A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 28: Special State Senate Election, 1949

Campaign Flyer, State Senate Election, 1949

"It probably is not accurate to say that I was a prominent person when I ran for the legislature the first time, but I certainly was active. Someone on my campaign committee once remarked, 'Elmer, for all the activities you've been in, you're sure unknown!' That comment expresses the challenge every non-incumbent faces."

Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 27: Special State Senate Campaign, 1949

Postcard, Special State Senate Campaign, 1949

"I meant it when I told my Fuller colleagues after the disappointing 1948 election that I was through with politics for awhile, but I had not abandoned my goal of someday running for the legislature. I still loved the human interplay of politics, the competitive struggle for power, the premium put on ingenuity and resourcefulness. But I was not interested in running against [Charles N.] Orr or [Claude] Allen. In January 1949, at the start of a new legislative session, it did not appear that either of those two legislative titans would step aside anytime soon. Then, on January 10, Orr had a heart attack while driving to work, and died. A special election was called for February 8, just a month later….Immediately, I began to think about filing. A number of my fellow Republican Party workers urged me to run….Eleanor and I talked it over. She said, 'You've had this on your mind for so long, you'd better do it.' That sealed it. I decided to run."

Image courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 26: Eleanor

Portrait of Eleanor in her St. Anthony Park Home

"A number of major decisions confronted our family in the 1940s and 1950s, as my involvement in business, politics, and the community deepened. Though Eleanor often let me take the lead, we always made big decisions together. Eleanor was not as quick to decide a question as I was. She would generally raise more questions, to be sure I was thinking through all the alternatives and possible consequences. She would caution me against entering into things too hastily, and urge me to gather all the salient facts. Her standard comment was, 'We don't have to decide that right now, do we?' But when she saw that I really wanted to do something and convinced herself that I was not going to get into trouble, she would assent. Then she became energetic in her assistance."

Image courtesy Elmer L. and Eleanor J. Andersen Family

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 25: Views From the Publisher's Desk

Views From the Publisher's Desk. Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 1997.

"Over the years, many people mentioned enjoying the editorials and asked about the possibility of reprints. But it was my old friend Russell Fridley, former director of the Minnesota Historical Society, who impressed me with the comment, 'Elmer, there is some permanent worth in some of these editorials you're writing. I think you ought to put them into a book.' I was skeptical because I have never favored an author publishing a book at his own expense. I wondered if any established publisher would be interested in a compilation of my editorials. I found one who was willing—Norton Stillman of Nodin Press. Russell was willing to be my editor. And we had help selecting the editorials for the book from a young friend, Jaime Becker, a disabled woman with a clean, sharp mind and a beautiful attitude toward life."

"Views from the Publisher's Desk was published in 1997. It got reviews that made me blush. Dave Wood, the books editor for the Star Tribune, called it 'a book for all seasons by a man who has weathered many of them.'"

University of Minnesota Libraries, Andersen Collection

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 24: ECM Publishers, Inc.

Elmer, Tony and Julian circa 1996 at the dedication of the new ECM office building.

In 1976 "the Princeton Publishing Company was born, and operations began. The new newspaper's name was the Princeton Union-Eagle. The first issue under Andersen ownership was published on June 17, 1976—my sixty-seventh birthday."

"I was not in the newspaper business to make money. I was in it for the mission. Yet we could not carry out the mission for long unless Princeton Publishing turned a profit. Growth was still imperative to make Princeton Publishing secure. We began to think that growth required a new corporate name, one less specific to one community. The initials of the name of our printing plant seemed appropriate [East Central Minnesota Printing]. In 1987, Princeton Publishing became ECM Publishers, Inc."

Image courtesy Elmer L. and Eleanor J. Andersen Family

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 23: A Fuller Life

A Fuller Life: The Story of H. B. Fuller Company. [St. Paul: the Company, 1986.]

