The Uniting Cultures Who We Are, How We Got Here: Collecting Stories oral history collection shares stories collected from residents of St. James, Minnesota between 2017-2024. During this time, the St. James community became more culturally and economically diverse. People wanted to share and hear each other's stories of identity and belonging. Uniting Cultures, an organization committed to nurturing cross-cultural connections, collected a first set of interviews that were summarized in a book distributed in the community. This book was very well received, and community members wanted more opportunities to hear and tell stories. Next, in partnership with Convivencia Hispana, Odell Wood Farm Community Fund, the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment, Otto Bremer Trust, Mayo Clinic Health System, the Southwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership of UMN Extension, and UMN Morris’ Center for Small Towns, the organization worked to collect, transcribe, translate, code, and share additional stories. This collection includes the original book of summarized stories and more recent transcriptions as well. The collection is a companion to a traveling exhibit in St. James that addresses the six common themes found among the stories: movement, place, encounters, traditions, and changes. These transcripts have been redacted to protect the identities of the storytellers. Uniting Cultures members and their community partners, with input from the storytellers, made this choice to encourage community members to feel safe sharing their stories.
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ID126 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in Mexico. Immigrated to and lived in Iowa for many years with her children before moving to St. James. Had some negative and racist experiences in Iowa but really appreciates the welcoming community she experienced in St. James. She has worked hard to provide for her children and to build a better life for them.
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ID127 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Man born in the late 1990s in Guatemala. The youngest son of seven children and has only been living in the U.S. for two years at the time of the interview. Some family members came before him to the U.S. He continues to live and work in St. James.
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ID129 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the early 40s. She is from Tamaulipas, Mexico. She got her name from her grandfather. She came to the United States in 1994 with her passport to come live with her son, however her husband stayed in Mexico. She likes St. James.
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ID130 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the early 80’s from Mexico. She has 6 siblings. When they were growing up her father lived in the United States to be able to provide for their family. When she was 17, they decided to join her dad and one of her brothers in St. James. She is still in St. James. She is now married to a man who is from El Salvador and they have children in college.
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ID131 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the early 90s. She is from Texas, engaged in elder care for a relative in Mexico, completed CNA training, and then came to Minnesota to find work. Her mother’s sister already lived in St. James. Interviewee came here about 9 years ago.
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ID132 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the early 70s. Is from Mexico and lived in El Paso, Texas before coming to St. James, MN. She has always been the one to take care of everyone else since she is the oldest. She is very strong in her faith.
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ID133 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Man from Mexico born in the early 60s. He describes the differences in the economic statuses of the different cities where he lived in Mexico. An agricultural engineer by training, he describes positive experiences in his job working with porcine breeding. He has positive experiences to share about life in the Upper Midwest for him and his family.
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ID134 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the early 90’s in Honduras. Raised by her father and decided to come to the United States for work and safety. Feels welcomed and supported in the St. James community.
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ID135 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the early 2000s from El Salvador. Discusses different types of violence and poverty that push people to leave. She details some of the reasons she decided to come to the US. Discusses how she works hard to provide for her family back home and how she survives the loneliness by relying on her faith.
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ID137 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Honduran woman born in the mid-50s. Came to the U.S. during the pandemic with one of two granddaughters to reunite her with her dad. Describes a difficult childhood of poverty and loneliness after her parents died. Immigration story includes separation from her teenage granddaughter, who navigated the buses because she is able to read, as they tried to enter the U.S. under Trump’s immigration policies.
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ID138 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the mid 60s in Guatemala. Talks about growing up in poverty in Guatemala, near the border with Belize. She came to the west coast of the United States and then with her child, moved to St. James. Throughout her life she worked hard, relied on her faith in God, and survived many challenges.
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ID139 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman from Mexico born in 1940. She actively takes care of her son’s household but is quite lonely as he works a lot. She has a good relationship with her daughter-in-law. And another family member that she has spent time with lives in Dallas. She participates in a group for older community members in St. James.
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ID140 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman born in the late 50s in Honduras. Talks about how difficult it is to find work and be able to provide for her family in Honduras. She has no family in the area, but a couple nieces and nephews in other states in the U.S.
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ID200 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
3rd generation woman of Swedish descent. Grew up in Illinois, and moved to St. James when she married her husband from St. James. Worked as an art teacher in St. James, on the farm with her husband, and as a homemaker raising her children
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ID201 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Male of 3rd generation from Danish descent. Born and raised in Nicollet, his family moved to St. James around the age of 10 and 11 years old. Worked as an Agricultural teacher and farmer.
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ID202 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
A female of 2nd generation Welsh descent. Growing up on a farm in Le Sueur, she had saved money while working at Green Giant to go to school in Saint Paul where she would meet her husband through acquainted friends and went back to Mankato for a job. After marrying her husband, he got drafted into the Korean War and moved around the United States and eventually had their first child born in Alaska. They moved back to St. James on the family farm.
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ID203 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
2nd generation of Swedish and German descent. Born and raised in St. James, where he met his wife from Butterfield, Minnesota and had two children together. He joined the National Guard, worked in the elevator for a few years, drove trucks, and then began farming in 1980. He continues to live in St. James today
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ID204 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Of Scandinavian (English, German, Swedish) descent. Grew up around the Trimont area on her parents farm, before getting married and raising her kids on the farm. She and her husband moved to Odin to be closer to their son and remained there until she moved to St. James to live in a co-op after her husband passed away in 2000. She worked as a part-time substitute teacher after graduating Gustavus at the age of 44 with an English degree.
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ID205 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
6th generation of Norwegian descent. She grew up on the family farm about 9 miles from Westbrook. She worked at a law firm in the cities until she married her husband in 1965, where they built a house close by St. James.
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ID206 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Female of 3rd generation of Mexican descent. Born in Petersburg, Virginia but raised in Laredo, Texas next to the Mexican border living in a home with three generations. Up until COVID (around 2020), she and her husband with their two children have lived in Houston, Texas before moving to St. James, Minnesota. She works in the hospital setting while pursuing her associates degree in Mankato, Minnesota
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ID207 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Female of 5th generation having lived in Minnesota with ancestors from Norway, Sweden, and Ireland. Lived on the farm with both parents, with five siblings, making it six children. Worked at a bank after graduating, then moved to California for a few years with her sister before moving back to Minnesota. Moved to St. James after her husband passed away.
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ID208 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Woman adopted from Lebanon by Norwegian and Swedish parents while they were living in Saudi Arabia. Grew up in Saudi Arabia until moving to Houston, Texas, and then Balaton, Minnesota. She married a Norwegian man, and together they live on a farm. She’s always been fascinated by different cultures, and the ways they are similar and different.
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ID209 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Lutheran pastor descended from Norwegian immigrants. He was born in Starbuck, Minnesota and moved to St. James when he became the pastor at the Lutheran church.
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ID210 Oral History
Uniting Cultures
Recollections of a childhood and a Swedish family history in rural communities and St. Paul, Minnesota.
