What's New
In addition to providing access to new material added to our archives, collections management staff are also responsible for taking a fresh eye to older collections, those cataloged long ago using different methods and standards than we use today and long before the emergence of our 24/7 web environment. Many of these older collections are essentially hidden and are difficult to discover because they have not been adequately processed or because they are only cataloged in paper-based card catalogs and inventory notebooks available in our library. As we can, we go back to these earlier acquisitions to improve their arrangement and description.
Over the last three months, one such project involving nearly 130 cubic feet of records from the State Auditor's office was undertaken. Separately processed back in the mid-1970s when each successive acquisition occurred, these 17 series were closely related but had no more description than "correspondence pertaining to state agencies" or "correspondence, unarranged." Going back to these collections meant evaluating the content of all 17 series and their relationships. As these records were processed, groups of correspondence emerged that resulted in six new series with searchable, web-accessible finding aids and material was added to five other existing record series.
Notebooks in our library contain
inventories listing the contents of archival
collections.
Making these collections more accessible for researchers is part of our continuous stewardship of the Minnesota Historical Society's collections.
New and Updated Finding Aids - December 2013
| Name/Abstract | File No. |
|---|---|
| Auditor: An Inventory of Its Allotment Board Files | gr00770 |
| General correspondence files, minutes, and various reports documenting the duties and activities of the Allotment Board, particularly relating to roads and bridges. | |
| Auditor: An Inventory of Its Correspondence | gr00771 |
| Letters sent and received by the Auditor's Office documenting all activities of the office, particularly through its duties to superintend and manage the fiscal concerns of the state as required by law; general supervision of all lands owned by the state, or in which the state is interested as trustee or otherwise, and of the leasing, sale, or other disposition thereof; execution on behalf of the state assignments and satisfactions of judgments rendered in its favor; examination and adjustment of every demand directed by law to be paid out of the state treasury; and annual cancellation and issuance of warrants. | |
| Auditor: An Inventory of Its County Files | gr00772 |
| Correspondence documenting the State Auditor's relationships with various county officials, including county auditors and treasurers, municipal officers, school districts, and county boards and associations. | |
| Auditor: An Inventory of Its Executive Council Files | gr00773 |
| Files kept by the State Auditor as a member of the state's Executive Council and the Minnesota Claims Commission. | |
| AUDITOR: An Inventory of Its Financial Reports of Counties | gr00161 |
| Financial statements and reports (often in the form of newspaper sections) of counties and occasionally county highway departments (through 1982). These were created either by or for the county and submitted to the state auditor’s office. | |
| Auditor: An Inventory of Its General Files | gr00775 |
| General files, consisting of correspondence and related documents, mainly detailing the auditor's relations with other state agencies and departments and various local and federal government entities. | |
| Auditor: An Inventory of Its Investment Board Files | gr00774 |
| Files of the state auditor as one of the member of the state's Investment Board. | |
| CHESTER S. WILSON: An Inventory of His Papers | 00837 |
| Correspondence, minutes, reports, speeches, background files, photographs, and newspaper clippings related to the career of Minnesota lawyer and environmental activist primarily focused on soil conservation, water pollution, and outdoor recreation resources. | |
| Conservation Department: Commissioner's Office: General Correspondence | gr00777 |
| The files include correspondence and related materials of conservation commissioners H. C. Wenzel (1937-1938), William L. Strunk (1940-1942), Chester S. Wilson (1943-1954), George Selke (1955-1962) , Wayne H. Olson (1963-1966), and Jarle Leirfallom (1967-1970). | |
| Cornelia Gjesdal Knutson: An Inventory of Her Papers | 00246 |
 Congressional files and
biographical materials documenting Minnesota's first
female member of Congress (Democratic-Farmer-Labor,
1955-1958). |
|
| Hennepin County: Minneapolis Public Schools: An Inventory of Its Michael Dowling School Urban Environmental Magnet Records | gr00779 |
| The records include historical materials about the school and its namesake Michael J. Dowling, bulletins and newsletters, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, subject files, and PTA records. They document students and staff, building additions and dedications, alumni, special events and holiday celebrations, the school's therapeutic pool, a 1936 visit by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and PTA activities. | |
| Hennepin County: Minneapolis: Minneapolis Public Schools: An Inventory of Its Published Records and Reports | gr00723 |
| Reports and miscellaneous print and near-print items of or about the Minneapolis public school system. | |
| Henry A. Castle: An Inventory of His Papers | 01133 |
 Correspondence, speeches and articles, clippings,
other printed materials, photographs, and miscellany
documenting Castle's career as representative in the
Minnesota legislature, 1873; Minnesota adjutant general,
1875-1876; editor of the St. Paul Dispatch, 1876-1885;
state oil inspector, 1883-1886; postmaster of St. Paul,
1892-1896; an auditor of the United States post office
department, 1897-1903; president of the St. Paul Chamber
of Commerce, 1893-1894; director of the St. Paul
Commercial Club, 1895-1897; secretary and treasurer
(1876-1878, 1883) and chairman (1884-1886) of the
Republican State Central Committee; trustee of the
Minnesota Soldiers' Home, 1887-1899; treasurer of the
Citizens' Executive Committee for Relief of
Unemployment, St. Paul, 1893 and for several years
thereafter; special correspondent for Minnesota in the
interests of immigration; in numerous minor offices; and
as author of books and articles, particularly on the
Post Office and on the history of Minnesota and St.