"The company was launched in 1887 when Harvey Benjamin Fuller, Sr., traveled from Chicago to St. Paul, Minnesota, with the sole intention of inventing and selling glue. In Chicago Fuller had experimented with glue mixing, while successfully buying, repackaging, and marketing an existing adhesive that was guaranteed to 'cement everything.' His marketing took the form of various promotional rhymes, including clever Mother Goose spoofs:

Maid was in the garden, hanging out her clothes
Along came a blackbird, and nipped off her nose
When she found her nose was off, what was she to do
But go and stick it on again with FULLER'S `PREMIUM GLUE.'

Fuller regarded St. Paul, together with its 'twin city' Minneapolis, as the ideal urban center to establish his business, for general industry was thriving there and competition was scarce. In addition, flour, then a key ingredient in glue making, was in abundant supply because of a strong agricultural base and such rising concerns as Pillsbury and General Mills' precursor, Washburn-Crosby Company."

University of Minnesota Libraries, Andersen Collection

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 22: Fifty Years with H. B. Fuller

Booklet, "Celebrating 50 Years with H. B. Fuller Company," 1984

"Any business ought to have three things clearly understood by all those it touches. It needs a philosophy, a guiding sense of its role in society, its values and its purpose. It needs a mission, a clear statement of it goals. And it needs a strategy specifying how it intends to accomplish its mission. Many businesses focus on strategy without giving any thought to philosophy or much attention to mission. Those businesses might enjoy some success, but I think it is bound to be short-lived."

Courtesy H. B. Fuller Company

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

100th Birthday Celebration in Honor of Elmer L. Andersen

Today marks the centenary of the birth of Elmer Lee Andersen. To celebrate the day we have a special event planned. We hope you can join us. Just look for our buttons! "I'm for Elmer L."

What: 100th Birthday Celebration in Honor of Elmer L. Andersen
When: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 7:30 p.m.
Where: Willey Hall
Free and open to the public.

Throughout his 95 years, Elmer L. Andersen was no stranger to adversity, to the improbable idea, to the impossible dream. His vision and perseverance was applied to seemingly endless endeavors—from building an international corporation to championing fair housing—mentoring everyone along the way, from his shipping room crew to university presidents. The fruits of his life and unending optimism live on in the people he touched and the state he loved.
The evening will feature:

• music by VocalEssence Ensemble Singers;

• remarks by University Librarian Wendy Pradt Lougee, Andersen’s son Julian Andersen, and Star Tribune columnist and Andersen biographer Lori Sturdevant;

• showing of "Legacy of a Leader: Elmer L. Andersen," a new documentary on Andersen’s life and legacy;

• opening dessert reception for A Man’s Reach: A Transforming Life, our new exhibit exploring Andersen's broad interests, his philosophies regarding government and business practices, and his impact on the University, the state, and the nation

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 21: Always Working and Showing Results

Chairman of the Board, H. B. Fuller Company, 1983

"Over the years, I have developed certain theories about human relationships, business management, good government, and more. I am convinced that these theories raised the level of my efforts in business and government from what they might otherwise have been."

"I did not play very much. I was always working. I am afraid I never learned to play with a clear conscience. I am reminded of a woman who said that she enjoyed something so much, it must be a sin. I know the feeling."

"[My father] infused in all of us a belief that work was not just duty. It was a privilege and an opportunity. As a result, we liked work. We liked projects. We liked to do things that showed results."

Image courtesy H. B. Fuller Company

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 20: Elmer as Publisher

Elmer working on a photo essay

"I turned sixty-five in 1974. To me, that birthday did not mean retirement; it meant new opportunities. It was time to pass the leadership of H. B. Fuller Company to our son Tony and to begin something new….When I left Fuller, I thought about the three goals I had set four decades before. I had achieved two of them: we owned and operated a farm, and I had served in the legislature. Perhaps, I thought, there was still time for the third goal, owning a weekly newspaper. It was an idea I had nursed through the years….

I joined the Minnesota Newspaper Association right away and learned about something they called the Skills Course. It is two weeks of intensive education in the basics of journalism. That is just what I need, I thought….My twenty-four fellow students were all bright, energetic, ambitious people—and all younger than I. I felt rather intimidated. To make matters worse, I had to qualify for the course by taking a test with three parts: typing, grammar, and current events. I had always been a two-finger typist, and not a fast one at that. I had not studied grammar for more than fifty years. I thought nervously that, maybe, I could get by on current events. As it turned out, I did well on the test and loved the course."

