What's New
This month we have an addition to the papers of Mulford Q. Sibley, a widely-known professor of political science and American studies at the University of Minnesota in the McCarthy era and the Vietnam War era, who was surveilled by the FBI and was once denied entrance into Canada as a subversive.
Outspoken in his beliefs on Quakerism, pacifism, socialism, and intellectual freedom, Sibley was popularly known as a campus radical with a national and international reputation. He was also interested in and wrote on parapsychology and life after death.
In addition to articles, papers, books, manuscript drafts, and course-related materials, the collection contains sixteen digital sound recordings of Sibley's conference commentaries and classroom lectures.
Perhaps of greatest interest in the collection is the FBI file on Sibley that he obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 1981.
The file dates largely from 1953 to 1965 and includes memoranda from the Minneapolis FBI office to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover detailing Sibley's activities, writings, and speeches before such organizations as the League of Democratic Socialism, the University Socialist Club, the Socialist Workers Party, the American Forum for Socialist Education, and the American Socialist Party. There are letters received by the FBI from individuals complaining and warning about Sibley, and newspaper clippings about Sibley's activities, remarks at meetings, and debates.
The Bureau was much concerned with Sibley's self-description as "a communist and a communist-anarchist," and an assertion he made in 1960 that the United States should let Russia invade America and "hang" our leaders if that is what they wanted to do.
A claim that Sibley advocated the hiring of communist professors at the University of Minnesota and the establishment of a communist club, a society for atheism, a society for the promotion of free love, and perhaps a nudist club is also discussed.
There is information about a 1965 teach-In at the University of Minnesota concerning American policy in Vietnam, and Sibley's assertion that young men should refuse to serve in Vietnam if drafted.
In many ways Sibley was the stereotypical radical professor, and the materials in this collection demonstrate the significance of his independent thought.
New and Updated Finding Aids - February 2019
| Name/Abstract | File No. |
|---|---|
| Chisago County: Chisago Lake Township: An Inventory of Its Records | gr01549 |
| Records of Chisago Lake Township. | |
| Circle of the Witch: An Inventory of Its Records | P1406 |
| Correspondence, financial records, grant proposals, subject files, historical information, photographs, and files pertaining to plays and workshops produced throughout the Midwest by this socialist feminist theater, which existed in Minneapolis/St. Paul from 1973 to 1978. | |
| Fergus Falls State Hospital: An Inventory of Its Patient Records | gr00750 |
 Records containing information on patients,
many with data on individual patients.Includes digital content. |
|
| Glen Lake Sanatorium: An Inventory of Its Autopsy Reports and Tissue Examinations | gr01548 |
| The autopsy reports (protocols) give autopsy number; hospital patient number; patient name, age, and sex; dates of hospital admission, death, and autopsy; clinical diagnosis; detailed description of autopsy findings, including sketches locating pathological lung conditions; and diagnoses. The tissue reports give laboratory and reg[istration?] numbers, patient's name, doctor's name, type of tissue or test, gross description of tissue specimen, microscopic description, and pathological diagnosis. | |
| Glen Lake Sanatorium: An Inventory of Its Payroll Records | gr01543 |
| Monthly payroll registers (1920-1926) and payroll ledgers (1927-1938). | |
| Glen Lake State Sanatorium: An Inventory of Its Administrator's Correspondence | gr01547 |
| Mainly correspondence of state sanatorium and nursing home administrators: Melvin Dray (1962-1978), Maurice Treberg (1979-1985), Harvey G. Caldwell (1986-April 1987), Faye B. Christensen (acting, April 1987-Jan. 1988), and Rosemary H. Wilder (Feb. 1988-1991). There are also a few letters from Glen Lake Sanatorium administrator Owen Stubben (1961) and sanatorium/nursing home medical director Sumner Cohen (1963-1974). The files contain letters, reports, memos, financial statements, staff lists, and population reports. | |
