What's New -- June - August 2025

We have been undergoing maintenance on our finding aids systems since June. Some links and content may still be inaccessible into the fall. Despite this work, we have managed to get some collections and digital content processed over the summer.

Newly added accessions include the Margaret Mary Byrne Papers; the Stanley Robert Maxeiner, Sr. and Family Papers; the George Alfred Stefanus Montelius Papers; the Mary Catherine Murphy Personal and Legislative Papers; the William Elbridge Neudeck Papers; the Technology and Information Educational Services (TIES) Records; the Telford K. Thompson Scrapbook; the Wakinyan Zi Tiospaye; and the Elof Wedin Papers.

Collections with additions or added digital content include the Adjutant General: Military Service Records, Civil and U.S.-Dakota Wars; the African American Registry Records; the Agricultural Society: Century and Sesquicentennial Farm Applications; the Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Minnesota Records; the Paul Richard Bohr Papers; the ClearWay Minnesota Records; the Faribault State School and Hospital Audio-Visual Materials; the Carole Fisher Papers; the Gale Family Papers; the Hubert H. Humphrey: Autobiography (The Education of a Public Man) Files; the Isanti County Independent School District No. 314 (Braham) Records; the Martin N. Kellogg Paper; the Antoinette Porter King and Family Papers; the Legislative Auditor: Various Record Series; the Legislature: Electronic Real Estate Recording Commission Meeting Files; the Minnesota Historical Society Institutional Archives; the Minnesota Works Progress Administration: Writers Project Research Notes; the Gene Ritchie Monahan Family Papers; the Rasselas S. Mowry Papers; the Otter Tail County: Probate Court: Probate Case Files; the Redwood County: North Hero Township: Birth and Death Register; the Stillwater State Prison: County Prison Register; the Lawrence Taliaferro Papers; the War Records Commission: World War I Soldiers' Photographs; the Washington County: Sheriff: Jail Registers; the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Minnesota Branch Records; and the Zoological Board: Various Record Series.

In addition there are many newly encoded finding aids that are now available online for the first time.