Image courtesy H. B. Fuller Company

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 19: Tony

Elmer and Tony Andersen

"The most important personnel change in 1971 was Tony's elevation to Fuller's presidency, at age thirty-five. I remained as chief executive officer. But as president, Tony had responsibility for all day-to-day activities and decisions. He was also the company's roving ambassador, scouring the world for new opportunities for Fuller. In a number of years in the 1970s, he was outside the United States more than two hundred days per year. Devotion to Fuller was nothing new for Tony. I always say that he started with the company when he was about six. He loved coming to the Eagle Street plant as a boy, and as soon as he was able, he was doing odd jobs. He spent his adolescent summers lugging barrels, labeling packing crates, and learning to operate mixing machines. After he graduated from Macalester College in 1957, he went to work full-time at Fuller. He has never wanted to work anywhere else."

Courtesy Elmer L. and Eleanor J. Andersen Family

"A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life" is on display through August 15 in the Exhibit Gallery, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 18: 'Double every five years'

Elmer visiting the St. Paul Plant of H. B. Fuller in the early 1970s, discussing raw materials used in making hot melt adhesives with process man Bill Tester


"The little one-plant glue company I bought in 1941 had become an adhesives industry leader, with twenty-seven plants and offices in the United States and ten in foreign countries. The goal I set decades before of doubling our sales volume every five years was still before us and was still being met. In 1970, we had reached about $48 million in sales. At the Christmas party that year, I spoke to the assembled workers. 'We have to stand by what we believe, and act on it. What we believe is that we're going to double every five years. If we're going to double in five years, that means it will be $100 million in 1975, and that means we'll need new plants and new territory.' After I finished speaking, I was told later, some people said, 'Elmer's been smoking that stuff again.' But I knew it was possible."

Image courtesy H. B. Fuller Company

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 17: Fuller Going Public

Elmer at H. B. Fuller, 1968

"In 1968, we were on the verge of becoming a public company. Underwriters interviewed us to gather information for potential investors. They asked about our employee benefits. When I got halfway through my recitation, one of them spoke up: 'That's enough! You have so many benefits people won't want to buy your stock. They'll want a job!'"


Image courtesy H. B. Fuller Company

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 16: Corporate Philosophy

H. B. Fuller Company Board of Directors, 1967

"Our corporate philosophy was built around four priorities in a definite order. Our highest priority, we determined, should be service to the customer. Anything the customer wanted should be seen as an opportunity for us to provide it. Number two was that the company should exist deliberately for the benefit of the people associated in it. I never liked the word employee. It intimated a difference in class within a plant. We always used the word associate. Fuller's third priority was to make money. To survive, you have to make money. To grow, you need money. To conduct research and develop new products, you must have money. The need for money can be desperate at times. But corporations must put the quest for money in its proper place. Our philosophy did not leave out service to the larger community. We put it in fourth place, behind service to customers, our associates, and the bottom line. Community service cannot be paramount to a business, but it ought not to be omitted, as it too often is. Business must concern itself with the larger society—for reasons of self-interest if nothing else."

Image courtesy Elmer L. and Eleanor J. Andersen Family

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 15: Fuller Overseas

Record book and journal documenting H. B. Fuller president Elmer L. Andersen's attempts to expand his company's business overseas. Includes notes from meetings with representatives of foreign companies as well as journal entries reflecting on his travels and on his impressions of the outcomes of the meetings. Notes and journal entries are dated between 1964 and 1967.

University of Minnesota Libraries, Rare Books, Andersen Collection, Quarto HD9651.9 .H18 A52 1964

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 14: Expansion at H. B. Fuller

H. B. Fuller Company, Annual Report, 1956

"Our expansion strategy kept the competition baffled. But we encouraged their confusion by intentionally spreading misleading signals about our affairs. They thought we were struggling mightily to keep all the new plants afloat, when I knew we had a lead-pipe cinch. The previous leaders in the adhesives industry operated in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. They had huge plants and big established investments. They could not start a new plant. What would they do with their big old plant? By comparison, we were popping around the country and setting up small plants in lively little markets. We kept our real estate costs down. We did not have large freight charges to pass on to the customer. National Adhesives, the biggest company in the industry, was very focused on making money. They maintained their prices at a high level, even when their share of the market dropped, in order to make more money. That was a blessing for little companies like Fuller."

