Manuscripts Collection
Minutes, reports, correspondence and subject files, financial and accounting records, photographs, engineering drawings, land records, engineering and valuation records, advertising literature, timetables, publications, and many other materials documenting the principal staff and operating departments. Those include the offices of the president, secretary, treasurer, and comptroller; the law and land departments; mechanical and chief engineers; public relations and personnel officers; and managers responsible for rail operations.
Of special importance are the President's Office subject files, comprising 1,000 feet of executive correspondence, reports, statistical data, maps, drawings, and printed matter compiled to keep top officials informed on important current and past activities. They provide the best summary available of the company's experience over time.
In addition to the main line materials are records of more than 250 branch lines, subsidiaries, and related companies. They include rail and highway transport, oil and mineral, land and townsite, power, irrigation, steamship, lumbering, and stock-holding firms dispersed geographically from the Great Lakes to Puget Sound.
Accession numbers: Many, see individual series inventories.
Catalog ID number: 1735140
Work on the Great Northern railway company records was supported with funds by the Northwest Area Foundation, the Grotto Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation.
Records of the
The following listings link to detailed finding aids for each of the collection's 17 series.
The branch lines and their records are described in our library catalog.
Fuller inventories are available at the Minnesota Historical Society library.