Welcome to the Archives

The Museum Archive, the state’s largest military repository, tells the stories of our Veterans, veteran organizations, and military units. It provides provenance for our artifact collections and significance to our exhibits. The diaries, photos, films, maps, documents, and other Archive materials, in conjunction with the museum's artifact and book collections, tell the story of all Minnesota's Veterans from pre-statehood to present. 

Our records consist of material donated by veteran’s families, military units, and the general public over the last 50 years.

The Archive collections specialize in material on Minnesota Veterans, the Minnesota National Guard, and Camp Ripley. Additionally, as Minnesotans have served our nation since pre-statehood, our collections also include material on each service branch, all war eras, and many military units nationwide.

The mission of the museum archive is to acquire, preserve, organize, and make accessible Veteran records, photos, videos, and related materials. This vital archival process allows our Veteran’s stories to be told by our museum and understood by all Minnesotans. 

Collection highlights include:

Collections receiving special emphasis include Minnesota Air National Guard, Air Reserve, and the Vietnam Veterans Association. Development of our digital archive is also a priority.

All collections are publicly accessible in accordance with museum policies. Researchers can utilize our finding aids to identify records of interest and make an appointment for viewing. 

Material donations to the museum must be coordinated in advance with the Archivist or Curator. Records we seek include Minnesota Veteran records, Minnesota military unit files, and Veteran organization materials.

Our Research Resources

Using our Archive

To safeguard our collection, please do not:

  • Bring food or drink, including water, into the reading room.

  • Use pens or ink (pencils are allowed for note taking).

  • Remove any archival records from the reading room.

  • Mark or annotate original records in any way.

  • Unfasten or interfere with the original order of papers within a file.

Handling archival records

  • Please ensure that your hands are clean and free from hand lotions and moisturizers. These lotions will cause the paper to stain and accelerate the deterioration process.

  • Licking your finger to turn pages will also stain the paper. A finger stall can be used to help turn pages, but extra care must be taken with thin and fragile folios.

  • Please handle all records carefully. Never force open a volume or a file. If you are unable to obtain information from a tightly bound spine, bring it to the attention of museum staff.

  • Please do not lean on, or trace from any records or use them as a support for writing.

  • Please do not stack open files or place files within other files, as this places unnecessary pressure on the file and volume spine, and may lead to one of the files becoming lost or damaged.

  • If you need to flag a page, use a piece of clean paper. Do not use Post-it notes or bulky objects such as pencils and spectacles as place markers.

Limit on the number of records issued

  • Patrons may only have one folder removed from a box on their work space at a time. When removing a folder it is important to mark its placement in the box to ensure that the folder is placed back in the same location.

  • Archival materials cannot be "checked out" by patrons or museum staff and/or Board except when materials are in need of conservation or for a digitization project and prior approval from the Archivist was obtained.

Research & Duplication Fees 

The Museum maintains an extensive archival collection consisting of military records, photographs, maps, manuals, and magazines. Under the supervision of museum staff the majority of these records are available to researchers at no cost to them if they are conducted at the museum. Although museum staff will not conduct extensive research on behalf of an individual we are able to provide information from our holdings as time and resources permit. Requests of this nature will be charged to the individual or institution making the request at an hourly rate that covers staff time to process. The fee for this research will be paid for prior to the research being conducted based on an estimate from the archival staff.

Fees

  • Fees for hourly research by archival staff will be reimbursed at the rate of $25.00 per hour.

  • Duplication Fees of records will be assessed at the rate of $0.30 per copy.

Additional research resources