Image courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 13: Dairy Farming

Elmer at the dairy farm, Deer Lake, Wisconsin

In 1953, twelve years after becoming president of H. B. Fuller Company, Elmer entered the dairy business. "One of my fellow Rotarians was both a practicing dentist in the Twin Cities and a farmer. I sought him out for counsel. 'What about owning a farm?' I asked. 'Is it a worthwhile venture?' He responded by raving about the joys of farming. It would add years to my life, he said. While on the farm, I would forget all my troubles. The children would love it. They would learn about life in a wonderful way. 'Elmer, it's the nicest way to lose money you could imagine,' he said."

"My advice to someone interested in owning a dairy farm today would be to make a job of it. Live there, be there all the time, establish standards, and see that they are followed, and a dairy farm can be a good business. But it is a demanding, 24-hour-a-day job. There is so much to attend to—calving, illness, accidents, a fence down, and animals on the loose, milking two or three times a day, 365 days a year. I gained great respect for a wholesome quart of milk."

Image courtesy H. B. Fuller Company

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 12: "Stick-to-itiveness" at Fuller

Newspaper Clipping, Minneapolis Tribune, November 23, 1952

"He's in the glue, paste and adhesives manufacturing business and he likes to describe it as one which holds the world together. There must be a generous sprinkling of the same products in his own makeup, because Elmer L. Andersen, president of the H. B. Fuller Co., is able to stretch himself out on a nationwide scale in business, all over the state as a legislator, and over many civic aspects in St. Paul. To do all that without coming apart at the seams, Mr. Andersen's friends insist, is due largely to the fact that he has a stick-to-itiveness quality matched only by his products."

Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 11: Beginnings at H. B. Fuller

Elmer and Harvey B. Fuller, about 1937

"I loved married life, but by the summer of 1934, I was growing dissatisfied with life as a traveling salesman. I was usually on the road for a week at a time. I hated being away from Eleanor for so long, and I knew that my absences would become more difficult if we had a child. I shared this concern with the manager of the Minneapolis School Supply Company, Vic Watson. He passed along word that H. B. Fuller Company in St. Paul, a manufacturer of school paste, was looking for someone to hire in sales promotion….Not long afterward, I was driving in St. Paul…and I noticed a sign on the side of a building: H. B. Fuller Company. I thought, well, it would not hurt to go in and see if that job is still open, and see what the people look like. I was ushered right in to see owner and president Harvey B. Fuller Jr. The job was still open. We began to visit about how I might fit in at Fuller….I liked Mr. Fuller. His style, values, and general outlook on life were appealing to me. And the job he offered did not involve traveling. After a few more visits with Mr. Fuller, I accepted….On October 8, 1934, I entered the employment of H. B. Fuller Company."

Image courtesy H. B. Fuller Company

A Man's Reach -- A Transforming Life, 10: Elmer's Tune

"We came home to the Hendon House—a brand new house with very little furniture. Neither of us brought much to our marriage in the way of furniture. But from the start, the Hendon House had a piano—a parlor grand Mason-Hamlin, one of the finest pianos ever made. My insistence got us that piano, before we bought any other furniture. It goes to show that I am not very practical sometimes. But I still think it was a good idea to buy it. Eleanor is a talented musician, and she deserved a fine instrument to play…."

"In 1985, when we built the house we live in today, the first new piece of furniture we bought for it was a new grand piano….By then, I had learned to play a little, too. There were a couple of pieces I could play quite well. One was 'The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise.' A friend who heard me play it once said, 'Elmer, I have never heard a person play so well with such a limited repertoire.'

Elmer's piano playing came in handy during the course of his political career, as shown in this clipping from the Minneapolis Tribune, September 20, 1960 during his candidacy for governor.

Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society, Elmer L. Andersen Papers, 146.c.15.2f