Sound and Visual Collection
Arthur H. Jensen was a commercial photographer who operated out of his Minneapolis home from the 1920s-1960s. Born in Glencoe, Minnesota, in 1896, Jensen moved to Minneapolis just after World War I. He worked for Lee Brothers, the Bureau of Engraving, the Electric Engraving Company, and Brown and Bigelow before going into business for himself in 1928. About 1935, Jensen became the official photographer for the Minneapolis Moline Power Implement Company. The company used his photographs for sales literature, parts catalogs, brochures, and internal company functions for almost thirty years. Arthur H. Jensen died in Minneapolis in 1984.
The Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company was formed in 1929 through the merger of several existing agricultural machinery manufacturers, including the Moline Implement Company of Moline, Illinois, the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company, and the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company. Minneapolis-Moline's corporate headquarters and a factory were located in Hopkins, Minnesota. Other factories included the company's primary manufacturing facility on Lake Street in Minneapolis and the Moline Company's plant in Moline, Illinois. During World War II, nearly all of the company's factories became war production plants.
The company shortened its name in 1949 from Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company to Minneapolis-Moline Company. The name was changed again in 1961 to Motec Industries, Inc. In 1963 Motec was purchased by the White Motor Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio, of which it became a subsidiary.
The collection provides an extensive thirty year view of the operations and products of the Minneapolis-Moline Company across the 1930s-1960s. Many images depict Minneapolis-Moline tractors, implements, and power units, both in the factory or dealer showroom and working in farm fields or other outdoor settings. There are also many images from various perspectives of machinery parts most of which appear to have been created specifically for use in sales brochures, advertising material, and catalogs.
A large number of images depict the interior and exterior of Minneapolis-Moline factories, especially the Hopkins and Lake Street plants. There are aerial views of the factories, closer exterior views of specific factory buildings, interior views of the factory floor, and views of factory machinery with products in various stages of manufacture. Exterior and interior views of company dealerships and branch offices around the United States are also included.
Some images document award ceremonies and rallies during World War II. Additional images show office activities, meetings and banquets in a variety of locations, and women posed as "Minnie Moline." The collection also includes individual and group portraits of Minneapolis-Moline executives, employees and dealers.
This collection consists of approximately 14,180 of Jensen's negatives taken for The Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company. The vast majority of the negatives are of 8 x 10 size, although there are also significant numbers of 3 x 4, 4 x 5, and 5 x 7 negatives. Approximately 50% of the negatives were masked or retouched.
Photoprints of selected negatives were printed by the Minnesota Historical Society Photography Lab and are stored in boxes 38 through 43.
The negatives made by Arthur H. Jensen are contained in boxes 1 though 37 and are numbered 1-13004, 1-570, 1-514, and 20001-22037. The numbering in this series was assigned by Jensen and represents a chronology of his work for the Minneapolis-Moline Company.
Images in box 1 represent Jensen's earliest work with the images progressing through time as the boxes progress though the end of box 33.
Images in boxes 34 through 37 represent separate runs of negatives without a clear chronological order and with two separate and repeating numbering schemes.
Photoprints made by the Minnesota Historical Society from Jensen's original negatives are contained in boxes 38-43 and are numbered 8465-B - 8999-B, 9671-B - 11219-B. The original camera negatives for these prints were withdrawn from the Jensen collection, renumbered to fit into the Society's larger negative collection, and are interfiled within that larger collection.
The numeric inventory lists the images in box order according to their negative numbering scheme.
The topical inventory lists Jensen's images in four categories that represent the primary subject matter of each negative or print. Within each category, the images are listed alphanetically by title.
A large number of printed catalogs, equipment manuals, and repair parts lists are located in the Minnesota Historical Society print collections.
The Minneapolis-Moline Company Records, 1836-1982, including correspondence and subject files, printed materials, patent information, and additional Jensen photographs are located in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.
A steam engine record book kept by the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company has been microfilmed. This film is available in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections as M393.
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
Accession number: 11,809.
Processed by: David B. Peterson, August 1992; Christofer Meissner, March-May 2008.
Digital images scanned by: Jane Wong, 2003-2004.
Titles supplied by: Minneapolis-Moline Collectors.
Catalog ID number: 006716495