Within the aftermath of the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ recent win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Minnesota football airwaves were stuffed with hot takes and column inches, all trumpeting the Floyd of Rosedale trophy’s illustrious return to the U of M campus. But subscribers to Joy Mulholland’s entertaining and edifying Instagram account “Joy in Minnesota” were treated to this lede and perspective:
“You will have heard that Floyd of Rosedale will return to Minnesota’s trophy case after the Gophers beat Iowa 12 to 10 last weekend. But did you already know that the origin of the rivalry is definitely rooted in racism?”
Mulholland goes on to detail the tensions that arose after the Gophers beat Iowa badly in 1934, with the Hawkeyes complaining post-game about Minnesota’s intentional roughing-up of their running back Ozzie Simmons, who was Black. The incident led to Minnesota governor Floyd B. Olson betting with Iowa governor Clyde Herring around state hogs that yr, and a few nine many years later, Mulholland concludes, “It’s a fun tradition, but let’s not forget the more serious reason it began. Violent discrimination almost led to the breakdown of a relationship between schools, and as colleges and teams across the country proceed to struggle with racial equality and inclusion, all of us must keep standing up for what’s right.”
That form of perspective — gleaned in 90-second Instagram videos — is what makes “Joy in Minnesota” such a sensible weekly treat, because it travels around Minnesota teaching its 10,000 followers quick-hit history lessons.
“Most of my posts are relevant to something that is going on today,” said Mulholland, an Iowa State alum whose family has “deep Gopher roots,” including her husband Steve, a former Gopher football player-turned-sports columnist.
But her posts go way beyond football and have included stories on Minneapolis’ East Phillips neighborhood, Dakota history, St. Paul’s Hidden Falls, and the history of Minneapolis’ Marcy-Holmes neighborhood.
“I’ve done projects on racism and various things which are happening within the Twin Cities because I believe people need to know the context they usually wish to feel that connection. They need to grasp and, unfortunately, [legacy] journalism, they’re so hamstrung with either space or time they will’t get right into a deeper context, and funders don’t wish to pay for that sort of coverage and things like that. And I don’t have anybody that I’m answering to aside from myself so I can speak about whatever I need to speak about,” Mulholland said.
On the Gophers-Hawkeyes rivalry, Mulholland said she wondered, “Where did this even start? How does a pig turn out to be a trophy?”
“I actually thought it was just going to be a few pig farm in Iowa,” she said, adding that she also thought in regards to the story of Jack Trice, a Black player at Iowa State within the Twenties who died of his injuries the day after the Gophers beat the Cyclones. “Do I really like stating that ‘Hey, there’s this darker story to this fun thing that we’ve got?’ Not necessarily, but I do think it’s price knowing and it helps us appreciate how far we’ve come.”
It’s what newspaper columnists and talk-radio hosts have done for years—provide a perspective and a voice, and “Joy in Minnesota” joins a growing Insta-trend of history and travel vlogs that attract audiences that the majority mainstream media don’t even know exist. (Mulholland is a giant fan of Lakewood Cemetery’s similarly themed account.) Her clips are freed from promoting and out of doors editing, and that DIY approach is an element of the appeal, whether she’s reporting on the state’s variety of lakes, the history of Longfellow Gardens and “Song of Hiawatha,” or herself.
The whole production is skilled, reportorial, and quick-hitting, and doesn’t depend on the personality-over-content ethos that so many social media influencers depend on. Somewhat, it’s nuts-and-bolts reporting boiled right down to 90 seconds, and for the moment, Mulholland is comfortable doing it at no cost for her growing Instagram and TikTok audiences. Still, “Joy in Minnesota” begs for a wider audience, a lot in order that some smart producer of local TV news or “Almanac” should pick it up.
“That will be the dream,” said Mulholland, whose day gig is as a producer with chef/restaurateur Andrew Zimmern’s cooking show on the Outdoor Channel. But when COVID shut down the tv industry, she began making history videos on her own. Now her “hobby” has “taken on a lifetime of its own,” with story ideas and suggestions coming from friends, family, and complete strangers, all of whom appreciate her work as a response to a certain pervasive strain of shallow reporting.
