played in US culture and history. The museum complex includes the Swan Turnblad Mansion, completed in 1908, and the adjoining Nelson Cultural Center, completed in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H. H. Bennett Studio</span> United States historic place

The H. H. Bennett Studio is a historic photographic studio and photography museum located in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, United States. The studio building was built in 1875 by noted landscape photographer H. H. Bennett. It was operated by his family until 1998, when the studio was donated to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Today the studio, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, serves as a historical museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historic England Archive</span> Public archive in Swindon, England

The Historic England Archive is the public archive of Historic England, located in The Engine House on Fire Fly Avenue in Swindon, formerly part of the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crow Wing County Courthouse and Jail</span> United States historic place

The Crow Wing Historic County Courthouse, in Brainerd, Minnesota, United States, is a Beaux-Arts courthouse built in 1920. The building, along with its adjoining jail, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Blue Earth County, Minnesota</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. It is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, United States. The locations of National Register properties and districts for which the latitude and longitude coordinates are included below, may be seen in an online map.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Wright County, Minnesota</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Wright County, Minnesota. It is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Wright County, Minnesota, United States. The locations of National Register properties and districts for which the latitude and longitude coordinates are included below, may be seen in an online map.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women photographers</span> Women working as photographers

The participation of women in photography goes back to the very origins of the process. Several of the earliest women photographers, most of whom were from Britain or France, were married to male pioneers or had close relationships with their families. It was above all in northern Europe that women first entered the business of photography, opening studios in Denmark, France, Germany, and Sweden from the 1840s, while it was in Britain that women from well-to-do families developed photography as an art in the late 1850s. Not until the 1890s, did the first studios run by women open in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jun Fujita Cabin</span> Historic house in Minnesota, United States

The Jun Fujita Cabin is a historic summer cabin in the U.S. state of Minnesota, owned by photographer and poet Jun Fujita (1888–1963). He built it in 1928 on an island in Rainy Lake, an area of the Boundary Waters that later became Voyageurs National Park. The cabin was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 for its local significance in the themes of art, Asian ethnic heritage, and entertainment/recreation. It was nominated for its association with Fujita, one of the first Japanese Americans to gain prominence in the American Midwest, and as a rare surviving example of the early recreational development of the Boundary Waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pasadena Museum of History</span> Library, Museum in California, U.S.

Pasadena Museum of History is a private, nonprofit museum and research library located in Pasadena, California. It is the only institution dedicated to the history, art and culture of historic Pasadena and the west San Gabriel Valley. Headquartered on the grounds of a century-old Pasadena estate, facilities include the Pasadena Museum History Center, the Fenyes Estate and gardens, a research library and archives, the Curtin House, and the Finnish Folk Art Museum. With public exhibits, tours, lectures, seminars, and workshops, the Pasadena Museum of History promotes an appreciation of history, culture, arts and sciences relevant to Pasadena and adjoining communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belle Johnson</span> American photographer

Belle Johnson was an American photographer, active primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Described as "eccentric, independent and unorthodox," Johnson was a charter member of the Federation of Women Photographers, and has been inducted into the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame. Her work, which included character studies, photographs of animals, and still lifes, won numerous awards and frequently appeared in contemporary photography journals in the early 1900s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cokato Temperance Hall</span> Building

The Cokato Temperance Hall is a historic clubhouse built in 1896 in Cokato Township, Minnesota, United States, to serve as an alcohol-free social center in a rural Finnish American community. It was constructed by a local temperance society at a rural crossroads which became known as Temperance Corner. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places under its full Finnish name Cokaton P.R.S. Onnen Toivo Raittiusseura in 1976 for its local significance in the themes of European ethnic heritage and social history. It was nominated for its association with the temperance movement and importance to the cultural life of an immigrant community. The hall is now maintained by the Cokato Finnish American Historical Society, which has moved other historical structures nearby to form the Finnish Pioneer Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hormel Historic Home</span> Historic house in Minnesota, United States

The Hormel Historic Home, also known the Cook-Hormel House or simply The Hormel Home, is a historic Italianate style home with Classical Revival facade located in Austin, Minnesota. The home was built in 1871 and was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheaton Depot</span>

The Wheaton Depot is a former train station in Wheaton, Minnesota, United States, built circa 1906 to handle both passengers and freight. It was built by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad to replace an 1885 depot that had burned down, and remained in service until 1976. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 as the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Depot for having local significance in the themes of architecture and transportation. It was nominated for being a well-preserved example of an early-20th-century combination depot built on a standard design, and for being the best symbol of the railroad's crucial impact on the community.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Welcome to the Gust Akerlund Photography Studio". Cokato Museum & Cokato Historical Society. 2014. Retrieved 2015-06-20.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Hanson, Krista Finstad (2007). Minnesota Open House: A Guide to Historic House Museums. St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN   978-0-87351-577-1.
  4. "Cokato Museum Exhibits". Cokato Museum & Cokato Historical Society. 2014. Retrieved 2015-06-20.
  5. "Holdings list for Cokato Museum research". Cokato Museum & Cokato Historical Society. 2014. Retrieved 2015-06-20.
  6. "The Life and Times of Gust Akerlund and the Akerlund Photo Studio" (PDF). Cokato Museum & Cokato Historical Society. Retrieved 2015-06-20.
  7. "Akerlund Photographic Studio". Minnesota National Register Properties Database. Minnesota Historical Society. 2009. Retrieved 2015-06-20.
  8. Nelson, Charles W.; Susan Zeik (1976-08-28). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form: Gust Akerlund Photographic Studio" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-06-20.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)