Description

Glass wine cooler with a straight-sided cylindrical cup on a thick solid glass base with a glass handle on either side. On the front of the piece in frosted glass are the words "Gaviidae Common". Gaviidae Common is a shopping mall and office complex in downtown Minneapolis near Nicollet Mall. The center occupies two full city blocks and is connected to the Skyway. The name is a reference to the common loon (Gavia immer, of the genus Gavia and family Gaviidae), the state bird of Minnesota. This wine cooler was presented tro Barbara Flanagan, a well-known Minneapolis journalist and columnist whose career at the Star Tribune spanned from 1945 to 1988. Throughout those four decades, Ms. Flanagan presided at countless official ground breakings and ribbon cutting events and collected dozens of commemorative items, from pins and buttons to wine glasses and hard hats. She donated them to HHM in 1993.