Sherman Holbert was born in Texas in 1915. His parents soon separated and he came to live with his grandparents in the Mille Lacs area and grew up in Sherman's Point, adjacent to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indian reservation. As a child he played with the Indian children and learned the Ojibwe language. Following his service in the Army Air Force during World War II, Holbert returned to the Mille Lacs area and began his career as a business entrepreneur. In 1946 he started a maple syrup business in which sap from the maple trees of local landowners was processed in his factory in Onamia. The maple syrup business was closed in 1952. Holbert then started a business to collect and nationally market the wild rice of the Mille Lacs area. Rice was collected primarily from Mille Lacs Band members and processed and sold by Holbert. This venture was the largest distributor of wild rice in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. Holbert sold the wild rice business in 1969.
In the meantime, Holbert and his wife Maxine began developing a gift shop and tourist stop with the old maple syrup factory buildings. During the 1950s and 1960s they developed "Fort Mille Lacs," a landmark tourist attraction along Highway 169 near Onamia. It included an Indian village, gift shop, museum, and restaurant. Over the years more than thirty members of the Mille Lacs Band were hired to demonstrate craftmaking, staff the Indian village, and perform traditional dances. In the years following World War II, Holbert began amassing his extensive collection of American Indian objects and became a noted expert in woodland Indian artifacts. His collection was displayed as part of the exhibits at the Fort Mille Lacs tourist attraction. During this time Holbert produced several educational films on wild rice and maple sugaring and on local Ojibwe culture. After the Fort Mille Lacs site closed, Holbert turned his attention to developing his collection and to buying and selling Indian artifacts and handcrafts. He also undertook several development projects with his property which were operated under his corporation, the Fort Mille Lacs Development Corporation. The Fort Mille Lacs site was eventually sold to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in the 1990s.
Sherman's maternal grandfather, Cyrus A. Sherman, was a typesetter and invented the "circus type" font used for posters. He owned the Standard Printing Company in St. Paul and the National Lithograph Company in Chicago. He later retired in the Mille Lacs area and was the publisher of the Mille Lacs Messenger, the newspaper of the Mille Lacs area. Georgia Sherman Holbert (1888-1981), born in Wisconsin to Gertrude Hall and Cyrus A. Sherman, was educated in music and sang professionally until her marriage to Ben Holbert in 1915. Ben and Georgia had three sons: Ben Jr., Sherman, and Frederic Patten (Pat).
From the guide to the Sherman Holbert and family papers., 1888-2005., (Minnesota Historical Society)
