What's New

An addition to the records of the first female Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota Marlene Johnson is the focus of our post this election day. Marlene was elected as the running mate of Governor Rudy Perpich and served from 1983 to 1991. Minnesota has had eight consecutive female lieutenant governors since 1983, the most female lieutenant governors of any other state!

After Johnson's term, Republican Joan Dyrstad held the seat from 1991 to 1995, when she retired to run for the U.S. Senate. Between 1995 and 1999 Joanne Benson held the office, after which she ran for the Republican nomination for Governor. Mae Schunk of the Independence Party of Minnesota was in office 1999-2003; Republican Carol Molnau, 2003-2011; and Democrat Yvonne Prettner Solon, 2011-2015. Democrat Tina Smith held the office from 2015 to 2018, until she resigned to become U.S. Senator from Minnesota after the resignation of Senator Al Franken. Michelle Fischbach served most recently in 2018.

Who will be the 50th person and ninth consecutive woman to take the seat? Happy voting everyone!

New and Updated Finding Aids - October 2018

Name/Abstract	File No.
Agriculture Department: State-Federal Crop and Livestock Reporting Service: An Inventory of Its Press Releases	gr01514
Press releases sent mainly monthly or mid-monthly, with a few annual, and in the later years, weekly. They mainly report on or forecast crop and livestock production in the state. Crops and livestock covered include eggs, dairy (particularly milk), pigs, cattle, calves, chickens, turkey, sheep and lambs, honey and beeswax, corn, various types of clover, alfalfa, flax, soybeans, potatoes, barley, timothy, grain in general, winter wheat, rye, truck crops and commercial vegetables, shorn wool, and livestock slaughter.
Anoka County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Records	gr01503
Minutes of board meetings (1937-1988); audit reports by the Public Examiner, Social Welfare Department, and Public Welfare Department; child welfare placement and referral files; subject files on welfare services; and records of a 1939-1940 tornado relief committee.
Blue Earth County: Independent School District No. 77, Mankato An Inventory of Its Records	gr00014
School board minutes (1868-1976); superintendent's general (1929-1992), monthly (1885-1961), and attendance (1959-1966) reports, bulletins to teachers and staff (1954-1966), and memoranda (1974-1978); school census (1911, 1913-1916, 1919-1963, 1966); financial records (1869-1987), including clerk's registers (1878-1931), disbursement registers (1921-1928), and audit (1928-1987) and appraisal (1932-1946) reports; grade/class records, mainly for West Mankato (circa 1880-1916); and miscellaneous records (circa 1890s-2003). The latter include teacher data cards (circa 1890s-1950s), high school programs (1902-1974) and survey documents (1946-1963), vocational, technical and adult education materials (1960-1982), staffing studies (1974-1979), PTA records (1918-1973), newsletters (1973-1989), photographs of high school buildings (1898-circa 1970) and grade school students (undated, 1903), and other related records.
Conservation Department: Parks and Recreation Division: An Inventory of Its State Parks Project Files	gr01513
Plans, photographs, work program outlines, and progress reports in files kept by Wesley G. Wells, who worked for both the National Park Service and the Minnesota Conservation Department on state park survey and improvement projects.
Crow Wing County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01504
The minutes document administrative, policy, casework, and financial decisions; personal matters; and miscellaneous administrative matters or information of general interest to the board.
Dakota County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01505
Information on board activities and decisions, statistics on casework, actions on individual welfare applications, and lists of persons receiving welfare payments, with payment amounts.
Faribault County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Case Files	gr01506
Sample case files of the Faribault County Welfare Board.
Faribault County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01507
Minutes documenting the activities of the board and its predecessor.
Fillmore County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01508
The minutes document administrative, policy, casework, and financial decisions; personal matters; and miscellaneous administrative matters or information of general interest to the board.
Fort Snelling Papers: An Inventory of Its Papers	01276
The collection consists of a consolidation of photocopies, microfilm, reproduced photographs, and originals of materials relating to the history of Fort Snelling. The materials are selected from the records in the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Iowa State Archives, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and other selected material from the Minnesota Historical Society manuscripts collections. Includes digital content.
Hennepin County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Case Files	gr01509
Sample case files of the welfare board that the board retained presumably as a 5% (1:20) linear sample. However, there is no actual evidence to substantiate that presumption. The files were closed by the welfare board between 1971 and 1982 due primarily to death or movement out of the county. They deal mainly with old age assistance, aid to the blind, aid to the disabled, and medical assistance. Some of the files contain material dating back to the 1930s.
Hennepin County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01510
Original documentation of all Welfare Board transactions: includes listing of public assistance grant openings, closings, changes, and payments; welfare personnel transactions; administrative and policy transactions; breakdown of all money spent; and names of recipients and amounts of aid received by each.
Arnold E. Kahnert: An Inventory of His Papers	00867
Minutes, contracts, notifications, orders, pamphlets, programs, publications, reports, correspondence, a panoramic photograph, and other related materials compiled by Arnold E. Kahnert, Historian and Senior Vice Commander of the 3rd United States Infantry Veterans Association. Included in these records are materials related to the building of the Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel, completed in 1928.