| Glen Lake State Sanatorium: An Inventory of Its Clippings Scrapbooks | gr01546 |
| Four scrapbooks documenting activities at the sanatorium and the lives of the staff, patients, and former patients. Although consisting mainly of news clippings, the scrapbooks also contain some memoranda and photographs. | |
| Glen Lake State Sanatorium: An Inventory of Its Medical Summary Cards | gr01542 |
| Summary medical cards for patients at the Glen Lake Sanatorium and Glen Lake State Sanatorium. | |
| Glen Lake State Sanatorium: An Inventory of Its Patient Information Cards | gr01540 |
| Summary medical records for patients at the Glen Lake Sanatorium, Glen Lake State Sanatorium, and Oak Terrace Nursing Home. | |
| Glen Lake State Sanatorium: An Inventory of Its Patient Records and Registers | gr01541 |
| Admission and discharge registers from Glen Lake Sanatorium and State Sanatorium (1916-1991) and Oak Terrace Nursing Home (1962-1975). | |
| Glen Lake State Sanatorium: An Inventory of Its Photographs | gr01544 |
| Primarily black and white prints of all sizes. There are negatives for a small portion of the prints. Mostly group and portrait shots of residents and staff of the sanatorium and a few for the nursing home. They include photographs of patients in tuberculosis treatment, treatment equipment, and interior and exterior views of buildings. Several of the prints were used for an exhibit at the facility when it celebrated its 75th anniversary homecoming in August 1990. | |
| Glen Lake State Sanatorium: An Inventory of Its Published Records and Reports | gr01545 |
| Manuals/handbooks, medical and administrative studies, and miscellaneous publications and issuances, primarily of Glen Lake Sanatorium (GLS). A few from Glen Lake State Sanatorium (GLSS) and Oak Terrace Nursing Home (OTNH) are also included. The series is divided into several groupings: staff/patient newsletters (1921-1989) and telephone and staff directories (1955, 1959, 1965, 1973), historical materials (1926-1991), non-medical reports and studies, and medical reports and studies. | |
| Health Department: An Inventory of Its Death Registers | gr01539 |
| Death registers containing information on deaths that occurred in Minnesota during the year 1899, compiled from certified copies of death registries sent to the State Board of Health and Vital Statistics (Health Department) by local registrars. The compiled registers are incomplete; they do not list all deaths that occurred in the state during the year. They are not considered official death records. | |
| Lawrence A Schlick: An Inventory of His Larry Schlick Worthington Daily Globe Photograph Collection | sv000283 |
 Photograph collection by Larry
Schlick from his time at the Worthington Daily Globe where
he served as photo editor from 1957 until 1969. Images
highlight local news and sports, as well as certain features
for the newspaper. Views around Minnesota, national
politicians at Turkey Day in Worthington, and various other
events around the area are included as well. Schlick entered
his photographs in numerous competitions and many of his
favorites are in the collection. Includes digital content. |
|
| Mulford Q. Sibley: An Inventory of His Papers | 00318 |
 Biographical materials, correspondence, literary works and manuscripts,
and teaching materials related to Mulford Quickert Sibley, an avowed Quaker and socialist who
taught political science and American studies at the University of Minnesota.Includes digital content. |
|
| United Transportation Union: An Inventory of its Chicago and North Western Railway Company Files | 00072 |
| Administrative, claim, and subject files of United Transportation Union and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen lodges in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri in their relations with the Chicago and North Western Railway Company and its predecessor, the Chicago Great Western Railway Company. | |
| Gilbert L. Wilson: An Inventory of His Photography Collection | sv000156 |
