Breaking News

Recent Reads

Here are few of my favorite recent reads. Library staff would be happy to help you place requests on these or any other titles. If you’d like to place your own request, visit www.newulmlibrary.org and choose Library Catalog. A new school year has begun at Tiffin Academy. Amid the flurry of dorm assignments, class schedules, and football games, the campus discovers that Tiffin has been ranked number two on America Today’s list of U.S. boarding schools. This is a positive step for the campus, but the extra attention is unnerving, especially when the campus is still reeling from the ...

Bohemian glass artists excel in quality, variety

There are numerous ways to decorate glassware, and 19th-century Bohemian glass artists excelled in all of them. They often used multiple types of decoration on the same piece. For example, a small glass beaker or tumbler that sold for $75 at an auction by Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates fits multiple layers, cut panels, colorful enamel, and gilding into its 3 3/4-inch frame. It is attributed to Harrach, a glasswork founded in the 18th century and still operating today as Harrachov in what is now the Czech Republic. Harrach experienced its golden age, when it won medals at world ...

Lighting up the night

On Thanksgiving, lights returned to Sportsman’s Park in Sleepy Eye as part of the Holiday Lights in Motion. This was the first time since 2023 that the park was decorated for the Christmas season. Sleepy Eye Holiday Lights in Motion took a year off in 2024 but is back now. Holiday Lights ...

Gueridon: A French table with some character

If you enjoy trivia, picking up obscure historical references is part of the fun of antiques. Most people probably haven’t heard of Gueridon, a character from 17th-century French farces. But if you’re a fan of antique furniture, you may be familiar with gueridon tables. Maybe you have one. A gueridon is a small table with a round top, originally designed to hold a candlestick. They may have long, thin legs or a single column support. As their name suggests, they were first made in France in the 17th century. Early designs often had supports shaped like human figures, which may be ...

A dream job in Antarctica

David Keller, a New Ulm native and graduate of New Ulm High School, works as a heavy equipment operator at McMurdo Station in Antarctica — the largest U.S. research base on the continent. He’s currently stationed there for the austral summer season, which runs from August to March, ...

Cooking with Kids

I love to watch cooking shows. No cuisine is off limits for me and there is no age restriction for the contestants. I really like watching kids cook and bake. I am amazed at the skills I have seen these young chefs and bakers display. They are far more talented than I am in the kitchen. At times I wish I had spent more time with culinary arts. I also wish I had spent more time in the kitchen with my children learning how to cook and bake. One of my fondest memories with my kids is making sugar cookies at Christmas time. They weren’t the most beautifully decorated and probably tasted ...