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 so that the materials you need can be paged. 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:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 4:30 p.m.

The first and third Saturdays of the month: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 4:30 p.m.

Please give us a call to discuss your project. If you would like to email us, our address is specialcoll@hclib.org. We are happy to help you!

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 the central library include:

City directories on microfiche (1859-1999) These are available on the 4th floor of the library in the general history collection, not in Special Collections
Building Permit Index cards (1884-1973)
Minneapolis High School Yearbooks
A selection of books on the history of Minneapolis
Thousands of newspaper clipping arranged by topic and covering nearly all aspects of the city's history (parks, schools, churches, social institutions, famous people, buildings, businesses, etc).
Collection of Minneapolis maps and plat books. Duplicate copies of the plat books are available in the Central Library's general geography department on the 4th floor and can be accessed any time the building is open to the public.
Current (starting in October 2002) Minneapolis periodicals and neighborhood newspapers. Microfilm of the historic Minneapolis Journal, Star Tribune, Tribune, and other Minneapolis newspapers is available in the periodicals department on the 3rd floor of the Central Libary.
Trade catalogs. For additional information on historic Minneapolis businesses please check with our government documents department on the 2nd floor of the Central Library.
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.

City of Minneapolis Lot Surveys

Between 1916 and 1965, the City of Minneapolis created lot surveys for many, although not all, properties in Minneapolis. Lot surveys from the years prior to 1916 and after 1965 are not available. These lot surveys show property boundaries, the footprint of buildings on a piece of property, and the named streets surrounding the property.

As of January 2008, microfilm containing the lot surveys is available for public use at Minneapolis Central Library. The microfilm is located on the third floor of the library in our periodicals department, not in Special Collections. The range of lot surveys on the third floor is B122143 to B394097.

The lot surveys are organized by building permit number. If you do not know the building permit number for the piece of property you wish to research you can find it on the building permit card. Special Collections has the original building permit cards. At Special Collections the cards must be paged from locked storage so we ask that you call in advance of your visit to make arrangements to view the card. If you do not wish to see the card itself but only require the building permit number your request can be handled over the phone or via email. Please call 612-630-6350 or send an email to specialcoll@hclib.org. The cards are also available at the Minneapolis Development Review kiosk. It is located at 250 South 4th St. Room 300. Hours are M, T, W, F 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Th 9 a.m.-4p.m.

Workshops on the topic of house history research in Minneapolis are held every few months. For more details and to register for this workshop please visit the “Events and Classes” link on the library’s homepage: www.mplib.org

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