University of Minnesota Archives and Special Collections

The opening two sentences of a 17 July article in the Minnesota Daily, the newspaper of the University of Minnesota's main campus, tells the story of why we still need to visit such places in our family history research.


"In the last five years, the University of Minnesota Archives has digitized about 1 million pages of records."

"But that’s only 1 percent of its total content."

I have seen the underground storage of many of these materials and just that part alone was impressive. The article further stated, "The University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections Department houses 16
collections of rare and unique research material. Thirteen of these are stored in an underground room the size of two football fields stacked on top of each other, located beneath the Elmer L. Andersen Library and the University Law School."


Read the full article here.

Check out the website of the University Archives here.
Check the Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts here.

I have used several of the special collections in research projects and found them quite valuable.