Minneapolis Public Library: Special Collections

Because most materials in Special Collections are, for security purposes, housed in locked storage outside of the department you must make arrangements in advance to access the collections. Please call 612-630-6350 at least one full business day prior to the time you wish to visit to schedule an appointment. Appointments can be scheduled during the following times:

Tuesdays from 10:00 to 1:00 and 2:00 to 4:30
Thursdays from 10:00 to 1:00 and 2:00 to 4:30
The first and third Saturdays of the month from 11:00 to 2:00

Newsboy at Hennepin and Washington, downtown Minneapolis, 1904.

The largest of the collections is the Minneapolis Collection, which was created by the Library Board in 1940. Materials available at Central Library Marquette include:

City directories on microfiche (1859-1999)
Dual City Blue Books on microfiche (1885-1923/24)
Building Permit Index cards (1884-1973)
Minneapolis telephone books on microfiche (1933-present)
Minneapolis High School Yearbooks
A selection of books on the history of Minneapolis
Neighborhood Revitalization Project neighborhood reports
A selection of vertical files and uncatalogued photos, especially in the areas of biography and neighborhoods.
Biography cards, house and building card files, quick reference card files
Collection of Minneapolis maps
Current (starting in October 2002) Minneapolis periodicals and neighborhood newspapers
Trade catalogs
Postcards

In addition, photos from the Minneapolis collection are now available online.

The Minneapolis Collection includes many useful sources for discovering the history of a house or building located in the city of Minneapolis. For details and helpful tips, see our page Researching a Minneapolis House or Building.

The Kittleson Word War II Collection contains more than 5,000 books, 2,000 posters, and 2,500 pamphlets, periodicals, pictures, and maps relating to all aspects of the war. Begun by J. Harold Kittleson in 1944, it constitutes the largest collection of WWII material in the Upper Midwest.

Also started by Mr. Kittleson, the 19th Century American Studies Collection consists of more than 4,500 books, manuscripts, and ephemera by 19th century American authors who worked predominately in New England and New York.

The Hoag Mark Twain Collection was donated by Robert E. Hoag. It consists of approximately 250 books, magazines, and pamphlets by or about Mark Twain. Included among the first editions in the collection are A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Quaker City Holy Land Excursion, and Following the Equator.

The Huttner Abolition and Anti-Slavery Collection was assembled by Robert L. Huttner and purchased by the library in 1974. It contains nearly 900 books, pamphlets, broadsides, photographs, and letters by and about abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, John Greenleaf Whittier, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Frederick Douglass.

Sojourner Truth, photograph from the Huttner Collection.

The History of Books and Printing Collection includes works on book evaluation, conservation, bookplates, collectors and collecting, illustrators and illustrations, bookmaking, typography, and printers and printing. This collection is used heavily to answer questions on the value of books.

The Bibliography Collection has been built by the library to support both cataloging and reference needs. It includes national catalogs for Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and Great Britain, as well as the United States. These sources can be used to identify a book's publishing history.

Special Collections also holds these minor collections: Christmas books, Achille J. St. Onge miniature books, and the Louis Dodge Autograph Collection.

Collections of the Minneapolis Athenaeum

Five significant collections of rare books are maintained by the Minneapolis Athenaeum:

"Violette de Mars" (Viola odorata) from Volume 6 of Pierre Bulliard's Flora Parisienis, 1783.

The largest of the Athenaeum's collections is the Spencer Natural History Collection. It is notable for the many hand-colored plates accompanying early descriptions of the world's birds, plants, animals, and insects. The most famous work in the collection is John James Audubon's double elephant folio edition of the Birds of America, one of only 134 complete sets in existence. This collection is being built with funds willed to the Athenaeum from the estate of Dr. Kirby Spencer in 1870.

"Kalispel Youth" by Edward S. Curtis, from The North American Indian, 1910.

The North American Indians Collection contains copies of many of the important early books that describe and illustrate Indians of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Significant works by such authors as Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, George Catlin, and Edward S. Curtis are included.

The Early American Exploration and Travel Collection includes narratives and maps from the 17th through the 19th centuries. The early explorers represented in the collection include Father Louis Hennepin, Henri Joutel, Jonathan Carver, Joseph N. Nicollet, and Lewis and Clark.

The Heffelfinger Aesop's and Others' Fables Collection was donated by Ruth J. Heffelfinger in 1985. The bulk of the collection consists of 152 editions of Aesop's fables. There are also important editions of the fables of La Fontaine and Reynard the Fox.

The History of Books and Printing Collection is supported by funds from both the Athenaeum and the Public Library. It includes works on book evaluation, conservation, bookplates, collectors and collecting, illustrators and illustrations, bookmaking, typography, and printers and printing. The Special Collections staff uses material from this collection to answer questions on the value of old or unusual books and on the preservation of books and paper documents.