Lieutenant Governor: Johnson, Marlene: An Inventory of Its Miscellaneous Records of Marlene Johnson	gr00686
Minutes, correspondence, and reports of the Mississippi River Parkway Commission (1981-1987); annual reports and agenda packets of the Spring Hill [conference] Center (1982-1984); agenda packets and miscellaneous correspondence of the Executive Council (1983-1986); Johnson's handwritten notebooks (1982-1990); and miscellaneous correspondence.
Martin County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01511
The minutes document administrative, policy, case work, and financial decisions; personnel matters; and miscellaneous administrative matters or information of general interest to the board.
Natural Resources Department: Parks and Recreation Division: An Inventory of Its Environmental Assessment Files Regarding State Parks	gr01516
Files documenting environmental assessments for select state parks, trails, routes, rivers, and management/recreational areas. The assessments were done to provide information to the Department of Natural Resources as to whether or not a land acquisition project required a full environmental impact statement. The records may include correspondence, surveys, articles, maps, fact sheets, inspection reports, appraisals, management plans, master plans, contracts, and permits.
Natural Resources Department: Parks and Recreation Division: An Inventory of Its Land Acquisition Files Regarding State Parks	gr01515
Files documenting the acquisition of private land by the Department of Natural Resources State Parks Division. The files may also record improvements, renovations, and project plans within the state parks. The records include deeds, correspondence, maps, environmental assessments worksheets, project descriptions, blueprints, memoranda, permits, newspaper articles, minutes, agendas, legislation, land classifications, notes, reports, and lists.
Project Minnesota/León: An Inventory of Its Records	01284
Administrative records, minutes, correspondence, programs, newsletters and publications, photographs, and information about fundraising and events of a Minnesota-based nonprofit sister-state organization established in 1984 to foster cultural understanding and community development between Minnesota and the department of León, Nicaragua.
Public Safety Department: Commissioner's Office An Inventory of Its Correspondence	gr00054
General correspondence with citizens and with local civic and law enforcement officials regarding all aspects of the department's operations and public interactions, including traffic and motor vehicle laws, reports of observed traffic violations, citizens' objections to citations for traffic violations and complaints about treatment by state patrol officers, vehicle ownership and title matters, vehicle licensing and insurance requirements, changes in road signage, requests for additional state patrol coverage, requests for information, law enforcement educational activities by the department, and miscellaneous highway safety matters.
Public Welfare Department: Public Institutions Division: An Inventory of Its Patient Registers and Indexes	gr01517
Patient or inmate registers for various public institutions; labeled "Statistical Record."
Ramsey County: Independent School District No. 621, Mounds View: An Inventory of Its District Records	gr00730
Records of Mounds View Public Schools (Independent School District No. 621) and its predecessors, Ramsey County School District No. 4 and Ramsey County Independent School District No. 38.
Ramsey County: Welfare Department: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01512
Information on board activities and decisions, statistics on casework, actions on individual welfare recipients, and financial data.
Saint Louis County Community Social Service Board: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01518
Minutes, 1901-1905 and 1917-1982 (with gaps) of the St. Louis County Board of Poor Commissioners (1901-1937), County Welfare Board (1937-1979), and Community Social Service Board (1980-1982). They provide information initially on poor relief and old age pensions provided by the county, and then on a gradually widening spectrum of these and other social services to the county's poor or disadvantaged citizens.
United States General Accounting Office: An Inventory of Its Selected Reports and Accounts Relating to Fort Snelling	01277
Microfilmed reports and accounts of the Second Auditor's and Third Auditor's offices, submitted by personnel stationed at Fort Snelling.
Winona County: Welfare Board: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01519
The minutes document administrative, policy, and financial decisions; personnel changes, policies, and classification and compensation matters; miscellaneous administrative matters or information of general interest to the board; and decisions on licensure of foster and day care homes. Accompanying the minutes for each meeting is an itemized list of decisions made on new or existing payments of various categories of welfare aid.
Wright County: Welfare Department: An Inventory of Its Case Files	gr01521
Sample case files of the county Welfare Department that were retained after being selected by the department's staff because of their uniqueness, interesting case information, or significant program or situation. This sampling was not done according to any statistical method. The files include cases dealing with aid for dependent children, food stamps, old age assistance, medical assistance, day care licensing, and nursing care placement. Many files deal with the delinquency, guardianship, and adoption of children and the care of mentally ill individuals.
Wright County: Welfare Department: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr01520
Original documentation of all Welfare Board transactions; includes listing of public assistance grant openings, closings, changes, and payments; welfare personnel transactions; administrative and policy transactions; breakdown of all money spent; and names of recipients and amounts of aid received by each.

New and Updated Catalog Records