WHO WE ARE

photo © 2008 Matt Newberry                 

Neal Baxter

Founder and originator of this website, Neal Baxter has roots in Minnesota back to the mid-1850s. His relations first settled in Minneapolis in the 1870s. He was moved to begin collecting material on the politics of Minneapolis while researching his great-grandfather, John G. Robb, who was an alderman.

Neal began collecting information on topics that interested him soon after learning to write. A compulsive listest, he first compiled lists of animals he knew about; later Neal's imagination reached into historical time, music in a variety of styles, geography, politics and language. Poetry baffles him. Neal has a good memory for data, but none for narrative.

Neal has performed as a listest in venues around Minneapolis. He has a Luddite sensibility, and walks everywhere. You may have seen him.

Ruth Sobcinski, of the City Archives Department, who first took an interest in this project, and let me look for data among the old books;

Becky Spensley, also of the Minnneapolis Archives Dept., who also helped me dig deep into the stacks;

Heather Lawton, and the staff of the Minneapolis Public Library Special Collections Room, for information from deep within the data mine;

Jack Qvale, of the Board of Estimate, who gave me an invaluable list of members of that Board;

Linda Silver, Minneapolis Board of Education staff, who opened their archives to me;

Ryan Curry, of the Minneapolis Library Trustees staff, who let me rummage through their wonderful records;

P.A.M. Lesch, tax specialist, for helping me with the intricacies of setting up a non-profit;

Elizabeth Nerud, of Lunds, who put her expertise as a socialite at my disposal;

Matt Newberry, website developer, for extraordinary exertions, both in designing and preparing this website, and in explaining to me what we were doing;

Susan Wagner Ginter, communications consultant, for help with all promotional and explanatory literature;

Helen Burke, of the Minneapolis Public Library, who can find any government document in the collection, quickly;

Priscilla Goldstein Pierce, for good advice and spreading the word;

Tracy Nordstrom, Vice-President of the Minneapolis Park Board, for help with succinctly describing and explaining this amorphous undertaking;

The Board of Directors of Highwood Press:

  • Elizabeth Pringle, Washington, D.C., playwright
  • Craig Carlson, Minneapolis, banker
  • Phil Styrlund, Apple Valley, capitalist
  • Deb Fondell, Burnsville, teacher
  • Paul Holte, Minneapolis, computer geek

I began collecting data for this website on May 10, 2004, in City Hall, Minneapolis.