I thought of my great-grandfather G. Oliver Riggs earlier this week when I read that the Minnesota Zoo’s black bear exhibit was opening this weekend.

According to David Peterson’s article in the Star Tribune’s South section, “Minn. Zoo bearing up well, indeed,”  the new 15,000-square-foot exhibit is home to three orphaned black bear cubs from northern Minnesota. They are the first black bears ever to live at the zoo, and they already have been a big hit with families who have previewed the exhibit.

The exhibit apparently emphasizes the prevalence of bears in pop culture – and this reminded me of the legendary encounter G. Oliver had with a bear in northern Minnesota more than a hundred years ago.

I went to the Minnesota History Center’s library yesterday – I like to think of it as my St. Paul office – hoping to learn more about a 1935 photo of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that I recently acquired from a second cousin. 

After I’d spent 70 minutes with the microfilm machine, I decided the St. Cloud Daily Times was not going to help me better understand the connection between the photo and my great-grandfather, Minnesota bandleader G. Oliver Riggs.

Now that the presidential conventions have concluded, I’m hot on the trail of a mystery involving President Roosevelt and my bandleader great-grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs.

Which President Roosevelt, you ask? I thought I knew the answer to that question until yesterday, when I received a package in the mail from my second cousin Patricia.

Patricia – whom I’ve only met via email – said in January that she had a photo of G. Oliver playing for President Roosevelt in front of a hotel.
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