In May 1937, Minneapolis Tribune photographer Merle Bull was sent out on assignment to capture images depicting the return of spring. His photo essay focused on farm animals in rural areas, including Robbinsdale. Here are some of his photos and captions.
Merle Bull was the Tribune staff photographer in the 1930s and ’40s. His other work found in Hennepin County Library’s Minneapolis Newspaper Photo Collection includes visiting royals from Sweden, water polo at the YMCA, and Park Board activities, and young patients at General Hospital and on its rooftop play area.
Bull also photographed paintings from “the exhibit decorating the West hotel in anticipation of ‘The Dance of Surrealism’ to be a feature of the first annual ball of the Minnesota Artists Union to be held in the Moorish of the West hotel.”
Another photo essay by Merle Bull, published in the Tribune January 1, 1940, was titled “Mice That Got Away.” Desiring to shoot a series of images of mice and mousetraps, Bull was evidently an advocate of “no animals were harmed in the making of these photographs.”
Bull set traps to snap closeups of mice lured in by cheese, and then set up “a photographic device using batteries, flash-bulb and a camera in order to capture these images. Bull wired the trap in a way so that it wouldn’t spring onto the rodent.”
The image of piglets at the top of this post was published as part of staff photographer Merle Bull’s photo essay about the return of spring. Minneapolis Tribune, May 2, 1937. Hennepin County Library.