Ever wondered what LGBT life was like in Minnesota 20 years ago? 50 years ago? Even 75 or 100 years ago? Land of 10,000 Loves: A History of Queer Minnesota traces the history of LGBT people throughout the state’s history piecing together an often hidden past through oral history, artifacts from the University of Minnesota’s Tretter Collection, and old media reports.

Written by Stewart Van Cleve, you can get your hands on a copy at Magers & Quinn on Wednesday, Oct. 10 at 7:30pm. Van Cleve’s exploration of Minnesota’s LGBT history has been a feature on TheColu.mn since nearly our founding. In fact, it was Van Cleve’s The 100 Queerest Places in Twin Cities History that helped land him the book deal.

For a preview of Van Cleve’s attention to LGBT history in Minnesota, check out these articles:

Looking for Gays in the Gateway District and Looking For Gays in the Gateway District, Part 2 shares the early history of the area near the Gay 90s and Brass Rail.

A Woman’s Coffeehouse traces the history of a collective by that name that become an important organizing center for lesbian women in the early 1970s.

“Counterculture Queens” Making History at Gay House is about Minneapolis gay community center complete with a hotline, library, and community space. The founder of the Human Rights Campaign spent his youth at the Gay House.

In Chocolate Dandies, Vice Cities van Cleve pries open the hidden history of African American LGBT people in the 1920s and 30s in Minneapolis.

Molding a Generation, and Keeping Boys From Wearing Lacy Stockings looks at what could be viewed as reparative therapy ads from the early 1900s.

The 70′s Drag Queens of Hennepin Avenue looks at a venue for gender nonconforming youth in the early 1970s.

Exploring St. Paul’s oldest LGBT bar: The Townhouse discusses the iconic bar’s fate during the light rail construction.

For more information about the book and the signing on Wednesday, Oct. 10 at Magers & Quinn, visit the publishers page.