Posted: 11/20/07
Local historian's 7-year history project completed
It filled a void after retirement
 Max Malmquist, a native of North Branch, has compiled this four-volume collection of history. It's more about topics, he said, than history. The books are available at several local stores. |
By MaryHelen Swanson
Correction - The price of Max Malmquist's history books was incorrectly stated in last week's story. Volume I is $27 as noted, the other three volumes are $25, not $5 as written. We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience this has caused.
When he started out, he was just going to put together some historical information for local author Sue Leaf as she worked on her book "Potato City."
Leaf had asked Max Malmquist for this information because he was an "older person" in the area with some knowledge about the local history.
Seven years later, he finds himself surrounded with thousands of printed volumes of researched information in a four-volume collection he titles "From Prairie Chickens and Potatoes ... to Houses."
The journey was long and frustrating at times. Along the way, Malmquist's computer acquired a virus and 10,000 files were lost.
Everything was gone except for what he had already printed.
That was his epiphany and he decided he had to get organized.
As he collected the information for the books, he looked at almost every back issue of the Rush City Post and North Branch Review. He conducted dozens of interviews. He looked at every local history book as well to check the authenticity of his perceptions and memories.
Now you must know that history has not been Malmquist's forte.
He himself was a teacher of physics, meteorology, astronomy, and energy issues, as well as golf.
Though the work was long and arduous, he pushed on.. It was, however, a question from a 6th-grade girl that was the motivation to finish the project. She asked him why he would spend six years researching and writing about local history?
In the prologue of volume I is his response, "Not just old folks with extensive knowledge were passing away quickly, but so were the traditions of bygone ages disappearing with great rapidity as the local population changed five-fold between 1970 and 2005. It has become important for me to document the past and honor those who held different views and engaged in different lifestyles than many in the present, before all is forgotten."
While researching the old papers, Malmquist noted how much history was relayed in the old gossip columns.
He became aware also that one question began to bother him. How and why does change occur?
He concluded that it may have had to do with the persuasiveness of the community leaders.
Not being a writer by nature, he treated the project as a scientist would, he said, especially the economic cycles.
There he found three similarities with each new endeavor.
First, there was the euphoria period where it was believed they were going to make money and then the golden years when everything went well.
Finally, there was a decline.
He could see the pattern in each economic era.
The history is not really about North Branch, he said, but about topics.
Nearly 100 people and many organizations helped him in putting together these books. Thirty-three people read it over.
Who did he write these books for? Malmquist never gave it much thought, didn't exactly know who would be interested.
It's not a coffee table book, he said, could be used as a college text book, could be used for research, for classes, genealogy. But, then again, it could be a coffee table book.
The common comment from local people who have seen the collection is "Wow." They can't put it down, he said.
For Malmquist, the joy was in the journey, in the adventure of researching the information. When you go back and look at the old papers, he said, and see the names over and over, it extends your knowledge of the area. And then, he said, when you see that name in the obituaries some 30 years later, it's like you knew them.
Malmquist has come to admire the immigrants who settled this area. He is impressed with the honesty and thoroughness of the people who came here first. The myth that "life was simpler" was dispelled while learning about them, he said. They had to completely organize society when they got here. They had so many skills. He has come to the conclusion that people today would not have survived back then.
From his research, he feels he has a wonderful history of the past he never knew, even growing up in the North Branch area. He now sees how sophisticated and tough at the same time, these people of the past were.
There's a sadness in his voice now, sort of a let down now the books are in print because the adventure was in doing it, he said.
But it filled an academic gap for this retired instructor.
Malmquist taught physics, calculus and in the 1970s, energy issues, for 31 years at Anoka-Ramsey Community College. He taught physics for three years at Virginia High School and he taught natural sciences for one year at the University of Minnesota.
He retired in 1997, about the time he got the call to start this history book project.
It is with a great sense of accomplishment that he now offers the books to the public, having paid for the printing himself.
One day Sue Leaf walked in the door and a few years later he got infected with the history disease, he said.
There's humble pride in recovering from such an illness.
Where to find the books:
All four volumes can be purchased at Ace Hardware and Tower Liquor in North Branch as well as in the gift shop at The Villages of North Branch. Also at the Almelund Mercantile and Bear Books in Isanti. Volume I is $27, Volumes II, III, and IV are $25, all plus tax.
Comment from Jeff Wilcox, 11/26/07
Great job Maz (as your name once appeared in the Review!) and a true labor of love. I look foward to reading your books.
Jeff Wilcox
St. Petersburg, Fl
Comment from P. Olson, 11/26/07
I just purchased a set of these books at Bear Books in Isanti. The price was $25.00 for each volume (not the price quoted in the article) Still a good deal.
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