What's New

NHPRC Grant

Finding Aid Statistics

The Minnesota Historical Society is the recipient of a Basic Project grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) which will significantly support the cataloging of the Society's unprocessed archival collections. The project targets 4,600 cubic feet of government records and manuscript collections.

Learn more about the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and how its strategic plan helps support non-Federal institutions like the Minnesota Historical Society through grants.

Finding Aid Statistics

This is a picture of our backlog. Each one of the boxes pictured here represents a cubic foot. Now imagine 4,600 of these boxes, all to be processed, inventoried, and cataloged in 18 months!


New and Revised Finding Aids - September 2010

Name/Abstract File No.
Aitkin County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM176
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Andersen Corporation: An Inventory of Corporate Records 00678
Financial records, advertising materials, product catalogs, employee newsletters, legal files, trademark and patent documents, price lists, sales information, details and specifications, service bulletins, installation manuals, photographs, videocassettes, motion pictures, and other records of a privately-held manufacturing firm begun in 1903 by Danish immigrant Hans Jacob Andersen in Hudson, Wisconsin, that grew into a large manufacturer of windows and doors that marketed its products world-wide through a network of independent and company-owned wholesale distributors. The collection includes some records of related and subsidiary companies, and some papers of members of the Andersen family.
Anoka County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM140
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Becker County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records and Index SAM174
Personal name index, declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
James Ford Bell and family papers. 00749
Business and personal correspondence (1861-1961), newspaper clippings (1920-1961), print materials, scrapbooks, and miscellany of Bell, a Minneapolis flour-milling executive who was an active participant in public affairs, and other Bell family members.
Big Stone County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM178
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Brown County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records and Index SAM020
Personal name index, declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Carlton County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records and Index SAM009
Indexes, declarations of intention, interogatories and depositions, orders, and final papers.
Carver County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM106
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Cass County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM177
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Chisago County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM164
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Clay County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM53
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Clearwater County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records and Index SAM205
Personal name index, declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Cottonwood County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM179
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Dakota County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records and Index SAM107
Personal name index, declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
DFL Feminist Caucus records. 00173
Administrative records and subject files documenting the organization, activities, and political goals of a feminist caucus formed within the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in 1973.
The Richard Ferrell flour milling industry history collection. 00699
Collected by Richard Ferrell who once managed the Pillsbury's historic A Mill. Includes flour milling advertisements, marketing materials, promotional items, cookbooks, newsletters, periodicals, architectural drawings, moving images, sound recordings and photographs. Items produced by Minnesota-based millers form the core of the collection, but it also includes materials from companies in neighboring states, the Pacific Northwest, and Canada.
William E. Frenzel papers. 00036
Congressional papers and office files (1970-1992) of a third district Republican congressman from Minnesota (1971-1991) who later (1990-) served as a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. The material focuses largely on Frenzel’s work on the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Trade and the House Administration Committee, and his efforts at Brookings to secure passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (1993). Brookings Institution files (1990-2000) include information about Frenzel’s efforts to secure passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (1993). There is a small amount of material from Frenzel’s years in the Minnesota House of Representatives (1963-1969).
Houston County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM180
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Isanti County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM172
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Jackson County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records and Index SAM026
Personal name index, declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Kanabec County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records and Index SAM182
Personal name index, declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Kittson County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM173
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Lac qui Parle County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM183
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
L. Bruce Laingen Papers. 00685
This collection documents the career of Lowell Bruce Laingen from his service in World War II during the Philippines campaign to his thirty-eight-year career in the Foreign Service and especially focuses on his experience as a hostage in Iran. His papers also include material from his 1930s boyhood on a Minnesota farm.
Mahnomen County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM184
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Marshall County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM227
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Edina Newspapers: An Inventory of Photographs sv000150