New and Updated Finding Aids

Name/Abstract	File No.
Adjutant General: An Inventory of Its Military Service Records, Civil and U.S.-Dakota Wars	gr00667
Service data on Minnesota soldiers who served during the Civil and U.S.-Dakota wars. Includes digital content.
African American Registry (Minneapolis, Minn): An Inventory of Its records	01531
Records of the African American Registry and its founder Benjamin Mchie. Includes Board and governance records; historical research materials; Registry calendars; print marketing and brochures; programmatic records; letters sent to the Registry; information on awards, appointments, and conferences; and audio and video recordings of interviews, promotional advertisements, and presentations produced for the Registry or other work by Mchie. Also includes a report authored to the NAACP Board of Directors on his effort to form a Cultural Awareness Group at the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, Minnesota. Includes digital content.
Agricultural Society: An Inventory of Its Century and Sesquicentennial Farm Applications	gr00094
Application forms for residents who wished to have their farms declared century farms, signifying that the farm had been in the same family for 100 or more years. This was begun as a joint project between the State Fair and the Farmer magazine; later the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation became the co-sponsor. Beginning in 2009, sesquicentennial (150 years) farms forms are included. Includes digital content.
Animal Health Board: An Inventory of Its Annual, Biennial, and Quarterly Reports	gr03473
Reports submitted by the board secretary to the governor, containing commentary on the general sanitary conditions of animals, particularly livestock, in the state and on the board's activities relating to livestock disease prevention and control.
Animal Health Board: An Inventory of Its Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Program Summaries	gr03474
Summaries of total herds and total cattle tested for brucellosis and tuberculosis, totals found negative, totals infected, and totals suspicious.
Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Minnesota: An Inventory of Its Records	00621
Subject files, movies, photographs, advertising samples, and other records of an Eagan, Minnesota-based nonprofit health service corporation and its predecessors that had its beginnings with the organization in 1933 of Minnesota Blue Cross, Minnesota's first pre-paid health plan. Includes digital content.
Paul Richard Bohr: An Inventory of His Paper	01573
Papers of Paul Richard Bohr, the former Executive Director and President of the Midwest China Center and professor of Asian history. The papers predominantly include records related to the Midwest China Center (1975-1994), and some materials related to his time teaching at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University (1996-2012). Includes digital content.
Margaret Mary Byrne: An Inventory of Her Papers	01584
Constituent mail, correspondence, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, and related records, principally documenting Peggy Byrne's service as a Democratic-Farmer-Labor legislator in the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 64B (Ramsey County). Byrne was elected November 5, 1974 and served in the 69th to 72nd sessions from 1975 to 1981. Special interests included government operations, the delivery of social and educational services to citizens, and alternative dispute resolution work.
Chisago County: Wyoming Township: An Inventory of Its Records	gr03463
The records include clerk's (1858-1987) and treasurer's (1860-1876, 1917-1981) books, annual town meeting proceedings (1860-1877, 1905-1919), treasurer's statements (1860-1981), and audit board reports (1861, 1886-1984); election records and poll lists (1861-1986); petitions (1864-1979, scattered); wolf bounty certificates (1900-1929); and road records (1858-1922), including tax lists, petitions, orders, and plats. An 1877 estray record is also contained in the 1876-1912 road record volume.
ClearWay Minnesota: An Inventory of Its Records	01522
Organizational records of ClearWay Minnesota, an independent nonprofit organization that improves the health of all Minnesotans by reducing tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. The organizational records include: administrative records, program files, reports, publications by ClearWay and related organizations, audiovisual materials, ephemera, and digital files. Related oral history interviews conducted as part of the Minnesota Historical Society's Tobacco Control Oral History Project are also included. Includes digital content.
Education Department: An Inventory of Its State Aid Records	gr03472
Various summary reports ("bluebacks") and special state aid payments records that give detailed information on aid provided for buildings, consolidated schools, transportation, associations, evening schools, teacher training departments, isolated pupils, ungraded elementary schools, school libraries, high schools, semi-graded schools, rural schools, federal aid, teachers' examinations, tuition, vocational schools, non-resident pupils, and on special classes, summer school, and transportation for the handicapped. Also, information on the distribution of superior, supplemental, gross earnings tax, and deficiency aid.
Faribault State School and Hospital: An Inventory of Its Audio-Visual Materials	gr00920
Audio-visual materials documenting the hospital's patients and staff. Includes digital content.
Carole Fisher: An Inventory of Her Papers	01580
Personal papers of multimedia artist, educator, and environmentalist Carole Fisher. The papers include: extensive materials related to Fisher's interest in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and her Alaska Oil Spill Project (AOSP); files regarding Fisher's Clinton School Project (CSP); her career exhibition, teaching, and project files; files related to fellow artist and collaborator Miriam Schapiro; and correspondence with other artists and personal and family papers. Includes digital content.
Gale Family: An Inventory of Their Family Papers	00319
Family history materials, reminiscences, diaries, scrapbooks, correspondence, poems, and photographs detailing the activities of five generations of the Gale family, a prominent Minneapolis family involved in business and politics, and several families related to them by marriage, including the Pillsbury, Lindley, Jones, Burton, and Duff families.
