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Quick Summary

Timelines are useful tools for teaching and learning about people, places, and events in the past. The Minnesota Digital Library has started creating interactive online timelines that place historical images, documents, maps, and more at specific moments in time. Explore these timelines to engage with our digital collections in a new way.

Oil painting of a dam across a river
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Timelines are useful tools for teaching and learning about people, places, and events in the past. The Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) has started creating interactive online timelines that place historical images, documents, maps, and more at specific moments in time. These primary and secondary sources come from MDL’s contributors all over Minnesota.

Our first three timelines showcase a wide variety of subjects and materials. The Arts and Crafts timeline features several examples of artwork, including portraits, religious paintings, sculptures, weavings, costume designs, prints, and more. The Colleges and Universities timeline traces the history of the educational institutions in Minnesota that have shared their archival collections with MDL. And the Duluth history timeline explores the story of Duluth, a place where people, nature, and industry have met for centuries. 

We encourage you to explore these timelines to engage with MDL’s digital collections in a new way. You can access the timelines on MDL’s Timelines Project Page. More will be added over time, so be sure to check back often!

Image: Thomson Dam painting by Edgar F. Olson, 1935. Source: Esko Historical Society.

Written by

Stephanie Hess
Digital Curator, Minnesota Digital Library
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Historical content from Minnesota's cultural heritage organizations, all in one place