BONUS- Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Chimneysweeps

Welcome to a very special BONUS episode of Minnesota Unknown!

This is a companion piece to our first episode, which covered a bugle-playing chimney sweep named Skunky Norton who was a beloved local celebrity in St. Paul at the turn of the 20th century. You don’t necessarily have to have heard our first episode to understand this one, though we do hope you’ll check it out if you haven’t already.

Our original edit of the first episode was about twice as long, mostly because we went on a long digression into the broader history of chimneysweeps. We talked about the evolution of the profession from its origins in the 1500s through the 20th century, and looked at regional differences between chimney sweeping in Britain, the US, and continental Europe.

Ultimately, we decided to cut most of the background material from that first episode, and keep it focused on Slunky Norton and Saint Paul. However, we think the parts that we cut were nonetheless pretty interesting, and that this extra material really helps put Slunky in context. So we are pleased to offer that background context here as a special bonus episode.

Meanwhile, we’ll be releasing a new regular episode on a completely different soon. Be sure to follow or subscribe so you don’t miss it. But for now, listen on to learn everything you ever wanted to know about chimney sweeps!

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Content Warning: this episode includes discussion of child labor, mistreatment of children laborers, child death, slavery, and racism.

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Click here for shownotes, bonus images, links to more resources, transcripts, and a list of sources cited.