Jeanette May Papers

Collection

Identifier: M/A 0257

Staff Only

Description of Contents

This collection documents Jeanette May and her community activism through meeting minutes, proposals, by-laws, correspondence, brochures, government documents, memos, and other records associated with the following organizations: St. Anthony East Neighborhood Association (SAENA); Project NEAT; Northeast Community Organization (NECO); Project Area Committee (PAC); Capital Long-Range Improvements Committee (CLIC); I-335 Concerned Citizens Committee (I-335 CCC); and Alternate to I-355 Land Use Committee.

The collection also contains newspaper clippings from local and neighborhood newspapers referring to Jeanette May and projects she was involved with, as well as articles authored by May.

Dates

Creation: 1965 - 1990
Creation: Majority of material found within 1970 - 1985

Creator

May, Jeanette (Person)

Access

The collection is available for use in Special Collections at Minneapolis Central Library during the department's open hours.

Biography

Jeanette May (1931-2018) was a long-time resident of Northeast Minneapolis and a community advocate. She was born in Braham, Minnesota, and moved to Northeast Minneapolis in 1941.

An active member of the St. Anthony East Neighborhood Association (SAENA), she was involved with several other committees and sub-committees. Her most prominent activism involved her work to save the Grain Belt Brewery from demolition in the late 1970s and blocking the construction of highway I-335 in the mid-1970s. The freeway would have passed through Northeast Minneapolis along Central Avenue. Although land had already been cleared for construction, Jeanette May and the I-335 Concerned Citizens Committee were able to stop the freeway. After the freeway project was halted, Jeanette May continued to work with the Alternate to I-335 Land Use Committee to repurpose the cleared land. May also ran for First Ward city council in 1977.