Primary Sourcery

Tales of Minnesota’s pigskin rivalries do involve one pig. But where did that axe come from? Why a jug? And who decided on a pig made of bronze? With help from UMedia, University Archives, and Wikipedia, we tell the tales of three trophies.

The University Archives holds about 11,000 audio recordings from the University of Minnesota's radio station KUOM and other events on campus. Because they were recorded from 1939 to 1993 on reel-to-reel equipment, however, as that recording method became obsolete, these recordings were effectively silenced. Now almost 5,000 of them have been restored to audible life, through digitization.

Robert Bly, an outstanding person of letters in Minnesota, died at the age of 94 on Nov. 21. “He was by far the most consequential poet of the second half of the 20th century,” says James Lenfestey, poet, writer, and former Star Tribune editorial writer.

By Allison Campbell-Jensen Vic Rosenthal, Jewish Community Action’s executive director from 2000 to 2017 and, prior to that, a member of the board from its...

Advice for would-be illustrators: “When in doubt, choose purple,” says renowned children’s book illustrator Ariane Dewey, who recently received the 2021 Kerlan Award — and long-delayed recognition for work early in her career.

The Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA) at the University Libraries is very pleased to announce its next Grant-in-Aid awardees. These awards support travel to the IHRCA at Andersen Library to advance the awardees’ research. Awards are available through co-sponsorship from the IHRCA and campus partner, the Immigration History Research Center.

The wealth of information in the Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA) attracts researchers with different goals, studying different populations, and perhaps even holding different conceptions of words like refugee. In three recent projects, the IHRCA supported research ranging from politics to art, from refugees to displaced persons.

Trees and their fruits have taken over the display cases in the Andersen Horticultural Library and Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Visitor’s Center to illustrate "Turning over a New Leaf." The exhibit, co-curated by Andersen Librarian Kathy Allen and Library Assistant Adrienne Alms, accords with the Arboretum’s theme for this summer — the Season of Trees. The exhibit runs through Oct. 31 at the Andersen Horticultural Library, open Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on the grounds of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

Formerly a student staff employee in the U of M's Performing Arts Archives, Joseph Moen brings prior research experience and a strong measure of enthusiasm to the work, as helps researchers uncover and use material deep in the archives.

World War I, the Great Depression, and immigration all contributed to a growing number of people who were unattached — unmarried and not linked to communities in significant ways. To study these single people, most of whom were men, Doris Brossard, a doctoral student of modern U.S. history, gender, and women’s history at Rutgers University, recently came to the University Libraries to access the Social Welfare History Archives and the Kautz Family YMCA Archives.

Collecting materials about the University’s response to COVID is not only important, "It's critical," says Professor Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota. “If we are not to repeat ourselves, we best learn from this information,” says Osterholm, an infectious-disease expert, best-selling author, frequent news source, and member of then President-elect Joe Biden's Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board. 

Erika Lee wrote an opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Times on July 4, titled: "What does it mean to be American? Ask an immigrant." The Regents Professor of History and Asian American Studies traced American xenophobism — fear and hatred of foreigners — from the mid-19th century through 1916, then jumping a century, to Donald Trump’s election as U.S. President in 2016 and its follow-up. Read more and link to the L.A. Times article and video

Fans of the Transcripts podcast — a project of The Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies that first launched in June 2020 — have something new to get excited about: another new podcast episode. In the recently released Episode 2 of, Transcripts focuses on trans people of color housing activists who were interviewed for the Tretter Transgender Oral History Project (TTOHP). 

By Allison Campbell-Jensen Architect Dewey Thorbeck faced an issue about 10 years ago when moving his office from Minneapolis’s Loring Park neighborhood to his home...

Posters and programs demonstrate the growth of Pride celebrations in the Twin Cities over the years. These materials and more about Pride from the Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies can be found in the Libraries' UMedia collection.

Terrestrial and celestial globes created in 1696 arrived at the University Libraries the day after the shutdown for COVID-19 last year, destined for the James Ford Bell Library. Curator Marguerite Ragnow wanted to figure out how to put them on the web but initially she was stymied. Then a breakthrough appeared in January 2021, when she learned of the 3D scanning capabilities in the Health Sciences Library.