Research Resources
During 2014, the Historyapolis Project is conducting a survey of the sources relevant to the history of Minneapolis. This work is made possible by major funding from the State of Minnesota through the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund. Our goal is to create a set of digital and print resources that will provide a helpful starting point for anyone interested in learning more about the history of Minneapolis. What follows here is a list of resources that can be found online. Please help us make this list even more complete. Let us know about anything we might have overlooked.
Archival resources
Catalogs and finding aids:
Hennepin County Libraries Special CollectionsMinnesota Historical Society Library catalog
Full text sources:
Collections Online at the Minnesota Historical Society. A statewide collection with vast holdings pertinent to Minneapolis.Minnesota Reflections from the Minnesota Digital Library. Images, maps and documents from more than 150 organizations across the state.
Digital Public Library of America. Includes millions of items from America’s libraries, archives and museums, including the Smithsonian and National Archives. Minneapolis has a strong presence in this collection as the Minnesota Digital Library is a regional hub for this national online library.
HathiTrust Digital Library. Contains millions of digitized titles from libraries around the world and allows readers to search and read volumes online. Those affiliated with a HaithiTrust partner (including the University of Minnesota) can download volumes as pdfs.
UMedia. Material from the special collections at the University of Minnesota. This portal includes material from the following collections, which have large holdings relevant to Minneapolis.
The UMedia portal includes material from the following collections:
The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Studies at the University of Minnesota. Thanks to a major grant from the State of Minnesota’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund, large portions of this internationally-significant collection are being digitized during 2014.
The Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota. An archive that documents global migration, with strong collections related to the history of Minneapolis.
The Business Library at the University of Minnesota. Annual reports from the largest companies in Minneapolis, including Honeywell and Pillsbury.
Northwest Architectural Archives. Plans, drawings and photographs created by architects, engineers, contractors, landscape architects, and interior designers based in Minneapolis and the surrounding region.
Visual resources online
Minneapolis Photo Collection at Hennepin County Libraries Special CollectionsMinnesota Reflections from the Minnesota Digital Library. There are many images from Minneapolis in this large online collection, which gathers materials from cultural organizations across Minnesota.
Collections Online at the Minnesota Historical Society. A statewide collection with substantial material from Minneapolis. Collections Online at the Minnesota Historical Society.
Digital Public Library of America. Includes millions of items from America’s libraries, archives and museums, including the Smithsonian and National Archives. Minneapolis has a strong presence in this collection as the Minnesota Digital Library is a regional hub for this national online library.
The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Thousands of images related to Minneapolis. Many can be downloaded in high resolution.
UMedia. Material from the special collections at the University of Minnesota. This portal includes material from the following collections, which have large holdings relevant to Minneapolis.
The UMedia portal includes material from the following collections:
The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Studies at the University of Minnesota. Thanks to a major grant from the State of Minnesota’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund, large portions of this internationally-significant collection are being digitized during 2014.
The Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota. An archive that documents global migration, with strong collections related to the history of Minneapolis.
The Business Library at the University of Minnesota. Annual reports from the largest companies in Minneapolis, including Honeywell and Pillsbury.
Northwest Architectural Archives. Plans, drawings and photographs created by architects, engineers, contractors, landscape architects, and interior designers based in Minneapolis and the surrounding region.
Photos from the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information, Library of Congress. Photographers employed by the Works Progress Administration created wonderful images of Minneapolis during the Great Depression and World War II. Photos from the DOCUMERICA Project, National Archives and Records Administration. In 1971, the newly-created Environmental Protection Agency launched the DOCUMERICA project. Inspired by the photojournalism of the Works Progress Administration, the project employed hundreds of photographers who documented everyday life in every state in the union. The work focused largely on the nation’s environmental problems and the relationship between the American people and their environment. They created thousands of photos—which provide a wonderful snapshop of everyday life during this decade-- before the project ended in 1977. Minneapolis is featured in several hundred DOCUMERICA photos.Digital history resources
Historic MPS. Online archive of the Minneapolis Public Schools featuring photos, maps and school histories.Minnesota Election Trends. A comprehensive compilation of election results in Minneapolis by citizen researcher Neal Baxter.
Minneapolis Historic Landmarks Map. Interactive map of historic properties and districts from the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission.
Placeography: a wiki administered by the Minnesota Historical Society that allows citizens to share histories and stories about houses, buildings and neighborhoods. Great resource for the history of Minneapolis.
Minneapolis Historic Districts. List and maps of historic districts in Minneapolis, created by the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission.
Bdote Memory Map. Illuminates sites important to Dakota history in Minneapolis. Viewers are invited to contribute their own memories of these locations.
Aerial maps from the University of Minnesota (MHAPO). Interface makes it possible to sort the maps by decades as well as location.
John R. Borchert Map Library. List of historic map and atlas holdings pertinent to the history of Minneapolis. Includes some links to images.
University of Minnesota Campus history map.
Minneapolis Historical. Digital tours of the city from Preserve Minneapolis.
Historic Minneapolis Plat Books. These urban atlases detail the landscape of the city block by block in these different periods.
Historic Minneapolis Newspapers
Minneapolis Tribune This database requires a Hennepin County Library card.
Minneapolis Newspaper index. Spotty coverage. Strong for certain decades, including the 1970s.
Minneapolis Historic Yearbook CollectionMinneapolis City Directories
Minneapolis Parks History. Encyclopedic history of the city parks by David C. Smith.
Mnopedia. An online encyclopedia of Minnesota history curated by the Minnesota Historical Society. Includes many articles about Minneapolis.
History of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden. Tells the story of Eloise Butler and the first wildflower garden in the nation, which is now part of Theodore Wirth Park.
Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery. Tells the history of the oldest cemetery in Minneapolis, where many of the city's first residents are buried. Since the cemetery was connected to the abolitionist movement in its earliest days, its gravestones commemorate the lives of a diverse range of Minneapolitans from the the nineteenth century.
Sheeko. A Somali youth oral history project featuring many narrators from Minneapolis.
Northwest Organizer newspaper. Tabloid and broadside created by Minneapolis Trotskyites in the late 1930s.
History of the American Indian Movement.
Rubbed Out. Revisits the murder of three Minneapolis journalists in the middle of the twentieth century and examines the city’s dark reputation for corruption and gangsterism during that period.No Jews Allowed. John Biewen and Beth Friend's 1992 MPR documentary about anti-Semitism in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis on Wikipedia
Overview of the history of Minneapolis from the staff at the Hennepin County Libraries Special Collections.