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Romancing the river; A new exhibition celebrates the Mississippi River as a fountainhead of national pride and style.(ENTERTAINMENT)

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From: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
Date: 20040704
Author:Abbe, Mary

Byline: Mary Abbe ; Staff Writer

Almost forgotten now, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha" was, when published in 1855, an international hit that brought instant fame to a little Minneapolis cascade called Minnehaha Falls.

Tourists steamed up the Mississippi clutching copies of the book; artists flocked to paint and photograph the falls, and composers set Longfellow's verse to music. A mere four months after the poem's appearance, a clipper ship called the Minnehaha, after Hiawatha's bride, was launched in Boston harbor complete with an ...

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