Paul. |
|
| Human Services Department: An Inventory of Its Operation Caregiver Files | gr00778 |
| Records documenting Operation Caregiver, the reassignment of non-union Human Services Department employees and the Minnesota National Guard to critical state jobs, particularly in MinnesotaCare facilities, during the October 2001 strike by the state's two largest unions, Council 6 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE). | |
| James A. Andrews: An Inventory of His Family Papers | 01134 |
| Correspondence, diaries, deeds, financial records, and other papers of the James A. Andrews and John Comstock families of Hudson, Wisconsin. | |
| MINNEAPOLIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: An Inventory of Its Photographs | mpsch015 |
| Photographs documenting the schools, students, teachers, and special activities and events in the Minneapolis public schools. | |
| O. E. Rolvaag: An Inventory of His Selected Papers | P0400 |
| Microfilmed correspondence (undated and 1903-1934), diary (1896-ca. 1899), and beginnings of an autobiography (undated), as well as six original letters (1928-1931) of the acclaimed Norwegian American author and educator. | |
| Our Own Hardware Company (Minneapolis, Minn.): An Inventory of Its Records | 00440 |
| Records of a Minneapolis-based hardware wholesaler that sold merchandise to member retailers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. | |
| SHELDON BROOKS: An Inventory of His Family Papers | P2304 |
| Diaries and letters of a farmer and doctor who migrated with his family from upstate New York to southeastern Minnesota in 1856. Brooks settled at Beaver, Minnesota, and later operated a grain warehouse at nearby Minneiska. Includes a diary kept by a young son, reminiscences penned by his sister, and family genealogical information. | |
| Stewart Horatio Graves and Family: An Inventory of Their Papers | 01131 |
| Correspondence, biographical information, photographs, newspaper clippings, some poems and essays, a diary, and other papers of members of a Benton County, Minnesota farm family, consisting primarily of correspondence between Stewart Horatio Graves and his future wife, Anne Paulson (known later as Ann Graves) while Graves was serving in France with the 16th Railway Engineers during World War II. | |
| 13th Minnesota Regimental Association: An Inventory of Its Records | 01137 |
| Records of a social and commemorative organization for members of a Minnesota volunteer infantry regiment that fought in the Spanish American War. | |
| United Church of Christ. Minnesota Conference: An Inventory of Its Conference Records at the Minnesota Historical Society | 00098 |
| Correspondence, subject files, minutes, financial records, annual meeting and committee files, and records of and about individual congregations, all documenting the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ (formed in 1957) and its merged predecessors, the Congregational Conference of Minnesota and the Northern Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. | |
| WALTER F. MONDALE: An Inventory of His Papers | 00697 |
| Senatorial, vice presidential, ambassadorial, political papers and campaign files, and personal papers of a United States Senator from Minnesota (1964-1976), Vice President of the United States (1977-1981), Ambassador to Japan (1993-1996), and Special Envoy to Indonesia (1998), documenting most aspects of Mondale's six-decade career, including all of his public offices, campaigns, and Democratic Party and other non-official activities. | |
New and Updated Catalog Records
| Roberts, Horace W. Horace W. Roberts and Family Papers |
| Correspondence, minutes, reports, clippings, and miscellaneous papers (1920-1923) regarding Roberts' investigation on behalf of the Hennepin County Bar Association into the operations of Kansas Industrial Court. |
