Explore America and discover people, places, art, and history that connect to Minnesota in the Smithsonian’s collections, held in trust for the American people. Known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota proudly embraces winter with beloved pastimes like ice fishing and ice hockey. Minnesota has produced many notable writers, Sinclair Lewis became the first American to win a Nobel Prize in Literature. Other prominent writers from the state include Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder, feminist thinker Dr. Kate Millet, and novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Minnesota is also the birthplace of cartoonist Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, which featured beloved characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, the only musician to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, hails from Duluth. Immortalized at Paisley Park are the extraordinary musical abilities of Prince Rodgers Nelson.
In the late 1950s, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul began to be known as an important hub of medical technology. Later dubbed "Medical Alley," the area continues to innovate in the fields of medical technology and patient care. Minnesotan innovation has also led to the creation of Scotch tape, the Toastmaster—the first electric pop-up toaster, and the original Bundt Pan.
