Research Access to the Collections
Collections Department staff and Archaeology Department staff require adequate lead-time to provide physical access to collections and respond to research queries. Certain collections also have restricted or limited access, so be prepared to demonstrate that access to these materials is crucial to your research.
Minnesota History Center
For access to archaeology collections housed in the main repository facility at the Minnesota History Center, a lead-time of two weeks is generally requested depending upon the nature of the request. Please contact Jennifer Rankin, Director of Archaeology, at 612-725-2410 or by email at jennifer.rankin@mnhs.org to arrange an appointment. When you call, be as specific as you can be about the site material you need to examine and include the accession numbers or any other data that can reduce the level of research required by MNHS staff.
The University of Minnesota collections are housed at the Minnesota History Center. The collections are awaiting processing and integration into MNHS collections, which will take several years.
Kellogg Center
The Archaeology Department also houses a wide range of archaeological materials, records, and comparative collections at the Kellogg Center (328 Kellogg Blvd, Saint Paul, MN 55102; directly across the street fromt he Minnesota History Center). For access to these collections and materials at the Kellogg Center, please contact Jennifer Rankin, Head of Archaeology, at 612-725-2410 or by email at jennifer.rankin@mnhs.org to arrange an appointment. When you call, be as specific as you can be about the site material you need to examine.
Collections of the Institute for Minnesota Archaeology are held by the Office of the State Archaeologist and are housed at the Kellogg Center. For questions regarding access to these collections please contact bruce.koenen@state.mn.us.
Requests for archaeology collections research at the user's facility follows MNHS loan procedure.
If you have questions about loans please contact the Nicole Delfino Jansen, Central Registrar at Nicole.DelfinoJansen@mnhs.org.