Mulholland: “I wasn’t getting that deeper insight, that deeper understanding of, ‘OK, that’s beautiful, but what happened there? Who lived there? Why does it matter?’ And in addition, ‘Why are we protecting these places, these historical landmarks? Why are these places more helpful than other places? Just give me more.’ I used to be like, ‘OK, I’m not finding it. I’ll make it myself.’ And the knowledge is there. We’re blessed with the Minnesota Historical Society, which has been around since before we were even a state. We’ve vast resources of research and archives and so many things available to have a look at to seek out the history, nevertheless it is figure and it’s work that individuals don’t necessarily have time for of their on a regular basis life. So, I’ll do it.”
Mulholland hopes her hobby will someday turn out to be paid work, though she still desires to have the liberty to report on what interests her.
“I don’t wish to have a sponsor that’s telling me what content I can and can’t do, or that I even have to make a mention of a product that I possibly don’t like,” she said. “But when I can find Minnesota corporations, Minnesota products, or Minnesota businesses that I can lift up, that is sensible, which have a history, which have a legacy, which have a reason behind them that I believe connects to an audience, that may be amazing. I don’t know where to go, though, without giving up a few of that freedom and autonomy and honesty.”
Mulholland’s love of history was cultivated by her father, who was a jazz drummer in Chicago clubs, and whose lessons led her to major in music history at Iowa State. “Joy in Minnesota” has tackled business, arts and agriculture history, and the episode on the history of the Minneapolis Athenaeum garnered 40,000 views. Considered one of her first and hottest posts was “Can a Rock Be Racist?,” on the Pond brothers, who wrote the primary [Christian] history of Minnesota and whose first home sat on the shores of Bde Maka Ska.
“Here I had been living lower than a mile away from it for five, six years, and I had no idea about that story,” she said. “And I believe for a whole lot of people it’s the identical thing: They pass by monuments and landmarks on a regular basis and don’t know the history behind them. And I don’t blame them, but whenever you discover it, it just makes you are feeling like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve lived this. I’ve lived this wealthy history right in my backyard.’ And even when it’s not necessarily a brilliant history, or heroic history, it’s still history. After which whenever you meet other people, they usually possibly know the story otherwise you tell the story, you then feel connected to that person by sharing that story, and it’s just amazing how those connections occur.”
All in 90 seconds.
“Yep, I gotta cram all of it in in 90 seconds. I do attempt to follow up on my blog with a more fleshed-out version. I need to offer people the references, I need them to know where my sources are, I’m not only making these things up, it’s legit. You realize, I am going back to the unique sources as much as I possibly can. But yeah, simply to fit it into 90 seconds is kind of a challenge.
“Everybody has their very own connection to it. After I search for stories, I sometimes take into account my brother-in-law who shouldn’t be from Minnesota, he’s a transplant from Recent York State who’s lived here for the last 20 years. He appreciates it because he doesn’t know any of this; he doesn’t know ‘Why is the whole lot named after Hennepin, or what’s up with Summit Avenue?,’ and it’s fun to listen to feedback from people who find themselves discovering the state — and folks who’ve lived here their whole lives.”
A mixture of COVID lockdown, DIY media technology and widespread skepticism about institutions and history has fueled a brand new interest in history, and “Joy in Minnesota” is leading the renaissance here.
“I don’t know when it began,” Mulholland said. “I don’t know what the impetus was, but I do feel like there definitely is that this growing distrust of what we were taught growing up and what was in our history books, and persons are craving honesty and craving the unvarnished truth. Not in some form of judging way, but just, ‘Tell me the facts, take away this propagandized handed-down history, and tell me the actual facts and let me make a choice myself about how I feel about it.’
“History is written by the winners, right? But nowadays persons are more questioning of history and need to know more. I even have an enormous list of stories that I need to inform, and the toughest part is deciding which am I going to do at once? Whether it’s relevant, it goes by so fast, gotta get it on the market, but I gotta pay the bills first. So I attempt to squeeze in as much as I can — like, yesterday, I recorded five videos, just attempting to sustain, like with any hobby.”