Researching at the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS)

Chartered in 1849 as one of the first acts of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature, the Minnesota Historical Society's collection is vast and rich for genealogists. The newest exhibit in the museum is Families, featuring such things as a front porch, hair art, photos, letters, steamer trunks, ethnic mementos, and an interactive computer program to help start visitors in searching their ancestry.

The Research Center provides one-stop services to the 500,000+ book collection, the Minnesota State Archives, most of the newspapers ever published in the state, photographs, and an often surprising manuscript collection.

• Published materials. In addition to the biographical reference sets and how-to books, there are 15,000 family histories, local and county histories, church histories, plat books, company histories, city directories, telephone books, year books from high schools, colleges and various organizations, guides to collections in other repositories, and many U.S. government publications. The collection includes sets of the Pennsylvania Archives, the NEGHS Register, and almost all of the materials referred to in the biographical reference sets.
• Minnesota State Archives. Records of governmental entities within Minnesota, from town and township records to the tapes of the Minnesota Legislature's proceedings. These include court, military, naturalization, school, tax, and some vital records, as well as the homestead entries when land passed from the U.S. Government to private hands.
• Newspapers. From the Minnesota Pioneer's first editions published in 1849, daily and weekly Minnesota newspapers (including special interest papers such as legal, political, prison etc.) are available. Many have been microfilmed.
• Photographs. Two major card catalogs in the Research Center lead patrons to either portraits or places. Curious about the changes the freeways and major shopping centers made to the landscape? Maybe what your ancestor's home looked like?
• Manuscript collection. Personal papers, records of businesses, patriotic organizations, veterans' organizations, civic groups, and more are included here. MHS has had an active oral history program, with both tapes and transcripts in the collection.

Access to most of the collection is through PALS, the on-line catalog MHS shares with the state universities and government offices. However, individual photographs are not included (only general references to groups of photos), and the manuscript collection is only partially included in this source. Extensive card catalogs in the Research Center provide access to these collections. There are other card catalogs there as well: the Minnesota biography file includes citations to many obituaries in Minnesota newspapers, and the Alien Registration Index provides access to the 1918 listing of Minnesota's noncitizens.

Published guides to parts of the manuscript collection are available, and include indexes to the people as well as subject matter. Because cataloging practices have changes in the almost 150 years of collecting, searching the card catalog can be both frustrating and fruitful. For example, references under Fort Snelling. Cemeteries are not exactly the same as those for Cemeteries. Fort Snelling. Unique materials appear in each. The guides provide the name of the collection, which make it easier to look up the collection in the card catalog to get the data necessary to see it.

The bad news is that the collection is non-circulating. The good news is that some parts (e.g., newspapers and the state censuses taken from 1865-1905) are on microfilm, and can be borrowed for a small fee through interlibrary loan outside the Twin City metropolitan area. Write to the Research Center at 345 Kellogg Blvd W, St. Paul, MN 55102-1906.

Visit the museum - check out the Families exhibit, see how wild rice is grown, climb in a grain elevator and freight car, see the Yankee Girl and a Montreal canoe, and then stop at the Research Center. This is a great place for kids of all ages!

© 1995 Park Genealogical Books, Roseville MN

From our catalog, about the MHS research center collection:

• Genealogical Resources at the Minnesota Historical Society - A Guide, by Minnesota Historical Society
• Mexican Americans in Minnesota
• Blacks in Minnesota: A Preliminary Guide to Historical Sources,
• The Oral History Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, compiled by Lila Johnson Goff and James E. Fogerty.
• Manuscripts Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society (Guide No. 3), compiled by Lydia A. Lucas.
• Manuscripts Collections of the Minnesota Regional Research Centers (Guide No. 2), compiled by James E. Fogerty.
• Bibliography of Minnesota Territorial Documents, compiled by Esther A. Jerabek.

Our books are available through mail, fax or e-mail order. We accept checks, VISA, Discover and MasterCard. See our catalog.

U.S. Shipping: Add $5.00 for the first book and $.50 for each additional volume. Minnesota residents must add sales tax.
Foreign: $5 plus actual shipping costs - you choose surface or air.

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