Primary Sourcery

By Allison Campbell-Jensen On March 19, Reference and Outreach Archivist Ryan Bean will introduce the idea of global racism to the World Alliance of the...

Chinese is a tough language for an English speaker to learn, with thousands of ideographic characters to learn, and four tones in spoken Mandarin. But as a college student, Ann Waltner didn’t yet know enough to be daunted by it. She found the language and the nation fascinating, and eventually became a historian of China and professor of history at the U of M. She's also a member of the Friends of the University Libraries.

After a successful crowdfunding campaign, the American Jewish World newspaper is being digitized by the Upper Midwest Jewish Archives at the Libraries — making it “available online for people across the Midwest, indeed across the world..."

Email, PowerPoint presentations, Google documents, and spreadsheets — these are just some examples of born-digital materials that make up the digital stream coming to the Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections (ASC). “ASC has wanted/needed a position to help us deal with born-digital materials for several years,” says Kris Kiesling, Elmer L. Andersen Director of Archives and Special Collections. Managing these born-digital materials is now the role of Lara Friedman-Shedlov.

What began in the early part of the 20th century as a week dedicated to studying the history of Black people in America by the 1960s was expanding to a month. Starting in the mid-1970s, U.S. Presidents have annually proclaimed February to be Black History Month. Yet people can explore Black history any month, taking online avenues through primary source materials and special collections available through the Libraries.

In trying times, we all want someone to lean on — someone reliable, professional, and caring. Someone like Mary Blissenbach, Student Supervisor for Archives and Special Collections. “[Mary] is our front line as we open up Archives and Special Collections to researchers. She has done a fantastic job in coordinating a difficult changing world for them.”

Gideon Gartner died Dec. 12 at his home in Manhattan. He and his wife Sarah have been generous supporters of the Charles Babbage Institute’s research and archives. The Gartner Group Records that he donated to CBI Archives have already been used by many researchers, reports CBI Director Jeffrey Yost. 

Two outstanding local public TV productions used Libraries’ resources in their runs for a Midwest Emmy. One was successful; each is worth a look.

In August 2017, “A Campus Divided: Progressives, Anticommunists, Racists, and Antisemitism at the University of Minnesota 1930-1942,” opened in Elmer L. Andersen Library. This exhibit sparked a controversy and began in a conversation.

High school theater has been challenged during COVID times, yet Meredith Kind, theater director for Chaska High School, found ways around the barriers to their fall theater production — with the help of the Libraries.

Jewish Community Action Records, C. P. Frank's Atlas of the city of Duluth, Minn., (1902), “Mama Cat Has Three Kittens," and many more notable acquisitions were made in fiscal year 2020 by the University Libraries.

The Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota has just released the first 20 interviews from Phase Two of the Tretter Transgender Oral History Project (TTOHP). The activists featured in Phase Two of the TTOHP are working to overcome barriers that trans people experience in the areas of housing insecurity, police violence, health care, and other justice issues.

The Immigration History Research Center Archives recently digitized surveys of Mexican and Mexican-culture residents in St. Paul in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. The surveys were done by what is now the International Institute of Minnesota. Founded in 1919, “it is a social service agency helping and also honoring new Americans..."

On Sept. 22, Marguerite Ragnow, Curator of the James Ford Bell Library, unwrapped the six panels of the Ricci Map so that conservator Sherelyn Ogden might examine them. The map panels had been in storage at Mia since early December 2017.

Dudley Riggs made a mark on the Twin Cities before passing away on Sept. 22 at the age of 88, particularly with the Brave New Workshop improvisational comedy club that he ran for 39 years. Along with many warm memories, he also leaves behind a treasure trove — his papers are in the Libraries’ Performing Arts Archive.

“Collies and Toucans and Bugs, Oh My!” kicks off the 2020-2021 season of First Fridays on October 2. Kathy Allen, Andersen Horticultural Library Librarian, is the presenter of this virtual event from the Libraries' Archives and Special Collections.