Hubert H. Humphrey: An Inventory of His Autobiography (The Education of a Public Man) Files	01412
Drafts, page proofs, notes, memoranda, transcripts of reminiscences and interviews, background materials, and some correspondence gathered during the preparation of Humphrey's published autobiography, The Education of a Public Man (N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976). Includes digital content.
Isanti County: Independent School District No. 314, Braham: An Inventory of Its Records	gr00013
Records documenting the administration and activities of this school district.
Martin N. Kellogg: An Inventory of His Papers	01213
Biographical notes (1923), correspondence and miscellaneous papers (undated and 1845-1907), a microfilmed scrapbook (1849-1940), hospital records, commemorative programs and menus, music scores, family photographs, business cards (1883-1888), a marriage certificate (1855), a high school diploma (1890), and miscellaneous printed matter (1848-1896) related to the personal, military, and business life of a St. Paul (Minn.) pioneer. Includes digital content.
Antoinette Porter King and Family: An Inventory of Their Papers	01582
Correspondence, diaries, and genealogies comprising the compiled genealogical and historical record of two families who migrated from New York to Wisconsin and eventually settled near Jackson, Minnesota. Includes digital content.
Legislative Auditor: An Inventory of Its Investigation Reports and Reviews	gr01343
Reports of investigations of misuse (usually theft) of public funds or other state resources by state agency employees, undertaken by the Legislative Auditor's Office at the request of agency administrators or staff members. From 1987 to some time after 2003, the reports are labelled "special reviews" and were conducted by the Financial Audit Division. If evidence of misuse of state resources was found, it was reported to the Attorney General, the appropriate county attorney, and the Legislative Audit Commission. Also includes preliminary reviews or assessments on state funded agencies or programs.
Legislative Auditor: Financial Audits Division: An Inventory of Its Audit Reports	gr00705
Audit reports conducted annually by the Financial Audit Division to assess the state's major financial operations and determine whether the state's financial statements comply with generally accepted accounting principles.
Legislative Auditor: Program Evaluation Division: An Inventory of Its Program Evaluation Reports	gr00239
Published reports that describe state programs or the operations of state agencies, analyze management problems, evaluate outcomes, and recommend alternative means of reaching program goals.
Legislature: Electronic Real Estate Recording Commission: An Inventory of Its Meeting Files	gr00561
Meeting files of the Electronic Real Estate Recording Commission [ERERC] (2008-2024), and its predecessor, the Electronic Real Estate Recording Task Force [ERER] (2000-2008).
Stanley Robert Maxeiner, Sr. and Family: An Inventory of Their Papers	01585
Biographical data (1938-1965); World War I papers, photographs and diaries (1917-1919); a scrapbook (1903-1936); medical papers authored by Maxeiner (1920-1956); and family photographs (approximately 1910s-1930s) of a Minneapolis physician who served with the British Expeditionary Forces in World War I.
Minnesota Historical Society: An Inventory of Its Institutional Records	00513
The archives of the Minnesota Historical Society contains historically valuable records from all of its administrative and program units. They reflect and document the history of the organization from its 1849 beginning as the first private corporation chartered by the territorial legislature. Includes digital content.
Minnesota Works Progress Administration: An Inventory of Its Writers Project Research Notes	00695a
Contains research notes, articles, drafts, and completed histories of counties, ethnic and nationality groups, Minnesota rivers, and miscellaneous subjects. Includes digital content.
Gene Ritchie Monahan: An Inventory of Her Family Papers	00984
Correspondence and related papers of Gene Ritchie Monahan, her husband George Monahan, and their family. The Monahans were descendants of the James Christie family through George's grandmother Sarah Christie Stevens and were friends of conservationist Ernest C. Oberholtzer. The bulk of the collections is family correspondence. Smaller portions include letters from Vietnam written by George's brother Robert Hugh Monahan that were sent to the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Opthalmology and papers regarding Ernest Oberholtzer's estate, Mallard Island, and the Oberholtzer Foundation. A binder of Gene Ritchie Monahan's oral history and autobiographical tape transcripts are also included.
Rasselas S. Mowry: An Inventory of His Papers	01563
Letters and journals of a Rhode Island man who served with the First Minnesota Infantry Regiment (1861-1864) and later with the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment (1864-1865) in the Civil War, eventually returning to Providence, Rhode Island, where he had a long career as a civil engineer and surveyor. Includes a few photographs, some genealogical notes, and a narrative of the First Minnesota from its formation to the Battle of Gettysburg.
Mary Catherine Murphy: An Inventory of Her Personal and Legislative Papers	01586
Personal and legislative papers of State Representative and educator Mary Catherine Murphy. The papers include: subject files; materials related to Democratic National Conventions; appointment calendars audiocassette tapes; correspondence; photographs; and campaign materials.
Otter Tail County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Coroner's Record	gr03476
Coroner's records of the Otter Tail County District Court.
Otter Tail County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Default Judgment Records	gr03477
Includes volumes D, G-K.
Otter Tail County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Forfeited Real Estate Tax Judgment Record	gr03478
Includes 1881, 1893, 1900, and special sale (1898-1912).
Otter Tail County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Indictment and Information Records	gr03479
Includes information records A-E, and indictment records A-D.
