Recent State Archives Acquisitions: September 2012

Background Information

A wide variety of government records were added this month to the State Archives collection that include information about diverse topics and functions, and will be valuable for different types of research.   

General orders (dated 1897-1971) and circulars (dated 1899-1965) of the Adjutant General,  that inter-file with the master set preserved in the State Archives, were received from the Library collection with the assistance of Collections Management staff.   

A private individual donated records of the City of Chaska which include justice court criminal justice dockets (dated 1955-1962) and library board minutes (dated 1966-1975). 

Received from the Manuscripts collection, with the assistance of Collections Department staff, are published records and reports (dated 1926-1990) concerning such topics as Indian education, special education, vocational-technical education, and school buildings; the records inter-filed with a master set of Education Department published records preserved in the State Archives Collection. 

The Spring Grove school district in Houston County transferred records of five, now defunct, rural school districts, also known as common school districts.  The records (dated 1868-1950) are for school district nos. 57, 70, 74, 77, and 88 which were located in the southwestern part of the county.  These school districts were established in the 1860s and 1870s, and as part of the massive reorganization of the public school system in the late 1940s and 1950s, consolidated with the Spring Grove public school in 1950.  The records include clerk’s and treasurer’s books, and selected pupil records (e.g. school censuses, attendance registers).  Houston County school records are greatly underrepresented in the State Archives collection, so they are a welcome addition, and will be particularly useful for family and local history research.   

Documenting how the state has protected the environment and its natural resources is a collecting priority of the State Archives, and records received from the Natural Resources Department are valuable to meet this priority.  Received from the department’s Forestry Division, are records (dated 1940s-2012) concerning the Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood Forest located in southeastern Minnesota.  Included are selected subject files regarding the creation and development of the Dorer Forest, correspondence and published records; these records were created and maintained by long-time Forestry Division employee, Terry Helbig. 

The Polk County District Court transferred Probate Court case files (dated 1888-1987; bulk dated 1888-1917) concerning the admission of dependent children to the Owatonna State Public School (state orphanage) and the Faribault State School.  These records will be useful for family history research, and complement other records of the two state schools preserved in the State Archives. 

A private individual donated a civil and criminal justice docket (dated 1944-1946) for Eagle Creek Township located in Scott County. 

With the assistance of Collections Management staff, published records of the U.S. Selective Service System.  Minnesota Headquarters were transferred from the Library collection to the State Archives.  The Bulletins (dated 1940-1951), Instructions to Local Board Clerks (dated 1949-1954), and Memoranda to Local Boards (dated 1940-1954) inter-file with the master set preserved in the State Archives.

 

Back to Recent Acquisitions.

 

October 3, 2012