| Views photographed by Gilbert L. Wilson of the Hidatsa and Mandan Indians at Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota when Wilson gathered data on Indian cultures for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Nearly all of these photographs appear in the photograph album, volume 44, of the Gilbert L. and Frederick N. Wilson papers. Images are printed from the original negatives. | |
| Gilbert L. and Frederick N. Wilson: An Inventory of Their Papers | 00535 |
| Reports, notebooks, articles, drawings, photographs, and other materials relating largely to the Wilsons' work during 1908-1918 gathering data on the Hidatsa and Mandan Indian tribes of North Dakota for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. | |
New and Updated Catalog Records
| Andrews, C. C. (Christopher Columbus). C. C. Andrews and family papers, 1843-1930. |
| Correspondence, diaries, and other papers of this Civil War general, United States minister to Norway and Sweden (1869-1877), consul general to Brazil (1882-1885), chief fire warden of Minnesota (1895-1905), state forestry commissioner (1905-1911), and member of the state forestry board (1905-1922). |
| Asch, Stan, 1911- . Stan Asch and family papers, 1886-1982. |
| Family correspondence (1886-1982), contracts and agreements (1937-1961), diaries (1981, 1982), family history information, cartoonist's sketches and drawings, and similar papers documenting the activities of Stan Asch, a cartoonist, and his brother, John Aschemeier (1913-1982), a writer. |
| Barnes, Marilyn J., 1927- . Marilyn J. Barnes papers, 1940-2010 (bulk 1943-1946). |
| Includes approximately 300 letters and postcards (1943-1946) written by Marilyn J. Barnes to her parents and family while a patient at Ah-Gwah-Ching tubercular sanatorium, as well as a few letters written to her; new clippings and publications (circa 1940-1995) concerning her treatment and time at the facility; photographs (1944-1947, 2009); Ah-Gwah-Ching correspondence with her parents (1943-1944, 1946); materials regarding The People's Plague, a PBS documentary by Florentine Films for which she was interviewed (1993-1995); and biographical data (2010). |
| Bassett, Edward H. Letters of Edward H. and George S. Bassett, 1861-1863. |
| Edward describes life with the First Minnesota Infantry at Camp Stone, Maryland (1861, addendum June, 1863). George gives war news from the Third Minnesota Infantry in Louisville, Kentucky (circa March 1862). |
| Becker, Julius Conrad, photographer. Lake Itasca photograph album, 1900. |
| Album includes views around Itasca State Park including Lake Itasca, Mantrap Lake, Native American mounds, a bear, and the homestead and grave of William McMullen who the last individual to reside on the land after it became a state park in 1891. |
| Brackett, George Augustus, 1836-1921 . George A. Brackett papers, 1856-1978 (bulk 1856-1926). |
| Correspondence and letterpress books, accounting records (1871-1905), newspaper clippings, deeds and other property records, and related materials documenting the life of a Minneapolis businessman and civic leader whose business enterprises included railroad construction, meat packing, flour milling, and real estate investment. |
| Chisago Lake (Minn. : Township. Justice of the Peace. |
| 1858-1897 (2 volumes) -- October 1964-April 1966 (2 folders). |
| Clark, Charles Henry. Charles Henry Clark and family papers, 1827-1964. |
| Correspondence, diaries, clippings, business papers, and memorabilia (largely 1856-1926) of Clark, a St. Paul (Minn.) businessman, his wife Martha Pierce, their daughter Mary Barnard (Mrs. Charles Henry Putnam), and other members of the Clark and Pierce families. |
| Delano, Francis R. Francis Roach Delano papers, 1846-1887 (bulk 1846-1865). |
| Collection includes 47 tax receipts (1846-1865) issued to Delano for property owned in Stillwater, Minnesota and Bunker Hill, Illinois; Discharge and Satisfaction of Judgment dated July 14, 1853 in the case of Nathaniel Hanson and Richard Emerson vs. Frank R. Delano; five undated and unidentified drawings of machinery and one printed brochure entitled Stewarts Rotary Steam Engine which contains a drawing of the engine; and a memorial resolution from the Saint Paul Board of Fire Commissioners (1887) with an accompanying letter addressed to Delano's wife. |
