What's New -- February 2020

Highlighted this month are the annual park passes (1953-2013) from the subject files of the Parks and Recreation Division of the Natural Resources Department. These stickers exhibit sixty years of unique Minnesota images and sites from across the state. Park passes are good year-round. There are so many great excursions to take!

Itasca State Park was the first state park in Minnesota and was established in 1891. The state park system was legislatively initiated in 1923. The Division of State Parks was created in 1935. To learn more about these passes and the state parks system in general, view our former co-worker and friend Carol Kussman's 2012 video about this great addition to the collections of the MNHS.

Mille Lacs Kathio State Park Pass 2009

New and Updated Finding Aids - February 2020

Name/Abstract	File No.
Adjutant General: An Inventory of Its Military Service Record Cards	sam001
Service record cards for persons who entered federal military service via the Minnesota National Guard and its predecessor, the Minnesota State Militia. They include army, navy, marines, foreign service, naval militia, surgeons and nurses, home and state guards, and cemetery burials. They cover the period from the Civil War through World War II. Includes digital content.
Agriculture Department: Plant Industry Division: State Entomologist: An Inventory of Its Annual and Biennial Reports	gr01615
Reports of the Division of Plant Industry and Office of State Entomologist. Supplemented by typescript reports (incomplete) for 1904-1920. Also includes a biennial report of the Division of Insect Control, Nursery and Apiary Inspection (1940-1942).
Agriculture Department: Plant Industry Division: State Entomologist: An Inventory of Its Records	gr01617
Correspondence, reports, circulars, and miscellany regarding the activities of the State Entomologist in nursery inspection and regulation, plant pest and disease control, grasshopper control, crop reports, and fruit culture.
Alden V. Bartz: An Inventory of His World War II Letters	01351
Letters home from a Lincoln County, Minnesota man who served with the United States Navy during World War II and was lost at sea when his ship, the U.S.S. Bismarck Sea, was sunk in a kamikaze attack near Iwo Jima in the closing days of the war. Includes a commencement program from Ivanhoe High School (1939), enlistment papers, five digital photographs, and a letter from the commanding officer of the Bismarck Sea informing Bartz' parents of the loss of their son.
Green Giant Company: An Inventory of Its Records	01270
Financial and payroll data, examples of advertising and product labels and packaging, and other records of a Le Sueur, Minnesota-based vegetable canning company established in 1903 as the Minnesota Valley Canning Company, and whose business lines eventually included frozen foods, garden centers, restaurants, and other ventures. The collection includes historical information about the company and related and predecessor firms, research and development activities, and about migrant agricultural laborers in the employ of the firm.
Hennepin County: Minneapolis: Minneapolis Public Schools: An Inventory of Its Photographs	gr01689
Photographs of individual schools (interior and exterior scenes); school libraries, physical plants, and lunchrooms; students, teachers, and personnel; classroom activities, including physical education, home economics, industrial education, music, art, health, science, special education, traffic safety, and international study; adult education; counseling; home nursing; homebound; and student activities, including athletics, theater, gardens, science exhibitions, and field trips. Also documented are American Education Week activities, the 1957 reunion of the South High School Class of 1941, Dowling School, Kenny Institute, Red Cross activities, and an 1882 album of class photographs from various schools.
Lowertown Redevelopment Corporation: An Inventory of Its Records	00673
Records of a St. Paul-based non-profit corporation that, working in partnership with the City and the private sector, developed and worked to bring to fruition a development strategy for Lowertown, a run-down 18-block historic warehouse district located at the eastern end of downtown St. Paul, with the goal of preserving and renovating historic structures, ensuring that new construction was compatible with existing historic buildings, attracting new business ventures and investment, and creating housing and entertainment venues in the area. Includes digital content.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. St. Paul (Minn.) Branch: An Inventory of Its Records	01345
Minutes (Aug. 12, 1934-May 7, 1942), an annual report (1959), and a few miscellaneous papers of an NAACP local chapter (St. Paul, Minn.), giving a very general idea of the activities in which the group was involved during the first eight years following its 1934 reorganization. The minutes concern such issues as racist acts, violence against Blacks, and discrimination against Blacks in employment and public accommodations, both in the Twin Cities and around the United States. Includes digital content.
Natural Resources Department: Parks and Recreation Division: An Inventory of Its Subject Files	gr00643
Correspondence, reports, studies, legal and financial materials, clippings, minutes, maps, photographs, histories, and related materials documenting the organization and operation of the division. Includes digital content.
Debra J. Nelson: An Inventory of Her Papers	00448
Consists of papers of Deborah Nelson, the founder of Satin Stitches costume shop in Coon Rapids (Minn.). Papers include: client files; photographs; work samples and design sketches; press clippings; articles written by Deborah Nelson; dance tournament programs with marginalia from Nelson; and historical and biographical information. Includes digital content.
Pollution Control Agency: Special Services Division: An Inventory of Its Aerial Photographs	gr01690
Color 5" x 4" photographic prints depicting the Lake Superior North Shore at locations from Duluth to Grand Marais. The photographs were done under the direction of Pollution Control Agency staff and depict six flights along the shoreline to document water conditions, specifically the green water phenomenon. The flights occurred on 24 September and 15 December 1971, and 30 May, 4 and 23 August, and 1 September 1972. The 24 September 1971 set of photographs includes two 1966 photographs of the Silver Bay delta. For each flight's set of photographs there is a short descriptive narrative. Locations pictured include the Duluth area; the Reserve Mining Company plant and harbor at Silver Bay; the mouths and deltas of the Baptism, Beaver, Gooseberry, Manitou, Split Rock, and Sucker Rivers; the Erie power plant; Beaver Bay; Taconite Harbor.
Ramsey County: St. Paul: Housing and Redevelopment Authority An Inventory of Its Project Photographs	gr00387
Photographs of residential and commercial buildings in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. Includes digital content.
Stillwater State Prison: An Inventory of Its Warden's Correspondence and Miscellany	gr01688
Correspondence (primarily letters sent) between the warden and prison suppliers, people buying products produced in prison industries, friends and former employers of inmates, law enforcement and other government officials, the prison physician, and others. The correspondence relates to prison supplies, prison industry products, inmates' previous records, prisoners' medical condition and treatment, parole requests and hearings, prison personnel and salaries, the 1895 installation of a sprinkler system, and other matters relating to prison administration.
Thorstensen Family: An Inventory of Their Family Papers	01355
Records of the Thorstensen family of Red Wing, Minnesota, including the correspondence of Robert E. Thorstensen and Marion Duggan Thorstensen during Robert's naval service during World War II. The bulk of the collection consists of the war time letters exchanged between Robert and Marion, who wrote to each other nearly every day (August 1943 to December 1944). Many of the letters are romantic in nature, and include insights into naval and domestic life during World War II, as well as information about arts and cultural events in the Twin Cities during that time. Also included in the collection are some biographical materials about Robert, his parents Edwin and Mabel's memoirs, Edwin's career history in Red Wing, and letters exchanged between Robert and his parents during his education.
United States. Army. Military Commission (Sioux War Trials : 1862): An Inventory of Its Records	01356
Proceedings of the military commission that gathered evidence concerning the participation of Dakota and mixed descent Indians in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.
Wadena County: Leaf River Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01681
Birth and death registers (1879-1908) and birth and death certificates (1915-1941).
Wadena County: Orton Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01682
Birth and death registers (1898-1915) and birth and death certificate records (1908-1953).
Wadena County: Wadena Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01683
Birth (1915-1948) and death (1916-1952) certificates.
Wadena County: Wing River Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01684
Birth and death registers (1885-1915) and birth and death certificates (1915-1952). The certificates are indexed.
Waseca County: Otisco Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01685
Birth and death registers (1885-1913), birth (1908-1941) and death (1913-1953) certificate records, and burial/removal permits (1910, 1912-1915).
Waseca County: Vivian Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01686
Birth and death registers (1885-1907) and birth and death certificate record (1925-1952).
Waseca County: Waseca: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records	gr01687
Birth and death registers (1881-1953).

