Minnesota Historical Society
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The Minnesota Historical Society holds the most comprehensive collection of materials on Minnesota. It was chartered by the first territorial legislature in 1849 to collect, preserve, research, and interpret the history of Minnesota. The society is a membership organization with extensive research collections, a publications program, a central museum, a statewide network of historical sites, and a variety of educational services. It is supported by state funds, memberships, gifts and endowments, and by private and federal grants. The society, which is governed by a volunteer board of directors, has a staff of 286 full-time and 440 part-time employees.
The 427,000-square-foot Minnesota History Center features a reference and research library, which provides access to all of the society’s collections from one centralized location; a 41,000-square-foot museum; two gift stores; a 300-seat auditorium; a restaurant; and expansive public areas throughout the building.
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[edit] Address and Contact Info
Address: 345 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906
Phone: (651) 259-3300 (reference)
Fax: (651) 297-7436
E-mail: reference@mnhs.org
Web page: http://www.mnhs.org.
Director: Nina M. Archabal
Online Finding Aid: http://www.mnhs.org/library/. Information on the society’s collections may be obtained through a number of national and regional databases, including RLIN and OCLC, and the library’s catalog is also available online [1]. Databases, inventories, and other finding aids are available on the society’s web site to provide researchers ready access to the collections. Information about visual resources from the collections of the society—including photographs, art, posters, and fine art photographs—are now included in a database accessible online [2].
Archivists (principal contacts for advice on the collection):
Ruth Bauer Anderson, Reference Associate 651-259-3311 ruth.anderson@mnhs.org Maps, State Archives, Genealogy, Medical History, Genealogy Help Desk Co-Coordinator
Tracey Baker, Assistant Head of Reference 651-259-3317 tracey.baker@mnhs.org Sound and Visual Collections, Manuscripts, Permissions
Debbie Miller, Reference Specialist 651-259-3315 debbie.miller@mnhs.org College & Graduate Student Classes, Ethnic History, Women's History, Permissions
Steve Nielsen, Reference Associate 651-259-3314 steve.nielsen@mnhs.org Railroads, K-12 Classes Co-Coordinator, Genealogy Help Desk Co-Coordinator, Permissions
Kathryn Otto, Head of Reference 651-259-3310 kathryn.otto@mnhs.org
Alison Day Purgiel, Reference Associate 651-259-3313 alison.purgiel@mnhs.org Genealogy, Online Resources
Brigid Shields, Reference Associate 651-259-3316 brigid.shields@mnhs.org Tours, K-12 Classes Coordinator, Genealogy, Newspapers, InterLibrary Loan Coordinator
Hamp Smith, Reference Associate 651-259-3319 hamp.smith@mnhs.org Manuscripts, Railroads, Civil War, Military
Duane Swanson, Reference Specialist 651-259-3318 duane.swanson@mnhs.org State and Local Government Records, Genealogy
[edit] Hours and usage restrictions
The Minnesota Historical Society's library is open:
- Tuesdays, Noon-8 pm
- Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 9 am to 5 pm
- Saturdays, 9 am to 4 pm
- Sundays, Mondays, and Major Holidays, Closed
For information on visiting the library, including security, restrictions, camera policy, etc., visit the library's general information page.[3]
[edit] Collection Summary
The Minnesota Historical Society collects, preserves, and makes available to the public a broad range of historical materials that describe human existence in Minnesota and its region from the earliest times to the present. The reference library provides access to books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, maps and atlases, photographs, posters, works of art, moving images, oral histories and other sound recordings, manuscripts, and state and local government archives. The museum collections include three-dimensional objects and archaeological artifacts.
The library contains the nation’s largest collection of published materials on Minnesota as well as the Upper Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes areas, including more than 500,000 volumes; 37,000 cubic feet of manuscripts; 54,000 feet of government records including over 11,000 microfilm reels; and 4,000,000 issues of 4,100 newspapers, most of the newspapers published in Minnesota since 1849, the majority on microfilm and available on Interlibrary Loan. [4]
The manuscript collection originated in 1868 when the society received the papers of Lawrence Taliaferro, U.S. Indian agent at Fort Snelling from 1819 to 1839. There are now more than 6,000 collections composed of diaries, letters, account books, reminiscences, scrapbooks, minutes, and other unpublished materials. The collection holds the papers of Hubert H. Humphrey [5] and Walter F. Mondale, and other Minnesotans who have made an impact on national life, including Ignatius Donnelly, Frank B. Kellogg, Eugene McCarthy, [Meridel Le Sueur],[6] and Sigurd Olson,[7] as well as documentation of many other Minnesotans. Along with the records documenting the history of the Great Northern [8] and Northern Pacific railroads and their subsidiaries are major collections on lumbering, airlines, and private philanthropy. Other areas of particular strength are labor,[9] the cooperative movement,[10] 19th-century family life, conservation, and the environment.[11] The society also preserves and administers the Minnesota State Archives,[12] which includes papers from every governor since 1849,[13] the legislature, and state agencies, as well as county and local government records.
An extensive grouping of maps, art, photographs, film, phonodiscs, and oral histories is also part of the society’s collections. The map collection[14] consists of about 19,000 maps and 2,000 atlases with an emphasis on Minnesota and the Midwest, and includes maps of North America, Canada, and the United States dating from the 16th century. The art collection[15] contains more than 6,100 paintings, drawings, and sculptures from the early 19th century to the present. More than 500,000 historical photographs[16] dating from the 1840s are available for research as is a collection of fine art photography. The film,[17] videotape, and record collections document 20th-century history. The oral history collection[18] includes 1,500 recorded interviews documenting environmental issues, agriculture, the resort industry, current immigration, politics, labor, business, and ethnic groups.
Museum collections[19] consist of over 260,000 three-dimensional objects dating from the early 1800s to the present and ranging in size from tiny buttons to carriages. They also contain more than 1,000,000 excavated objects from precontact and postcontact archaeological sites.[20] Major collection areas include Dakota and Ojibwe material culture, artifacts from the fur trade, turn-of-the-century household goods, and 20th-century manufactured and handmade items.
[edit] Usage Discussion
Suggestions for approaching the material:
Housing and getting by for less in the area:
Holiday Inn River Centre 175 W. 7th St. St. Paul, MN 55102 Front Desk: 1-651-225-1515 Toll Free: 1-888-HOLIDAY (465-4329) Fax: 1-651-225-1616
Kelly Inn (Best Western) 161 St. Anthony Ave. St. Paul, MN 55103 Phone: 1-651-227-8711 Fax: 1-651-227-1698
