The library’s institutional archives include nearly 18,000 photographs! This past fall we put thousands of 35mm slides in our Digital Collections. The collection includes photos of both Minneapolis Public and Hennepin County libraries and covers the 1930s through the 2000s, with the bulk from the 1970s and 80s. Find photos of building construction and remodels, interior and exterior views, library staff and patrons, groundbreaking ceremonies, equipment and technology, programs and outreach activities, staff parties, and a whole lot more. Use the filters on the left to browse by library, decade, or subject.

Nearly 500 of these photographs contain unidentified individuals (including patrons!) or unknown locations. Help us identify them! View all digitized photos in the library archive or browse unidentified and unknown photos.

Browse more than 150 issues from five local music magazines from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, including In-Beat, Twin City a-Go-Go, Music Scene, T.M.C. ‘Insider’, and, most notably, The Insider. The Insider, published by Conrad ‘Connie’ Hechter, was the premier music publication in the Twin Cities during the 1970s, covering all aspects of popular music and culture in the Twin Cities, and tracking the rise of local musicians such as Prince and the development of the Minneapolis Sound. Hechter’s daughter, Cynthia Hechter Rollins, generously granted permission to the library to make these digital copies available to the public, while Steve Kaplan gave permission for In-Beat. St. Louis Park resident Jeanne Anderson was instrumental in gaining these permissions for the library and gathering print copies for us to digitize. View the collection online.

As our year ended, so too did the work of our 2024 grant-funded project workers. For the past two years, The Friends of Hennepin County Library have provided funding for archival processing of the library’s institutional archives, which currently includes over one hundred collections related to our libraries, collections, programs, and services. Check out these recently processed collections.

Minneapolis Public Library Realia

Three-dimensional items from the Minneapolis Public Library. The collection is comprised of six series: Bags, Buttons, Cloth, Pens and Pencils, and Objects. Objects include sister city gifts, rubber stamps, bookplate printing plates, souvenir items, and more. Most items in the collection were created as promotional giveaways, but others were created for staff use or special events. Pictured above are a film storage box from the circulating film collection and the quick reference Rolodexes from the InfoLine phone room. View finding aid.

Minneapolis: Portrait of a Lifestyle Program Records

Event brochures, programs, posters, grant applications, correspondence and other administrative files from 1979 to 1982. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Minneapolis Public Library’s Minneapolis: Portrait of a Lifestyle project studied why Minneapolis rated so highly in national quality of life studies despite extremes of climate and isolation. View finding aid.

Minneapolis Public Library Newspaper Indexing Project Records

Records of two Minneapolis Public Library projects to index the Minneapolis Journal and Minneapolis Star and Tribune. Materials include training manuals, production records, progress reports, and correspondence. The bulk of the collection documents the Minneapolis Journal project conducted from 1938 to 1942. View finding aid.

Minneapolis Public Library Strategic Plans

Minneapolis Public Library strategic planning documents and reports from 1968 to 2007. View finding aid.

Environmental Conservation Library (ECOL) Records

ECOL was a state center for environmental information, focusing on Minnesota and the surrounding area’s natural resources and conservation efforts. ECOL was housed in and administered by the Minneapolis Public Library from 1972 to 1996 and funded by the state, the Library Board, and grants and pledges from foundations and individuals. Collection includes documents from 1966 to 1996, including quarterly newsletters, book catalogs and booklists, proposals and records of the legislative efforts to fund the library, manuals, and various environmental reports. View finding aid.