gr00478.xml Legislature: An Inventory of Its Miscellaneous Records of the Legislature at the Minnesota Historical Society Minnesota Historical Society

St. Paul, MN.

Government Records

Finding aid encoded by Cheri Thies, November 2011. Finding aid written in English. December 2011 Digital objects from this material scanned, formated, and updated by Christopher G. Welter. OVERVIEW Minnesota Historical Society Minnesota. Legislature. Miscellaneous records of the legislature. 1850s-1891. Materials in English. A variety of bills, notes, petitions, messages, and other documents created by or submitted to the legislature. Most are from the 1850s and 1860s, and many pertain to the first state legislature of 1858. They have not been correlated with bill files or other more structured records. 0.3 cu. ft. (22 folders and 2 items in Reserve). See Detailed Description for shelf locations. SCOPE AND CONTENTS

They include bills, notes, and petitions on county creation and boundaries and regarding the location of state roads; autographs of the members of the first state legislature (December 1857); certificates of election and oaths of office for members of the first state legislature; testimony before a committee investigating charges of bribery against legislators in connection with land grant railroad chartering (1860); governor's messages and other miscellany regarding railroad bonds and land grants; petitions regarding liquor sales, ferries, and miscellaneous internal improvements; a draft bill to define nomenclature of the Itascan sources of the Mississippi River (1887); petitions for and against woman suffrage (undated and circa 1869); and 1859-1860 House of Representatives and Senate seating charts.

CATALOG HEADINGS

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

Topics: Ferries -- Minnesota. Legislators -- Minnesota -- Autographs. Legislators -- Minnesota. Liquor laws -- Minnesota. Mississippi River -- Sources. Political corruption -- Minnesota. Railroad land grants -- Minnesota. Railroads -- Minnesota. Roads -- Minnesota -- Location. Women -- Suffrage -- Minnesota. Organizations: Minnesota. Legislature. House of Representatives -- Directories. Minnesota. Legislature. Senate -- Directories. Minnesota. Legislature -- Officials and employees. Places: Minnesota -- Officials and employees -- Autographs. Minnesota -- Politics and government -- 1849-1858. Minnesota -- Politics and government -- 1858-1898. Document Types: Legislative bills -- Minnesota. Oaths. Petitions. Territorial records -- Minnesota. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Access Restrictions:

Access to and use of reserve materials requires the permission of the State Archives staff.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota. Legislature. Miscellaneous Records of the Legislature. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: None; 1802E; 5016 (mss.); 2006-22

Processing Information:

Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Digitized by: Christopher G. Welter, December 2011.

Digitization of reserve material was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.

Catalog ID number: 001704745

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 107.F.16.3B Unidentified bills, undated, circa 1850s.

Handwritten bills from the 1850s to create new counties, encourage the cultivation of lands in Minnesota Territory, and relating to the Minneapolis and Lake Minnetonka Road Company.

Unidentified bills, House files, 1858.

Portions of text of unidentified printed laws; annotated to possibly pertain to the State of Minnesota.

Unnumbered bills, Senate files, 1858.

Relating to adoption of a state seal and coat of arms, road and railroad construction, various probate and fiscal matters, and establishment of joint and Senate rules.

Territorial laws, circa 1858.

Pertaining to laying out roads and assessing and collecting taxes; annotated to possibly pertain to the State of Minnesota.

S.F. [Senate File] No. 147, 1860.

Regarding tax collection in Hennepin County.

Amendment to School Bill, undated.

Draft.

Resolution, 1867.

Regarding the United States 14th amendment; draft.

Certificates of election for first state legislature, 1857.

Some handwritten; some filled-in forms.

Oaths of members and officials of the first state legislature, 1858.

Handwritten and signed.

Committee to Investigate Charges of Fraud and Corruption, 1860.

Proceedings [incomplete?] of and testimony before a special committee appointed by the State Senate to investigate charges of fraud and corruption against members of preceding legislatures, who were accused of having received bribes apparently in connection with the chartering and financing of land grant railroads.

Errors and corrections in laws describing Minnesota county boundaries, December 1859.

Notes on geographical and other errors in laws in force at the commencement of the second session of the state legislature.

Messages from the Governor, 1858.

One handwritten and one printed newspaper clipping message, both relating to railroad bonds and state lands.

Miscellaneous, undated, 1858, 1860-1891. 2 folders.

Several unnumbered texts of miscellaneous bills and resolutions (1858); a proposal by F. R. Delano and W. B. Litchfield to purchase 500,000 acres of internal improvement lands and to pay for them with state railroad bonds, [undated]; act to establish the county of Beltrami [handwritten, incomplete, undated]; petition by residents of Minneapolis opposing the expansion of areas within which liquor could be sold [undated, possibly 1891]; amendment to land grant railroad law [1860]; draft amendment regarding issuance and sale of corporate stock [1867]; draft bill to define nomenclature of the Itascan sources of the Mississippi River [1887]; petition by North St. Paul resident for annexation to St. Paul [1891]; and comments [incomplete] on bill relating to liquor sales [1891].

Orders for Paper, 1858. Petitions, remonstrances and memorials, 1850s-1858. 3 folders.

Most concern county and municipal organization and road construction. Others deal with ferries and other internal improvements, the legislature's organization and actions, liquor sale, debtors, and a land claim and publication of legal notices.

Woman suffrage petitions, undated, circa 1869.

A petition by 605 men and women to amend the state constitution by removing the word male as a requisite qualification for voting or holding office, circa 1869, and a petition by 128 women opposing S.F. No. 59, a bill to extend the franchise to women.

House of Representatives and Senate seating charts, 1859-1860. 2 blueline charts. Autographs of members of the first state legislature, December 2, 1857. 1 folder; photocopies. + Res. 9 Autographs of members of the first state legislature, December 2, 1857. 1 folder.

ACCESS RESTRICTED

Digital version