00441 HAROLD KNUTSON: An Inventory of His Congressional Files at the Minnesota Historical Society Finding aid prepared by Kathryn A. Johnson. Minnesota Historical Society
St. Paul MN.

Manuscripts Collection

 Finding aid encoded by Lyda Morehouse, February 15, 2000. Finding aid written inEnglish August 2008 Converted from EAD Version 1.0 to Version 2002 by Monica Manny Ralston, Daniel Sher, and Joyce Chapman. OVERVIEW Minnesota Historical Society Knutson, Harold, 1880-1953. Harold Knutson congressional files. 1919-1948. Voting records (1919-1948) of, and legislative bills (1923-1948) introduced by, a Republican congressman representing the sixth district of central Minnesota. 1.0 cu. ft. (1 box). See Detailed Description section for shelf location. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Harold Knutson, a Republican congressman serving the sixth congressional district of central Minnesota (1917-1948), was born on October 20, 1880, in Skien, Norway, and immigrated with his parents to a farm near Clear Lake (Sherburne County), Minnesota during the 1880s. After graduating from agricultural school, he edited several rural Minnesota newspapers including the Royalton Banner and Foley Independent (1901-1902), the Wadena Pioneer Journal, and the St. Cloud Daily Journal Press (1907-1908).

Knutson was elected to The U.S. House of Representatives in 1912 from Minnesota's sixth congressional district. While in congress, he served as majority whip and chaired several committees: Pensions, Indian Affairs, Insular Affairs, Ways and Means, and Internal Revenue and Taxation. Politically, Knutson was an isolationist and also opposed many of the Roosevelt administration's domestic policies. He was defeated by Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Fred Marshall in 1948 and returned to Minnesota. He died in Wadena in 1953.

 SCOPE AND CONTENTS

The collection consists of two series of files documenting Knutson's legislative work in congress. The first is a set of his voting records (1919, 1925-1948); the second is a bound set of the bills and resolutions that he introduced (1923-1948). Newsletters are also included.

 RELATED MATERIALS

Phonodiscs of several Knutson speeches are in the Minnesota Historical Society sound and visual collections.

 CATALOG HEADINGS

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics: Bills, Legislative--United States. Bridges--Law and legislation--Minnesota. Farm mortgages--Minnesota--Law and legislation. International relations. Neutrality--United States. New Deal, 1933-1939. Ojibwa Indians--Minnesota--Government relations. Ojibwa Indians--Minnesota--Land tenure. Pensions, Military--Minnesota. Railroads--Consolidation. Tariff--United States--Law and legislation. Taxation--Law and legislation--United States. World War, 1939-1945. Places: United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945. United States--Politics and government--1901-1953. Organizations: Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ). United States. Congress. House. Types of Documentation: Bills (legislative records). Occupations: Legislators--United States. Politicians--Minnesota. Veterans--Minnesota. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Harold Knutson Congressional Files. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

 Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,050

Catalog ID number: 001735353

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 143.B.14.8F 1 Voting records, 1919, 1925-1948. 9 folders.

The files record Knutson's vote on every bill sent to the house floor. The record for each session also contains an index of the bills voted upon. Records for the 68th and 71st congresses are not included.

 Bills and resolutions, 1923-1948. 13 volumes.

Copies of all the legislation introduced by Knutson during the 68th to 80th congresses, except for the years 1925 and 1942, which are absent. Each volume also contains an index of bills and resolutions for that session. The bills cover a wide range of legislative topics, but tend to concentrate in the areas of Native American issues in Minnesota, and pensions for veterans and their widows. Other common topics include bridge and public building construction in Minnesota, taxes, regulating lake levels, forest resources, farm mortgages, rail mergers, banking regulation, export and import duties, trade tariffs, New Deal agencies and institutions (including Social Security, the Federal Housing Act, and the Federal Land Bank), and postwar relief measures for Great Britain and Germany.

 Press releases: Observations from Washington, September 30, 1943-March 8, 1945.