New and Updated Catalog Records

Clark, Thomas, 1814-1878. Thomas Clark papers, 1852-1876.

Photocopied typescripts of Clark's diaries (1852-1853, 1854-1855) of trips along the north shore of Lake Superior, with maps and survey data on Superior, Wisconsin; historical data on Beaver Bay, Lake County (Minn.); and letters from Ignatius Donnelly (1862-1864) on Minnesota state legislative and governmental matters, and from Minnesota governors Stephen A. Miller and William R. Marshall and others on Clark's services as assistant state geologist (1860s). The papers also include an autograph letter (July 15, 1861) signed by former State Senator Thomas Cowan, writing from Traverse des Sioux, to former State Senator Thomas Clark decrying the ascendancy of the Republican Party in Minnesota and the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and calling for the restoration of constitutional principles.

Day, Eunice. Eunice Day and family papers.

A letter dated April 6, 1856 at Saint Anthony, Minnesota Territory from Francis Day to his father in Maine describing the territory, its economy, and recommending that he emigrate to Minnesota Territory. Another letter dated April 18, 1863 at the Lower Sioux Agency from Amos Day of the 9th Minnesota Infantry to his father describing conditions at the agency and his hopes to be part of expeditions against the Indians. A photograph album of their mother, Eunice Boobar Day, contains mainly tintypes of Day and related family members (some identified, including Sarah Day, Amos Day, Nathaniel Day, Dick Eastman, and James Hughes).

Lake Street-Marshall Avenue Bridge Citizens' Design Review Committee. Committee Records.

Minutes, correspondence and memoranda, and reports of a citizen's committee made up of citizen members from Saint Paul and from Minneapolis charged with reconciling differences of opinion relating to the design of the replacement bridge over the Mississippi River at Lake Street (Minneapolis) and Marshall Avenue (Saint Paul).

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