What's New

Second Minnesota Regiment at Mission Ridge, Nov. 25, 1863 Second Minnesota Regiment at Mission Ridge, Nov. 25, 1863


With the renovation of the State Capitol nearing completion and current public debate concerning its artwork intensified, we are excited to announce the availability of the papers of New York artist Douglas Volk related to his Civil War painting of the Second Minnesota Regiment at Mission Ridge. Volk was commissioned in 1905 by the Minnesota Board of State Capitol Commissioners through architect Cass Gilbert to paint the scene for the Governor's Reception Room at the new Capitol.

The large canvas painting, completed in the fall of 1906, measures 76 ½ inches high by 100 inches in width and depicts Lt. Col. Judson W. Bishop leading the Second Minnesota in its famous assault on Missionary Ridge in Tennessee.



Correspondents include Cass Gilbert, Judson Bishop, Second Minnesota veteran Jeremiah C. Donahower, and Channing Seabury of the Minnesota Board of State Capitol Commissioners. It is particularly interesting to read the correspondence between Volk and Gilbert as they brought the painting from idea to installation.

Volk (1856-1935) was an American portrait and figure painter and muralist. He taught at the Cooper Union in New York City and at the Art Students League of New York, was one of the founders of the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts, and also painted a scene illustrating Father Hennepin at the falls of St. Anthony for the Capitol.

Digital copies of all items have been made for researcher use.


New and Updated Finding Aids - November 2016

Name/Abstract File No.
Barber Examiners' Board: An Inventory of Its Board Records gr00742
Minutes, correspondence of the board's attorney, and other administrative records; and case files of suits brought by the board against individuals and firms for violations of its rules and procedures, containing correspondence, legal papers, transcripts, and occasionally other documents or photographs.
Cameo Social Club: An Inventory of Its Records 01143
Minutes, scrapbooks, photographs, and other memorabilia of an African American social club formed in 1925. Much of the material documents parties and other special events held by the club, especially the Cotillion Ball, where the Club presented debutantes during the 1950s and 1960s.
Cottonwood County: Mountain Lake: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01234
Birth and death registers (February 1915-December 1940) and certificates (January 1941-June 1953). Volumes containing February 1915-September 1921 and May 1926-September 1936 birth and February 1915-August 1921 and June 1926-April 1939 death records are indexed.
Cottonwood County: Windom: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01235
Birth and death registers (1889-1907) and certificate record books (1913-1953), and burial/removal permits (1930-1935).
Crow Wing County: Brainerd: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01236
Birth and death registers (1887, 1907) and certificate books (1908-1953), burial or removal permits (1907-1947), and burial transit/transportation of corpse certificates (1907-1947).
Crow Wing County: Crosby: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Registers gr01237
Crow Wing County: Crosby: An Inventory of Its Records gr01238
Clerk's finance record books (1926-1935); minutes (1974, 1976); clerk's correspondence (1933-1948); resolutions, bonds, and petitions relating primarily to street, sidewalk, and sewer improvements (1911-1932); treasurer's records (1927-1969); records, primarily specifications, relating to village water works (1917-1924); milk dealers' license applications (1930); billiard hall applications (1923-1932); pubic library statistical reports (1927, 1932); minutes of village elections (1920-1927); city officers' oaths and bonds (1927); village attorney annual reports (1923-1927); and dairy inspector reports (1927-1943); Lakewood Cemetery record of internments (1919-1931); payroll ledger (1939-1943); and miscellaneous account books (1916-1930s).
Dakota County: Eagan Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01239
Dakota County: Inver Grove Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01240
Birth and death registers (1871-1907), birth (1908-1951) and death (1908-1953) certificate records, and burial or removal permits (1908-1951).
Dakota County: Lakeville: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01241
Birth (1912-1949) and death (1908-1953) certificate records, and burial/removal permits (1907).
Dakota County: Mendota: Justice of the Peace: An Inventory of Its Dockets gr01242
Dakota County: South Saint Paul: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01243
Birth and death registers (1872-1907), birth (1907-1963) and death (1908-1965) certificate records, and health officers' record of dangerous diseases (1925-1955).
Dakota County: Waterford Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01244
Birth and death registers (1871-1907), birth and death certificate records (1908-1953), and burial and removal permits (1907-1921, 1941).
Dodge County: Dodge Center: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01245
Birth (1900-1907) and death (1899-1907) register, birth (1908-1953) and death (1912-1953) certificate records, and burial/removal and transportation of corpse permits (1923-1949).
Dodge County: Milton Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Records gr01246
Faribault County: Delavan Township: An Inventory of Its Records gr01247
Clerk's and treasurer's record books, road record books, birth and death records, justice court docket (1896-1902), election registers, and summary statements of votes.
Faribault County: Dunbar Township: An Inventory of Its Records gr01248
Birth and death registers (1889-1952); chattel mortgage record book (1873-1899); clerk's record books (1869-1983); lien index book (1923, 1940); road record book (1884-1904); treasurer's record books (1934-1962); and Minnesota Supreme Court case records: Town of Vivian v Town of Dunbar (1926) which includes appellant's brief, brief of relator, and record for a case brought by the Town of Vivian to recover from the Town of Dunbar half the cost of building a new bridge on a township boundary road.
Pardon Board: An Inventory of Its Pardon Applications gr00277
Background material on Younger brothers, 1887-April 1889Application forms or letters formally requesting a pardon or commutation of sentence.

