John R. Borchert Map Library

1857 Sectional Map of Minnesota

A “sectional” map shows areas that had been surveyed by the U.S. General Land Office. Because the survey served as the legal record for real estate, this process allowed the land to be partitioned and sold. This particular map is one of only four copies held at libraries throughout the country and includes an illustration of the Fuller House in St. Paul, which is where some accounts allege Joseph Rolette hid during a curious episode of Minnesota history that resulted in keeping St. Paul as the capital of Minnesota.

Children’s Literature Research Collections

Handwritten draft of My Father’s Dragon

The handwritten first draft of My Father’s Dragon was donated by the author, Ruth Stiles Gannett. My Father’s Dragon was published in 1948, and was illustrated by the author’s stepmother, Ruth Chrisman Gannett. The book earned a Newbery Honor in 1948 and remains in print to
this day.

Givens Collection

Ezra Hyland Collection of Black Radical Press

Educator and community activist Ezra Hyland’s collection includes rare pamphlets, newspapers, and other ephemera that document the Black Power Movement, the Black Panthers, and other aspects of African American activism.

Autographs for Freedom, Vols. 1 and 2 (1853, 1854), edited by Julia Griffiths
Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society

A historic collection of anti-slavery essays and poems. The first volume includes the only fiction published by Frederick Douglass, the story “The Heroic Slave.” The second volume carries the very rare signature of Frederick Douglass.

Gorman Rare Art Book Collection

Southern Landscapes

This new acquisition is a fine press artists’ book on photography published by 21st Editions. The collection of 14 photographs by Sally Mann is one of a limited edition of 58 copies, printed by letterpress and masterfully bound by hand with carefully selected materials sympathetic to the artist’s sensibility. Southern Landscapes is a beautiful work on the study of photography, the photographer Sally Mann, printmaking, and bookmaking. This acquisition adds to a growing collection of rare photography books.

Immigration History Research Center Archives

Lorraine M. Lees collection of FBI Files on Yugoslav American Ethnic
Organizations

These redacted Federal Bureau of Investigation documents, gathered by historian Lorraine M. Lees through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, reveal mid-20th century FBI activity on three Yugoslav American ethnic organizations: the American Slav Congress, the Serbian National Defense Council, and the United Committee of South-Slavic Americans. Surveillance was on grounds of internal security due to their actual or suspected ties to foreign nationals and governments.

Performing Arts Archives

Desmond Heeley papers

Designer Desmond Heeley is remembered for his vision and mastery in stage and costume design. From the finest fabrics to the most mundane objects, Heeley dazzled audiences with his ability to transform ordinary objects into magical productions, creating beautiful worlds on stage. His archives contain models, design sketches, photographs, notebooks, and correspondence.

Social Welfare History Archives

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota records

This new acquisition includes over 50 linear feet of photographs, minutes, correspondence, newsletters, promotional materials, reports, and other records documenting more than 100 years of Lutheran Welfare Society and Lutheran Social Service history. A generous gift will support the cost of arranging the records, preserving them, and creating an inventory of the files.

Minnesota Public Health Association records

The Minnesota Public Health Association archived over 30 linear feet of minutes, administrative records, newsletters, and publicity materials as well as recordings of the Public Health Journal television program. The records are a significant resource on the history of public health and document specific health topics as well as decades of programs, advocacy, and education.

Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault records

The Archives worked with the Minnesota Coalition against Sexual Assault to collect 10 linear feet of training, promotional, and program materials related to ending sexual violence. The Coalition, which was founded in 1978, is committed to prevention, education, policy change,
and justice.

Domestic Abuse Project records

The Domestic Abuse Project, archived seven linear feet of records. Founded in 1979, the Domestic Abuse Project provides advocacy for and emergency services to survivors of intimate partner violence as well as therapy and prevention programs.

Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies

Charlee Hoyt Papers

From 1983 to 1984, Minneapolis was the center of a heated controversy over pornography. Minneapolis Council Member Charlee Hoyt, working with Andrea Dworkin and Catherine McKinnon, authored an ordinance that proposed treating pornography as a civil rights issue and allowing women harmed by pornography to seek damages in the civil court system. The ordinance was vetoed in Minneapolis but a similar ordinance passed in Indianapolis where it was challenged in court and found unconstitutional. This collection documents the testimony before the Minneapolis city council, correspondence with supporters and opponents, reports on the impact of pornography, and efforts to organize community support for
the ordinance.

Representative Karen Clark Papers

Karen Clark was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives as an out lesbian in 1980. Her website states that she is the longest serving openly lesbian legislator in the country. These materials are related mostly to her recent legislative work including the constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage and legislation to legalize marriage equality. The Tretter Collection hopes to add material about her community organizing and environmental work in the future.

