Arts | Page 28 | MNopedia

Sheet music featuring Mary Marble

Cover of the sheet music of “Rag Time Mixes My Brain,” featuring a photograph of Mary Marble performing in drag at the California Theater in San Francisco, 1900. Marble performed in Minnesota in 1897. Reproduced in Amy Sueyoshi’s “Mindful Masquerades: Que(e)rying Japanese Immigrant Dress in Turn-of-the-Century San Francisco,” Frontiers 26, no. 3 (2005): 67–100.

Paul Vernon

Paul Vernon in San Francisco, ca. 1885. Vernon performed in Minnesota over the course of his long career. Bancroft Library, University of Berkeley.

Flora Dora Girls

Members of a Minnesota Elks Club ready to perform in drag as the Flora Dora Girls, 1908.

Drag Performance in Minnesota, 1880–1950

Drag performance, historically referred to as “male impersonation” or “female impersonation,” was a popular act in Minnesota theater from the 1880s through the 1920s, reflecting the heyday of vaudeville nationally. As vaudeville declined after the 1920s, drag moved to standalone performances in bars and nightclubs, intertwining with Minnesota’s increasingly public queer scene. The shift coincided with drag queens of color gaining visibility and the emergence of drag celebrities—not just as humorous side acts in larger productions, but as artists in their own right and practice.

Crowd at dedication of third Shaynowishkung statue

Crowd at the dedication of the third statue of Shaynowishkung (He Who Rattles, also known as Chief Bemidji), June 6, 2015. Photograph by Red Lake Nation News. Used with the permission of Red Lake Nation News.

Base of third Shaynowishkung statue

Base of the third statue of Shaynowishkung (He Who Rattles, also known as Chief Bemidji), installed in Bemidji in 2015. The bear's paw print indicates Shaynowishkung's connection to the bear clan of Ojibwe. Photograph by Peter DeCarlo, 2019. Used with the permission of Peter DeCarlo.

Third Shaynowishkung statue and landing area

The third statue of Shaynowishkung (He Who Rattles, also known as Chief Bemidji) and surrounding landing area. The statue was installed in Bemidji in 2015. Photograph by Peter DeCarlo, 2019. Used with the permission of Peter DeCarlo.

Committee members and Ojibwe leaders at statue dedication

Committee members and Ojibwe leaders at the Shaynowishkung (He Who Rattles, also known as Chief Bemidji) statue dedication ceremony, June 6, 2015. Pictured, left to right, are Carolyn Jacobs, Mitch Blessing, Jon Romer, Larry Aiken, Windy Downwind, Kathryn "Jody" Beaulieu, and Joe Day. Photograph by Red Lake Nation News.

Ojibwe spiritual Leader Larry Aitken with Shaynowishkung statue

Leech Lake Ojibwe spiritual leader Larry Aitken speaking at the dedication ceremony for the third statue of Shaynowishkung (He Who Rattles, also known as Chief Bemidji), July 6, 2015. Photograph by Michael Meuers for The Circle, July 2015. Used with the permission of The Circle.

Removal of the second (1952) Shaynowishkung statue

Removal of the second statue of Shaynowishkung (He Who Rattles, also known as Chief Bemidji), originally installed in Bemidji in 1952. Photograph by the Bemidji Pioneer, 2014. Used with the permission of the Bemidji Pioneer.

Gale Family Library