NEW RESOURCES
Minnesota History Issues Available Online
You can now do full-text searches of the journal Minnesota History from the first issue up through 2003. The most recent five years will not be searchable in hopes of encouraging readers to purchase copies.
From the Minnesota History homepage you can search by year and issue, get a list of the articles in that issue, and then open a PDF of that article. Or you can still search the index (grey navigation bar on the left-hand side of the webpage) by letter of the alphabet and index entry, then click the blue hotlinks to the full text of the citation(s).
Minnesota History Timeline
The MHS Library staff has created a Minnesota History timeline that is now available on the Library’s main webpage (scroll down toward the bottom). MHS librarians used Dipity to create the timeline, which includes images from the library’s collections and links to other resources. You’ll want to bookmark this site as it will be added to over time. If you have suggestions for events to be added, contact the MHS Library at reference@mnhs.org.
Minnesota State Census Index Online
The Minnesota Historical Society now has available on its website an index for the Minnesota State Census, 1849-1905 (). This is the same index and images currently available on Ancestry.com but unlike Ancestry, MHS will be able to correct the index and even replace bad images. The index will work like the Minnesota Birth Certificates and Minnesota Death Certificates indexes, with drop-down menus for “exact,” “contains,” “starts with,” and “ends with” for both last and first names, Soundex and extended Soundex, and the ability to limit the search by year and county. The Society’s innovative WOTR (Write On The Record) comment feature will be usable on the census index. The census images can be purchased online, with electronic delivery within minutes, just like the birth certificate images.
TIP OF THE MONTH
Doing Legislative Research
White Paper and Resources on
Legislative History
As part of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) project Preserving State Government Digital Information, a White Paper and Resources on Legislative History document was created to explain the materials available to individuals investigating the history of legislative materials in Minnesota. The types of records available to the public, their format (paper, analog, or digital), and where and how to access each type of record in the state of Minnesota are all discussed. This document also includes links to resources in other states. Also see the Preserving State Government Digital Information webpage.
Legislative Document Search Request
The Minnesota Historical Society Library now offers as one of its Research Services a Legislative Document Search Request.
The State Archives of the Minnesota Historical Society preserves historical state and local government records, including those of the Legislature. Holdings for the Legislature include records for committees, commissions, and officers.
Library staff will search the following records for one bill pre request: the respective House or Senate journal, appropriate committee minutes, pertinent bill summaries, pertinent standing committee files, and audiotapes if extant.
Minnesota Legislative Research Guide (MHS)
The
Minnesota Historical Society has a variety of resources to help you research the history of legislation and provides a 4-step how-to guide to doing legislative research in Minnesota.
Minnesota Legislative History Guide (LRL)
The Minnesota State Legislature also has a Minnesota Legislative History Guide webpage.
NEW ACQUISITIONS
Archives
Highlights of the January-February 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 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.
Manuscripts
New manuscript collections are usually announced when they are "processed" and ready for use by the public, rather than when they actually arrive at MHS. This is true for the following collections.
Edward A. Walker Civil War Letters
One hundred forty-eight years ago this April, Governor Alexander  Ramsey pledged men (the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment) to President Abraham Lincoln in order to preserve the Union. In its continuing effort to collect documentary evidence of Minnesota’s participation in the American Civil War, the Minnesota Historical Society recently purchased two Civil War letters written by Edward A. Walker, a member of Company D, First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The collections management department has finished processing these letters and digital versions and transcripts are available online.
Walker’s original letters—which complement transcripts of his other letters found in Richard Moe’s First Minnesota Infantry Regiment letters and research files—are a valuable addition to the Society’s Civil War material, which includes at least six other manuscript collections covering Company D, First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Minnesota 2000 Projects
Two projects, the Minnesota 2000 Journal Project and the Minnesota 2000 Documentary Photography Project, capture the “state of the State of Minnesota” at the end of the twentieth century. They allow us to see where we were, and where we are now. Each project focuses on the ordinary, daily aspects of life in Minnesota. They showcase the unseen and the common, what is experienced every day.
The Minnesota 2000 Journal Project collection consists of journals from 46 writers, artists, poets, and other creative people living in Minnesota who chronicled their daily lives and personal journeys during the year 2000. The journals help document a collective Minnesota experience from the year 2000 and represent life in Minnesota at the turn of the millennium. Journal authors discussed a wide range of topics, from bird watching, vacations, and jobs to surgery and the 2000 presidential election.
The Minnesota 2000 Documentary Photography Project collection also focuses on ordinary aspects of life in Minnesota and the changes in Minnesota’s landscape, streets, and people. The Minnesota 2000 Documentary Photography Project resulted in an exhibit of 120 black-and-white photographs that ran from January to June 2000 at the Minnesota History Center. Photographs from the exhibit and project are available online for viewing and for educational and research use in the Photo and Art Database at the Minnesota Historical Society. Photographers participating in the project covered a wide range of locations and topics, from visitors in state parks to telecommunication workers and the lives of teenagers.
Blogs and Podcasts
150 Best Minnesota Books blog
- Number 39: Minnesota: A State Guide, compiled by the Federal Writers' Project ...
- Number 40: Caesar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century, by Edmund Boisgilbert, MD (who was really Ignatius Donnelly) ...
Come See It blog
"'Minnesota Prints and Printmakers, 1900-1945 " exhibit ...
Our Favorite Things
- North Shore prints ...
- The Town that isn't there ...
- Electoral ballot from 1860 ...
Podcasts
- The Ramsey piano...
- Preserving digital content ...
What's New blog
- USS Minnesota photograph and relic ...
- Delisle globe ...
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