Recent State Archives Acquisitions: December 2008
Background Information
A variety of topics are represented in records added this month to the State Archives collection. Documenting how the state protects the natural environment is a collecting priority, and records transferred by the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District are an excellent addition to the collection. The records, dated 1969-2007, of this metropolitan area watershed district complement other records in the State Archives, such as those of the Attorney General/Environmental Protection Division, the Natural Resources Department, the Pollution Control Agency, and the Board of Soil and Water Resources.
State legislators and others are required to submit campaign finance information to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, previously known as the Ethical Practices Board. Campaign finance files for the 2003 year were transferred, and continue a comprehensive and well-used set of records dating back to the early1970s when the Board was established; it was one of the first of its kind in the United States.
Selected records, including school board meeting minutes and superintendent’s reports of the Mankato public school system, were transferred, and continue an excellent set of records already preserved in the State Archives.
The state’s vocational education and training function is well documented in the State Archives, but selected records of a former assistant commissioner for vocational education were transferred by a University of Minnesota professor; the professor used the records to write her dissertation about Minnesota’s vocational education system. Mr. Van Tries was extremely instrumental in building the many schools of the technical college system in Minnesota and taught classes for the Department of Vocational Education at the University of Minnesota. The records includes subject files documenting the early years of the Minnesota technical college system, including correspondence, reports, photographs, speeches and testimony. These records complement existing records of Mr. Van Tries already preserved in the State Archives.
Acquisitions
1. Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District. Records (dated 1969-2007), including annual reports, meeting minutes, establishment records, work plans, subject files, and project files. 16 boxes.
2. Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. Campaign finance files, dated 2003, for terminated principal campaign committees and terminated political committees and funds; economic interest statements, dated 2003, for terminated public officials. 10 boxes.
3. Education Department. Vocational Technical Education Division. Records, dated 1881-1983 (bulk dated 1960s-1980s) of former assistant commissioner Robert P. Van Tries. 3 boxes.
4. Blue Earth County. Independent School District No. 77 (Mankato). School board meeting minutes (1965-1976), superintendent’s reports to the Board of Education (1988-1992), and selected records of the Lincoln P.T.A. 2 boxes.
Back to Recent Acquisitions.
January 15 , 2009