Otter Tail County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Judgment Dockets	gr03480
Includes volumes 1, A-F.
Otter Tail County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Judgment Records	gr03481
Volumes A-C, and E-Y.
Otter Tail County: Probate Court: An Inventory of Its Probate Case Files and Index	gr00522
Numerical index and case file nos. 1-46270, circa 1868-1987, supplemented by selected files filmed out of sequence. Includes digital content.
Pope County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Civil Case Files	gr03454
Files numbered 1-6,665; files prior to 1886 may include criminal case files.
Pope County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Criminal Case Files	gr03455
Files numbered 1-645. The boxes were numbered 1, 11-15, 17 by the court; intervening boxes contained other material.
Pope County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Judgment Dockets	gr03456
Volumes A-D.
Pope County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Judgment Records	gr03457
Volumes C-M.
Pope County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Land Registration Records	gr03458
Transfer record, clerk's land office record, land registration docket, and decree record.
Pope County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Naturalization Records and Index	gr03459
Personal name index, declarations of intention, final papers, petition and record, lists of citizenship petitions granted and denied, and applications to take oath of allegiance.
Pope County: Probate Court: An Inventory of Its Final Decrees of Distribution	gr03460
Final decrees, 1880-1982 (reels 1-10) and miscellaneous order books, 1867-1973 (reels 11-13), containing data on decedents' estates and their distribution to heirs and legatees.
Pope County: Probate Court: An Inventory of Its Probate Case Files	gr03461
Probate court case files nos. 1-2018, dealing with estates, guardianships, and incompetencies.
Pope County: Probate Court: An Inventory of Its Will Books	gr03462
Copies or transcriptions of the complete texts of wills probated by the courts, accompanied by certifications of authenticity and of filing signed by witnesses and clerks of court. Original wills are found in the probate case files.
Ramsey County: Saint Paul: Valuations Department: An Inventory of Its Building Assessment and Project Files	gr03453
Files for city projects that required site surveys and documentation of existing buildings and their value. The majority were for street widening, throughway development, and related projects that entailed moving buildings, condemning all or portions of properties, and/or frontage reconstruction. The files contain real estate assessment cards, photographs (primarily of building fronts), floor plans, elevations, site sketches, cost estimates for damages incurred and/or work on buildings and grounds to be undertaken, and sometimes correspondence.
Redwood County: North Hero Township: An Inventory of Its Birth and Death Register	gr03452
Birth, 1873-1899, and death, 1875-1899, records. Includes digital content.
Stillwater State Prison: An Inventory of Its County Prison Register	gr03432
Register of persons committed to jail for safekeeping (e.g., while awaiting trial) by various counties and held at the territorial prison. The practice of receiving temporary county prisoners was discontinued by resolution of the Board of Prison Inspectors on August 19, 1858. Includes digital content.
Lawrence Taliaferro: An Inventory of His Papers	01236
Correspondence, journals and typed transcripts of the journals, order books, financial records, an autobiography, data sheets, and research note cards, the bulk of which document Taliaferro's career as U.S. Indian agent to the Ojibwe and Dakota at the St. Peters Agency near Fort Snelling in present-day Minnesota (1820-1839). Includes digital content.
Technology and Information Educational Services: An Inventory of Its Records	gr03475
Includes bylaws, files on purchases, meeting minutes, and memoranda of agreements.
War Records Commission: An Inventory of Its World War I Soldiers' Photographs	gr00131
Contains photographs of soldiers, some of which include the geographic location where enlistment occurred. Includes digital content.
Washington County: Sheriff: An Inventory of Its Jail Registers	gr01186
Information that may be recorded: name, date, age, height, hair color, complexion, race, occupation, county of origin, literacy, marital status, by whom sent, what for, term, and why discharged. Includes digital content.
Elof Wedin: An Inventory of His Papers	01583
Papers of Swedish American artist Elof Wedin. The papers include: correspondence; account books; financial information; assorted brochures and exhibition catalogs; original sketches and printmaking woodblocks; photographs, slides, and negatives regarding Wedin's artwork, travels, and family; and biographical information compiled and drafted by Wedin's sons. The correspondence primarily documents Wedin's professional relationships with local Minnesota institutions such as the Minnesota Institute of Arts, the Walker Art Center, and the Minnesota State Fair.
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Minnesota Branch: An Inventory of Its Records	00371
International, United States branch, Minnesota state chapter, and Minnesota local branch records of an international women's organization which works for world peace, disarmament and social and civil rights.
Wright County: District Court: An Inventory of Its Minutes	gr03464
A record of documents filed, proceedings held, and actions taken at each day's session of the court.
Zoological Board: An Inventory of Its Annual Reports	gr00047
Reports of the Minnesota Zoological Board (1969, 1971-1973, 1975, 1977) and Minnesota Zoological Garden (1979-2000).
Zoological Board: An Inventory of Its Board Files	gr00040
Correspondence and subject files documenting the board's various duties and interests, particularly development of objectives, guidelines, and policies; appointments; rules and regulations; the zoo's 1978 opening/dedication; legislation; finances; strategic planning; and its relationship with the zoo staff, particularly in the 1970s.
Zoological Board: An Inventory of Its Published Records and Reports	gr00050
Reports, newsletters, and miscellaneous print and near-print items of or about the Zoological Board and the Minnesota Zoological Garden. The records cover all aspects of the board's duties and activities.