| Dickson, Thomas Hunter, 1841-1912. Thomas H. Dickson and family papers, 1774-1944, 2017. |
| Legal papers (1774-1887), correspondence (1826-1929), newspaper clippings and other printed items, essays, financial papers, and memorabilia of the Dickson, Gregory, and Montgomery families. |
| Genealogy of the Mayo family, circa 1899-circa 1922. |
| Typed genealogical notes on the family of Charles Edwin Mayo, a Saint Paul hardware merchant and U.S. Customs official. |
| Hough, Sue M. Dickey. Sue Dickey Hough papers, 1858, 1894-1976. |
| Correspondence, diaries, photographs, and miscellaneous material relating to Sue Dickey Hough, who was a Minnesota state legislator from Minneapolis in 1923. |
| Meier, Peg, 1946- , compiler. Peg Meier papers and research files, 1976-2006 (bulk 2000-2004). |
| Papers and research materials regarding the Kensington Rune Stone, compiled by Peg Meier, who was a writer for the Minneapolis Tribune and Star Tribune. The collection also includes correspondence from John V. Bodin (Cokato, Minn.) and Robert A. Hall, Jr. (Ithaca, New York) about the Kensington stone. Bodin's letters also mention a portrait of Mikhail Gorbachev he painted for Dwayne Andreas and a self portrait sent to the King and Queen of Sweden. Other correspondence includes letters relating to the weather and to Meier's book Bring Warm Clothes, and there is a translation of a 1927 letter from Obert Schevenius to his father in Norway about extensive flooding that year. |
| Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Synod of Minnesota. Woman's Synodical Missionary Society. Missionary Society records, 1880-1949. |
| Primarily minutes of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society (1880-1922), of the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society (1885-1922), and of the Woman's Synodical Missionary Society of Minnesota (1909-1924). |
| Robert, Louis, 1811-1874. Louis Robert and family papers, undated and 1849-1889, 1900-1971. |
| Original, photocopied, and microfilmed business records and other papers (1849-1889) relating to Minnesota pioneer Louis Robert, a St. Paul-based fur trader and merchant, steamboat line owner, landowner, real estate developer, and politician; photocopies of writings (undated) on Minnesota pioneer days by Robert's daughter Jeannette Robert Lamprey; photocopies of genealogical and biographical materials (undated and 1915-1959) on the Robert and related families; and a small amount of twentieth century correspondence (1900-1971). |
| Rollit, Charles, 1810?-1885. Charles Rollit and family papers, 1824-1936 (bulk 1855-1929). |
| Chiefly the papers of Rollit and his son, Charles Carter Rollit, both of whom were Protestant Episcopal ministers. |
| Staples, George Howard, 1858-1944. George H. Staples and family papers, 1882-1971. |
| Family biographies and reminiscences give information on George's work surveying the Northern Pacific Railway route through Montana (1880s); experiences of his father, Samuel Cole Staples, in Maine, Minnesota (1850s), and the South at the outbreak of the Civil War (1861); the World War I service of George's son Milfred in France and Germany with the 162nd U.S. Infantry (1918-1919); Staples family genealogy; and Mendota schools and the Dodd road. |
| Thrane, Marcus Møller, 1817-1890. Thrane and Strück family papers, undated and 1836-1973. |
| Papers of Marcus Thrane and Hans Heinrich Strück. Thrane was a leader in the Norwegian labor movement who moved to the United States where he published socialist magazines, lectured and wrote on labor issues, and was a land agent for the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad Company. Strück was a master builder in Norway before moving to the United States. |
| Van Slyke, William A. William A. Van Slyke papers, 1862-1910, 1955. |
| Military records, memorabilia, letters, and clippings relating to the career and interests of Van Slyke, a Saint Paul businessman and politician, an officer in the Fifth Minnesota Infantry during the Civil War (1862-1863), and later a member of the National Guard. |