Pam Mindt (Colonel, Retired) Papers

In 1992 Pam Mindt became one of the first targets under the military policy “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” She was a captain when she told her commanding officer that she was a lesbian and proceedings were started to withdraw her federal recognition. A Board of Officers recommended that she be discharged, but proceedings were stopped and she continued to serve until her retirement as a full colonel in June 2015. The collection includes publicity about her case and certificates of appreciation presented
to both her and her wife upon
her retirement.

Bi+ Stories Collection

The Bisexual Organizing Project (BOP) collected both surveys and short video interviews with dozens of members of the Bi+ community. These have now been donated to the Tretter Collection to be preserved and made accessible. Because bisexual voices are the least represented in the archive and there is little in the way of bi focused oral history available anywhere, the Collection’s goal is to make the materials as widely available as permissions allow. This content dramatically increases the material in the Tretter Collection documenting the
Bi+ experience.

Upper Midwest Jewish Archives

Talmud Torah of St. Paul photographs

In anticipation of their 60th anniversary, Talmud Torah of St. Paul donated a large number of photographs documenting their history of Jewish education in Highland Park. These new materials doubled the collection from Talmud Torah that the archives held previously. The photographs include special events, classroom education, and graduation for children and young adult education programs, and date between 1946 and the present.

Mount Zion Temple Mendelsohn papers

Mount Zion Temple recently added to their collection by donating two boxes of materials related to the construction of their synagogue by internationally recognized architect Erich Mendelsohn. Located on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Mount Zion’s stunning building brought the Jewish faith to “the avenue of churches” when it opened in 1954. These new materials include photographs, blueprints, sketches, and correspondence between architects, staff, and rabbis, and document this new phase for Mount
Zion, the oldest Jewish congregation
in Minnesota.

Jewish Fellowship Club records

This new collection documents the history of the Jewish Fellowship Club, a social club that began in the 1930s whose purpose was “to promote and foster good will and sociability among the Jewish men of Duluth and vicinity; to foster and support Jewish culture and education; and to establish a Jewish center in Duluth.” They also published a monthly newspaper, the Jewish Fellowship News, which became the designated publication of the organized Jewish community of Duluth and Superior. The materials donated include club meeting minutes,

community events and fundraisers, materials documenting the Jewish Social Service Agency, scrapbooks with newspaper clippings, and copies of the Jewish Fellowship News.

Upper Midwest Literary Archives

Robert Hedin papers

Robert Hedin’s career as an artist and supporter of the arts is well-documented in the poet’s archives. Correspondence, published works, and translations form the bulk of the collection. Hedin’s archives also include documents from the Anderson Center at Tower View, Red Wing, which offers residences and resources to artists working in myriad disciplines.

John Rezmerski papers

John Rezmerski’s archives illustrate the poet’s expansive interests and reach within the literary community in Minnesota. The collection includes numerous subject files kept by Rezmerski – including his research on ravens – but also covering anything from local writers, to politics, to UFOs. Rezmerski’s archives also demonstrate his passion for teaching and nurturing young writers, and his work as an editor and storyteller.

Roseann Lloyd papers

Her work described as “unflinching” and “achingly beautiful,” Minneapolis-based writer Roseann Lloyd is known for her stunning poems as well as her writing about grief and healing. Her poetry collection, War Baby Express, won the Minnesota Book Award for Poetry in 1997, and her collaborations with Hazelden Press and Deborah Keenan have resulted in works that remind us of the power of the written word in telling difficult stories. Her archives illustrate her work as a poet and teacher.

Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine

Illustrations of Dissections of Male and Female Monkeys (En shiyu kaibo zu)

This finely illustrated, vividly colored, detailed scroll was compiled by Ryozo Endo and illustrated by Hisashi in 1813. Produced from actual observation, the 29 foot by 10.5 inch scene-by-scene handscroll was a visual account of late Edo medical knowledge as Japan was opening to the West. Composed of sheets of paper joined horizontally and rolled around a dowel, viewers unfurl one segment with the left hand as the right-hand re-rolls
the scroll. 

Lettuce and Its Uses (Archidipno; overe, Dell’insalata, e dell’vso di essa, trattato nuovo, curioso, e non mai più dato
in luce)

This 1627 book by Salvatore Massonio and Alessandro Maganza is the first printed book in the history of gastronomic literature dedicated exclusively to salad. The book discusses the properties of every ingredient that can go into a salad (endive, truffles, capers), and how the quality of ingredients differs according to social class.

Other Acquisitions

Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collections

The University Libraries acquired the digital archives Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collections: Series 1 and Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collections: Series 2. These archives present a digital collection of historical content pertaining to Hispanic history, literature, political commentary, and culture in the United States. They support research at the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies, as well as research on the Hispanic population and culture of the U.S. by faculty and students in the departments
of American Studies, History, and Spanish & Portuguese Studies.