New and Updated Catalog Records

Montelius, George Alfred Stefanus. George Alfred Stefanus Montelius papers, 1900-1976 (bulk 1900-1904).

Letters (1900-1904) received by Montelius in Sweden (1900-1901), Grove Lake, Pope County, Minnesota (1901) and Minneapolis (1901-1904) from one "Bertha" (Skarlunda, Sweden). Bertha's relationship to Montelius is unclear. The letters contain expressions of affection, local and family news, and biblical admonitions. All are in Swedish. The collection also includes one volume of lecture notes on dental prosthetics (January 1903) and two photographs (undated, 1976) of Montelius.

Neudeck, William Elbridge. William Elbridge Neudeck papers, 1918-1919.

Correspondence (March 1918-June 1919); French postcard cards, some annotated (1918-1919); memorandum books (approximately 1918) containing notes from training lectures; and ephemera (1918-1919) containing programs, miscellaneous writings, and instructions of Neudeck, a Minneapolis resident who served with Machine Gun Company, 352nd Regiment, 88th Division in the US Army. Most of the letters are written to his parents and sister from Camp Dodge, Iowa and various points in England and France.

Thompson, Telford K., 1886-1951. Telford K. Thompson. Scrapbook of European trip, 1907.

Scrapbook containing photographs, post cards, menus, programs, and ephemera documenting Thompson's trip to Europe in the summer of 1907, including Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Cyrus Foss Chamberlain (1889-1918) accompanied him. Some of the postcards are annotated or have messages sent back to Thompson's parents. Laid into the front of the volume is Thompson's passport signed by Secretary of State Elihu Root (likely a facsimile).

What's New -- June - August 2025

New and Updated Finding Aids

New and Updated Catalog Records

Archives - New Finding Aids