Includes digital content.
Pardon Board: An Inventory of Its Pardon Calendars gr01250
Minutes (titled "calendars" by the board) of the Board of Pardons, largely comprising a record of actions on individual pardon applications, although other actions of the board are also mentioned. The pardon applications are often discussed in some detail.
Region Nine Regional Development Commission: An Inventory of Its Published Records and Reports gr01249
Annual reports (1975, 1978, 1981, 1982, 2005), five year assessment (2011-2016), newsletters (1978-1987, 1990-1995), and various print and near-print reports documenting the activities of the commission.
St. Peter State Hospital: An Inventory of Its Subject Files and Miscellaneous Records gr00085
Cemetery records (1896-1985), daily ward record (1891-1892), land records (1855-1925), nurse employment record books (1880s-1950s), doctors time book (1964-1975), outdated procedures manual sections (circa 1895-2010), and subject files. Topics covered in the latter include chaplaincy, Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals, medical staff, Minnesota Security Hospital, nursing policies, the 125th anniversary celebration, photographs of dormitory and building interiors, Recruitment Assessment Committee, St. Peter weather statistics, strategic planning, and visitors.
Channing Seabury: An Inventory of His Family Papers 00499
Correspondence (1855-1934, 1987-1988), diary (1854-1863), newspaper clippings, and miscellany, all relating to the family of Channing Seabury, a businessman of St. Paul (Minn.) and later chairman of the Board of State Capitol Commissioners (1893-1908), including his sister, Caroline Seabury, who taught (1854-1863) in Columbus, Mississippi.
Douglas Volk: An Inventory of His Second Minnesota Regiment at Mission Ridge Papers 00494
Correspondence and miscellaneous papersCorrespondence and miscellaneous papers relating to the design, composition, and execution of Volk's painting Second Minnesota Regiment at Mission Ridge, November 25, 1863, commissioned by Cass Gilbert for the Governor's Reception Room of the Minnesota State Capitol. Major correspondents include Cass Gilbert, Jeremiah C. Donahower, Judson W. Bishop, and Channing Seabury. The collection also includes a glass plate negative and two prints of the painting.

Includes digital content.

New and Updated Catalog Records

Account books of eighteenth-century merchants of Montreal, notably Pierre Guy, père et fils ; Alexis Monière, père et fils ; and Etienne Augé
Microfilmed account books in French of a number of 18th century Montreal merchants who supplied goods to the fur trade in the Great Lakes and other areas. Included are journals, ledgers, and daybooks of Alexis Lemoine Monière, père et fils (father and son); Pierre Guy, père et fils; Louis Hervieux; Jacques Hervieux; Etienne Augé; Ambroise Magnan; and Louis Carignant.
Avidor, Ken. Ken and Roberta Avidor urban sketchbooks, 2001-2015.
Sketchbooks created by Twin Cities urban sketch artists Ken and Roberta Avidor. The sketchbooks contain color and black-and-white drawings in ink and watercolor depicting people and scenery observed at such places as the Minnesota State Fair, the 2008 Republican National Convention, local festivals, farmers markets, parks, museums, ballparks, outdoors in nature, and individuals participating in such everyday activities as waiting at the bus stop, using a computer, riding a bus, and eating in restaurants.
Business and fur trade records of Montreal merchants. Supplements I and II, 1691, 1739-1836.
Microfilmed account books, business and personal correspondence, legal documents and miscellaneous items primarily in French related to Alexis Lemoine Monière, Pierre Guy, François-Antoine Larocque, and various fur trade companies, most notably XY Company and North West Company.
Cottage Grove (Minn. : Township). Birth and death records, 1870-1953.
Box 1. Birth and death register, 1870-1899 (1 volume, indexed) -- Birth, 1913-1948, and death, 1913-1945, certificate book (1 volume, indexed). Box 2. Burial/removal permits, 1908-1925, 1937 (1 folder) -- Death certificates, 1945-1953 (1 folder) -- Return of a death, 1904 (1 folder.)
Emily Charter School. Board minutes, 1994-2010.
Board minutes of Emily Charter School, a public charter school that operated in Crow Wing County from 1994 until it closed in 2010.
Fur trade documents and related research papers, 1966-1975.
Photocopies of originals (circa 1682-1842, 1899) in various Canadian repositories, compiled in 1966-1968 as part of the Minnesota Historical Society's Montreal Merchants Research Project. Includes legal and business records of fur traders and merchants in Montreal, the Great Lakes region (including Minnesota), and western Canada; related letters and journals; and data on locations of fur trade records. They provide information on fur trade supplies and equipment, labor arrangements, trading posts, trade routes, trade goods, fur collections and sales, and business arrangements. There are abstracts of most documents, and translations of many originally written in French.
Miller, Deborah L. Kensington Rune Stone files, 1891-2014.
Correspondence and collected materials on the Kensington Rune Stone and collected materials on Connect US-USSR, Leif Ericson and Christopher Columbus, and the Vikings collected by long-time Minnesota Historical Society staff member Deborah L. Miller.

Return to top

Archives - New Finding Aids

« What's New - October 2016

« What's New - September 2016

« What's New - August 2016

« What's New - July 2016

« What's New - June 2016

« What's New - May 2016

« What's New - April 2016

« What's New - March 2016

« What's New - February 2016

« What's New - January 2016

« What's New - December 2015

« What's New - November 2015

« Finding Aids


Use 'ctrl-f' (Mac 'command-f')
to search this page

Contact a Librarian