Contains photographs from the primary St. Paul and Minneapolis newspapers in their various incarnations and the Edina Sun newspaper. Includes images that were taken by staff photographers as well as images supplied by others. The images provide views of people, places, and events from various locations around Minnesota, the United States, and elsewhere.
Minnesota Historical Society. State Historic Preservation Office: An Inventory of Its Review and Compliance Files 00557
Files created by Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office staff in the course of reviewing construction, rehabilitation, and demolition projects to ensure that sites and properties of historic significance were not adversely affected.
Mississippi Land Company records. 00739
Minute books, annual statements, stock records, ledgers, journals, cashbooks, correspondence (1956-1965), tax records, and iron mine reports of this company organized in 1896 by the Weyerhaeuser interests to hold title to and receive royalties from mineral rights on Mesabi Iron Range lands. This firm was a Weyerhaeuser affiliate.
Murray County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM131
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota records. 00773
Minutes of meetings (1966-1998), correspondence (1967-1999), and subject files (1963-2004) documenting the activist efforts of a Minnesota organization that seeks to educate the public on abortion and to ensure a woman's right to choose via legislation. The minutes of meetings and some subject files (e.g., annual reports, board lists, financial yearly reports, press releases) span one or more iterations of the organization, which has gone through several name changes.
Nicollet County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM170
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Otter Tail County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM050
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Pennington County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM185
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Joachim F. Pusch papers. 00709
A certificate of naturalization and a 2-volume scrapbook detailing the adolescence (1923-1940), German military artillery career (1940-1945), and World War II prisoner-of-war experience of a young man who later immigrated to Minnesota (1951), was naturalized as a U.S. citizen (1955), and worked as a county extension agent and educator until his retirement. Scrapbooks contain photographs, maps, official records, and explanatory text.
Ramsey County Bar Association: An Inventory of its Records 00777
Articles of incorporation and amendments, minutes of meetings and related records, correspondence, memorials to deceased members, miscellaneous organizational records, and photographs created by a local chapter of the Minnesota State Bar Association.
Red Lake County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM187
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Reid H. Ray Film Industries: An Inventory of Its Photographs sv000154
Views of the work of the Reid H. Ray Film Industries Co., St. Paul, Minn. (successor to Ray-Bell Films Inc. ca. 1947-1948). Includes views of employees, film crews on location, studio filming and equipment. The accompanying print materials include proposals, scripts and storyboards for various film projects.
Republic Airlines Records 00358
Corporate records and subject files related to Republic Airlines (1979-1986) and its predecessor and acquired lines, including North Central Airlines (1952-1979) and its predecessor, Wisconsin Central Airlines (ca.1940s-1952); Southern Airways (ca.1940-1979); and Air West/Hughes Airwest (1968-1980) and its predecessors, Bonanza Air Lines (ca.1940s-1968), Southwest Airways (ca.1940s-1958), Pacific Air Lines (ca.1958-1968), and West Coast Airlines (ca.1940s-1968).
Retail Lumbermen's Inter-Insurance Exchange records. 00775
Articles of incorporation and bylaws, minutes of meetings, annual reports, financial records, legal agreements, and photographs documenting a Minnesota corporation that offered reciprocal insurance to Midwestern lumbering concerns. Subscribers to the Exchange defrayed the cost of individual property insurance policies by dividing the annual claims payments among the entire Exchange.
Christian and Gordon Rosenmeier: An Inventory of Their Papers 00345
Personal, legal, and legislative papers of Christian Rosenmeier and his son, Gordon Rosenmeier, both of whom were lawyers and Minnesota state senators from Little Falls, Minnesota.
Martin Sabo legislative and congressional papers. 00462
Legislative and congressional papers of a Democratic member of the Minnesota House of Representatives (1960-1978) from Hennepin County, who later served as Minnesota's Fifth District congressman (1978-2007).
Sherburne County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM196
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Steele County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM198
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant files. 00684
Facility blueprints, company newspapers, photographs, reports, procedures, and other printed material documenting a small arms and artillery ammunition plant operated by Federal Cartridge Corporation in Arden Hills, Minnesota, from 1942 to 1992. Photographs, mainly of machinery and building sites but including work stoppages/labor strikes and some personnel, constitute the collection's bulk. Reports include both fire and explosion investigations (1952) and standard operating procedures (1966, 1969). Begun as the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant, the site was renamed the Arsenal (1946) and the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (1963).
Brenda Ueland and family papers. 00099
Papers documenting the life (1891-1985) and career of a Minneapolis feminist and author and her family.
Horatio P. Van Cleve and Family Papers 00791
Correspondence, genealogical and biographical data, diaries, financial records, clippings, and miscellany of Horatio Phillips Van Cleve, a military officer and early Minnesota settler, his wife Charlotte Ouisconsin Clark, and various family members.
Wadena County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM160
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.
Henry B. Wenzell papers. 00786
Letters from judges of Minnesota courts, Harvard professors, and Minnesota public figures; recommendations of Wenzell as Minnesota supreme court reporter (1895); correspondence regarding the renting of billboard privileges on St. Paul property owned by actor William H. Crane, together with Crane's itinerary of theatrical tours (1902-1924); material on Harvard University and the Harvard Club of Minnesota; Wenzell's letters home during his study and travels in Europe (1876-1878); and Wenzell family genealogical data and memorabilia.
Winona County: An Inventory of its Naturalization Records SAM132
Declarations of intention, final papers, petitions, and related records.


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