How many Paul Bunyan statues do you think there are in Minnesota? There are more than you might think and they often perpetuate false narratives about the history of Native Americans, lumberjacks, and the United States. This presentation explores the symbolic history of Paul Bunyan in Minnesota with a Q-and-A session afterward. Jaeger will cover his recent research on Paul and Babe in Minnesota’s public spaces and the effects their presence can have. This project uses maps and archival research to tell the history of Paul Bunyan as a corporate and artistic icon nationally.

Johnathon Jaeger is a southern Minnesota-native and is completing his graduate work at the University of Minnesota’s Heritage Studies and Public History master’s program. He is studying how individuals and groups have created an identity in the past, and how those identities reverberate today. His professional work focuses on museum collections management, digitization of museum collections, and historical interpretation.