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Foot warmer warms hearts as well as toes

Lifestyle Columns

Ever since humanity moved into temperate climates, we have faced the problem of how to keep warm in the winter. Our extremities are especially challenging. Throughout history, people have come up with various types of foot warmers, and many of the old types are collectible today. One of the most popular types among collectors has a small wooden frame and punched tin panels. The example shown here, measuring 6 by 10 1/2 inches, sold for $53 at Strawser Auction Group. One panel is hinged on one side, so it opens like a door, and an open metal container inside the box is filled with hot ...

‘A walk through history’

Lifestyle Feature

From Dec. 29 to Jan. 8, students and chaperones from New Ulm Cathedral High School had the opportunity to travel on a pilgrimage to Italy, visiting Assisi, Nettuno and Rome during their trip. The 13 students and seven chaperones hit sites such as St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museum, ...

Putting a price on a memory (jug)

Lifestyle Columns

Can you put a price on memories? This memory jug sold for $1,125 at Slotin Folk Art Auction. Memory jugs like this one, with decorative items embedded into the surface, are a famous African American art form. They are believed to have originated in Central and West African traditions, where graves are decorated with broken objects or vessels of water. Broken objects are said to represent the breaking point between the afterlife and the land of the living, allowing the deceased’s spirit safe passage. Water was believed to be the path to the spirit world. Enslaved Africans continued ...

Hulke hitting stride, fitting in with Vikings

Lifestyle Feature

MANKATO — Every player's journey to the collegiate basketball court is a little different. The pace-of-play expectations often remain the same, but not every player has the comfort level their freshman year that Bethany Lutheran College’s Morgan Hulke has. And while she originally had to ...

A Bicentennial Year

Lifestyle Columns

2026 marks two hundred fifty years since the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence. As countries go, we’re relatively young in culture and identity. On the bright side, our form of government has endured for two and a half centuries – much longer than many other modern countries. As you think about the year ahead, consider some of these great nonfiction titles in our collection that can help you better understand, appreciate, or celebrate the events that started a nation. You may have seen them posted on a classroom wall or framed in a school hallway, but when was ...

Citizens State Bank celebrates 150 YEARS

Lifestyle Feature

With 800 people, the village of New Ulm was need of more banking services in 1875. Citizens State Bank opened Feb. 1, 1876 in downtown New Ulm. Citizens was not the first bank in New Ulm. There were a handful of older banks in New Ulm prior to 1875. A new bank building made of stone, ...