A screening of a new documentary DVD on the life of Ernest Oberholtzer will be shown in Borderland on both sides of the border.
The public is invited to see “Ober’s Island: A Living Legacy” at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Ranier Community Building, or at either of two showings, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., on Monday at the Fort Frances Museum. Its creators, filmmakers John Ruebartsch and Dena Aronson, will introduce the documentary and take questions following the screening.
Ruebartsch, a professional photographer who lives in Milwaukee, told The Journal that he became intrigued by Oberholtzer after first reading about him in Louise Erdrich’s book “Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country.”
Thereafter, he made a serendipitous connection with some of the Oberholtzer Foundation members when visiting an outdoorsmen store in Minneapolis where the conservationist and his Hudson Bay trip were featured. Told he could visit the island where Oberholtzer lived most of his life, Ruebartsch followed his curiosity.
He had never been to Rainy Lake, he said, and was first impressed by its beauty. But when he actually visited the Oberholtzer island home and learned of the man’s sophistication beyond his rugged existence, he was spellbound.
“When I got there the island itself was really spectacular,” Ruebartsch said. “But then you kind of walk into his life. I walked into his office, and it was like nothing had even changed.”
Ruebartsch was also seduced by the books and buildings on the island, Oberholtzer’s friendship with the Ojibwe, and the fact that he was a photographer like himself.
After half a dozen trips to Rainy Lake over an extended period, the result was the documentary which Ruebartsch thought would be better than just a photo essay on the subject.
“It’s a big story so obviously we don’t cover the whole thing in 35 minutes,” he said.
Considered a wilderness preservationist, explorer, photographer, student of Ojibwe legend and oral tradition, and authority on the Minnesota-Ontario boundary lakes region, Oberholtzer was the original architect of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. To this day, Oberholtzer’s vision for the preservation of this area’s lakes lives on, say the film makers.
“Ober's Island: A Living Legacy” examines the life, times, and legacy of Oberholtzer from the vantage point of his island home on Rainy Lake. A man of may facets, “Ober” played classical music on the violin, studied landscape architecture at Harvard, and co-founded the Wilderness Society.
“My home all these years has been an acre-and-a-half rocky island in Rainy Lake, half a mile from the Canadian border,” Oberholtzer reportedly said. In spite of being warned about his potentially deadly heart condition, Ober traveled from that location through Lac la Croix, Mine Center, and the Quetico and undertook an arduous four-month-long canoe trip to Hudson Bay and back with Billy Magee, his Ojibwe friend.
Incorporating wisdom from his native associations into his wilderness life, Ober would then don a business suit and briefcase to make his preservation presentations in Minneapolis and Washington D.C.
Ober loved people, Ruebartsch and Aronson discovered. He created a salon-like atmosphere on Mallard Island, his home for half a century, attracting a constant stream of visitors, including artists, intellectuals, woodsmen, and Ojibwe traveling down-lake in their canoes. The work of the Oberholtzer Foundation and the preservation of Mallard Island on Rainy Lake continue the tradition today.
The $24.95 DVD of the documentary is available for purchase at the Koochiching County Museum.
If you go:
WHAT: Screening of new documentary “Ober’s Island: A Living Legacy”
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday at the Ranier Community Building; or
2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Monday at the Fort Frances Museum
Admission is free • Questions taken following screening
