Smart moves in genealogy: join genealogical and historical societies

To help celebrate National Archives Month and Family History Month, I have renewed some memberships in societies. At the top of my list are the Minnesota Genealogical Society (MGS, member 39 years) and the Minnesota Historical Society (member for 36? years). I’m also a member of other such organizations. with membership renewals spread throughout the […]

Minnesota Historical Society has an amazing number of items!

The Minnesota Historical was founded in 1849. I have remembered that for many years. I wanted to share some statistics about all that it holds. I found some older statistics and then the most recent ones I could find were on Wikipedia: “MNHS holds a collection of nearly 550,000 books, 37,000 maps, 250,000 photographs, 225,000 […]

Minnesota Historical Society Library and Archives remain closed amid staff layoffs

A press release yesterday told (if you read between the lines) that the library, state archives, and microfilm areas of the Minnesota Historical Society remain closed. The presser further stated “MNHS is recalling 64 staff, while making the difficult decision to extend furloughs for 139 staff and to lay off 176 staff, primarily those who […]