FEATURED COLLECTIONS
Andersen Corporation Photographs
 Among the recently cataloged Andersen Corporation corporate records (ca. 118 cu. ft.) are several boxes of photographs that showcase Andersen windows and homes built with Andersen windows. The bulk of the photographs are 8 x 10, black and white prints of suburban homes, built in the post-World War II baby boom era, from locales from throughout the United States.
House historians will find these photographs a valuable source on the 1950s and 1960s that is seldom documented in such quantity and in such detail in one collection.
For more details, and more images, see the Library & Archives blog entry on the collection.
Norma West's "Rosemaling Papers"
This manuscript collection consists of the papers of a Minnesota amateur practitioner of rosemaling, the decorative floral folk art that originated in Norway in the 18th century.
The collection includes:
- examples of West's rosemaling on Canvasette, fiberboard, tracing paper, corrugated cardboard, and other paper media;
- rosemaling designs and patterns drawn and painted by West on tracing paper;
- rosemaling instructional, design, and pattern booklets and packets, some issued by Twin Cities rosemalers and rosemaling studios;
- compilations of Norwegian sayings for use in rosemaling;
- West's notes on rosemaling; and
- articles on rosemaling and the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum.
BLOGS AND PODCASTS
150 Best Minnesota Books blog
- Number 27 - A History of the Republican Party from Its Organization to the Present Time
- Number 28 - A Christian in Politics, Luther W. Youngdah
- Number 29 - Winning Football
- Number 30 -
An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota
- Number 31 -
Plan of Minneapolis
Library&Archives blog
- "Hill Family Collection Now at Minnesota Historical Society"
- "Andersen Corporation Photographs Showcase 1950s-1960s Suburban Homes"
Our Favorite
Things blog
"Modern American Regionalism"
Three untitled watercolors by renowned Minnesota artist Mike Lynch (b. 1938)
were acquired in September. Lynch’s realist painting style is rooted in
American Regionalism of the 1920s and 30s. His subjects include the urban landscapes
and small town streets painted at dusk or dawn. Completed in the mid-1980s, two of
the paintings capture familiar scenes of St. Paul, and the third depicts the
beach in Grand Marais. All three paintings represent Mike Lynch at his absolute
best and we are thrilled to include them in Historical Society’s collection
of more than 6,000 work s
of art.
"Marschner Map of Original Vegetation"
In late January 1966, a man was found dead on Washington Mall in a mid-season blizzard. He had no family, left no will, and despite being 83, was on his way to work when he died. This man was Francis J. Marschner, one of Minnesota’s greatest known map makers. Never heard of him? Well, don’t feel too bad. F.J. Marschner had never even been to Minnesota. ...
Podcasts
"The Younger Brothers: After the Attempted Robbery"
Everyone knows the story of the attempted bank robbery in Northfield by the James-Younger gang, when the townspeople rose up to defend their bank and thwarted the infamous would-be robbers. The gang fled the scene and split up; however, the Younger Brothers were captured later near Madelia, Minnesota. Government Records Specialist Charlie Rodgers tells the story of what happened to the brothers after their capture in this podcast. (5.58 minutes)
Researchers Notebook blog
New book: "Trails of Tears: Minnesota's Dakota Indian Exile Begins"—with chapters written by some of the members of the monthly researchers group—was just released.
What's New blog
"Bruce Laingen Papers"
In November 1979, Laingen was chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, and the senior American diplomat taken prisoner during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Laingen and 51 of his colleagues were held captive for 444 days, until their release in January 1981.
The Laingen collection includes personal papers and letters, the suit and tie Laingen wore while in captivity, and an American flag given to him by President Ronald Reagan after his release.
NEW RESOURCES
WOTR (Write on the Record)
 Wotr, for “Write On The Record” and pronounced like “water”, is a new user annotation and commenting tool on www.mnhs.org. Wotr is sprinkled on Birth Records, Death Records, Photo & Art Database (VRDB), and Veteran Graves Registrations online database. Developed by Web Team members, Jay Andrea, Corrie Potter and Rose Sherman, this new tool is flexible enough to be applied to any online database.
When you search in any of these databases, you will see this graphic next to the record:
The number inside the parenthesis indicates how many comments have been added to the record. Click on the "add comment" link to view or post comments.
If you haven't tried it yet, give it a go. Link your ancestors' birth and death records, help identify photographs, make sure everyone knows the correct spelling of that name!
Here is an example of a comment left on a photograph:
"Whoopee John was the leader of a polka band. His recordings always feature him yelling 'Whooop-whoop-whoop-who!' at some point. Which came first, the name or the 'whooping'? I have no idea, but my parents had several of his records, and he was evidently a popular Midwestern musician during the thirties and/or forties."
If you have any questions or comments about WOTR, please contact Rose Sherman.
NEW ACQUISITIONS
Archives
Highlights of the August and September Acquisitions
Minnesota state and local government records are added frequently to the State Archives collection. Although the records were recently acquired, they may not be available yet in the MHS Library catalog. For assistance using these records, please contact the Minnesota Historical Society's Reference Department by telephone, 651-259-3300, or email, reference@mnhs.org.
Books
Highlights of some of the new books from September and October and now available in the reading rooms.
Featured new books can be found in the Weyerhaeuser Reading Room on the
top of the book shelves under the Betsy-Tacy poster. You can also see
a rotating list of some of the recent book acquisitions on the sidebar
of the Library & Archives blog.
TIP OF THE MONTH
Find out which issues of a serial the library owns—the library’s “holdings”—by
reading its bibliographic record in the MnPALS
catalog. Once you’ve found the correct record, click on the
link labeled “Location/Available” to display the issues held
by the Minnesota Historical Society Library. All of the “Location/Available” fields
link to the same display.
Study this display carefully, since the Library’s holdings can be listed in several different ways. Sometimes there is a statement summarizing the range of issues in the “Library Has” field, and sometimes there is a list of all the individual issues in the Library. However, if the serial is shelved in the main stacks and is no longer being received, it will often appear that there is only one item listed. In this case, the summary of the issues owned is in the column labeled “Item Detail.” This screen also includes information on the serial’s shelving location and current status, such as if it is on the shelf, or if it is being bound or microfilmed.
If there is no information about the Library’s holdings when you click on the “Location/ Available” link, go back to the bibliographic record and scroll down until you see a statement beginning with the words “MHS HOLDINGS.” This statement summarizes the range of issues available in the Library and is followed by a statement of how many physical volumes there are on the shelf. The number of physical volumes can be different from the number of issues, since many issues of a serial are often bound together in one volume.
Some serial records, usually for microfilmed newspapers, have no information at all about what issues the Minnesota Historical Society owns. If this is the case, check the "Listing of Minnesota Historical Society Newspaper Holdings in Master Negative Microfilm" notebook at the reference desk in the Ronald M. Hubbs Microfilm Room. Each newspaper title is listed by city of publication, along with the Library's holdings.
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