On Wednesday, May 31st, the 15th MDL Annual Meeting was held at the Continuing Education and Conference Center on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus. Over 100 people came together to hear a keynote presentation on Umbra Search African American History, a project to facilitate access to African American history through a website and search widget; digitization of over 500,000 items; and creation of workshops and public forums to promote access to culturally diverse collections.
The Minnesota Digital Library is excited to announce a new addition to the collection of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. In addition to a series of photographs on weaving show and exhibitions, the contribution also includes Weaving Guild minutes, notes, and correspondence. These materials document the activities of the Guild during World War II as well as the 1950s and 1960s.
The Minnesota State Law Library has added a new book to their collection in Minnesota Reflections. The 1876 edition of "A History of the City of Saint Paul, and of the county of Ramsey, Minnesota" helps to tell the story of the early years in our state's capital. The book includes numerous illustrations of early settlers to the area as well as accounts of their lives and activities. One of the most interesting chapters is Chapter 32 which provides an account of the state's activities during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the Dakota War of 1862. This volume provides a record of how these events were interpreted and explained during the 1870s and will serve as a a valuable resource for students, teachers, researchers.
The Minnesota Digital Library has launched a faster, mobile-friendly website for it's primary project, Minnesota Reflections. The new site was announced at the MDL Annual Meeting in St. Paul. Minnesota on May 31. Reflections is a database of 53,967 digitized original materials shared by 190 cultural heritage organizations located across Minnesota.
The Minnesota Digital Library's 15th Annual Meeting will take place Wednesday, May 31 at the Continuing Education and Conference Center on the University of Minnesota's campus in St. Paul.
The Minnesota Digital Library has another addition to its Primary Source Set Collection, Traveling Library Services in Minnesota. Minnesota Reflections is rich with images and documents chronicling bookmobiles and other traveling library services in our state. The first remote access to library services was in the form of traveling libraries, collections of 25-50 books packed into a box and delivered to communities requesting them. Bookmobiles emerged in the early 20th century and reached prominence by mid-century. Despite today’s prevalence of remote digital access to library services and resources, there are still hundreds of bookmobiles in operation across the United States. The Traveling Library Services Primary Source Set features images documenting the evolution of bookmobiles through the decades as well as book lists from the earliest traveling libraries.
A new Primary Source Set has been added to the Minnesota Digital Library Primary Source Set Collection. The Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934 highlights the historic event in labor history that paved the way for new legislation such as the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The summer of 1934 saw a violent and deadly clash between General Drivers Local 574 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and local business leaders united under the Citizens' Alliance, an organization committed to an "open shop." The Primary Source Set features The Organizer, a daily strike bulletin published by Local 574 specifically focused on the events and activities of the strike. Minnesota Reflections holds the entire series of The Organizer, the first daily newsletter of its kind.
Minnesota Digital Library staff members attended the Digital Public Library of America's DPLAfest held in Chicago, April 20-21. Greta Bahnemann, Metadata Librarian, presented as part of a panel session on metadata for digital collections along with staff from the Arizona Memory Project. Together they shared tips on dealing with common problems and provided updates on recent projects at each DPLA service hub. The session was also highlighted in American Libraries. Molly Huber, Outreach Coordinator, coordinated a panel session that was comprised of staff from the Digital Library of Georgia, Illinois Digital Heritage, University of Miami, Washington University in St. Louis, and Penn State.
MDL is building a new website for Minnesota Reflections. As work on the new site nears completion, we are inviting you, our partners, to preview the site and share your feedback.
The newest Primary Source Set focuses on the historical origins of the self-portrait, or "selfie."
Historical content from Minnesota's cultural heritage organizations, all in one place