History Day Research @ the MNHS Library: Step 3: Search @ MNHS

You can make the most of your time at the MN Historical Society Library by finding materials you want to use before you arrive.  

The first stop for finding materials is the Online Catalog. You can search it from any computer with internet access.  It works similarly to library catalogs at public libraries, but here are some hints for using it more efficiently:

• Use the keyword search for most of your searches
• After a keyword search, the option on the left labeled "Collections" will let you search specific portions of the collection like Maps, State Government Records, etc.
• You can use OR and NOT in your search.  Example: (logging OR lumber) NOT Minnesota.
• Think creatively about your search terms and how you might limit or expand them.
• Remember, the catalog search only searches for words that are in the catalog records, not all the words in the full text of articles, books, etc.
• The ? can help find matches that contain portions of words or different spellings. For example, agri? will retrieve agri, agribusiness, agriculture, agricultural, agriculturist, etc. In another example, ?ology will retrieve anthropology, archaeology, psychology, etc.  A search for wom?n will find both woman and women. 

Some of the best primary source materials are manuscript or archival collections.  These include things like diaries, letters, government records, and the records of companies and organizations.  

All of these collections are listed in the online catalog, and some have full online finding aids.  A finding aid is a more detailed inventory of a collection and you can search them online from the Collection Finding Aids webpage. 

Collections that do not have an online finding aid will have a print finding aid that you can look at in the Library. 

The Collections Online system contains information and images of 3-D objects, photographs, art, maps, and more from the MNHS Collections.  Our Collections Online system is currently only available onsite at the Gale Family Library.

Here are some hints for your search:

• Start simple with 1 or 2 search terms.
• Add more words or use the filters on the left to be more specific.
• Think creatively about search terms. For horse-drawn carriages, you might try carriage, coach, or buggy.
• To search for an exact phrase in exact order, use quotation marks ("Civil War").
• Abbreviations may give different results than full words (Ave vs. Avenue, St vs. Saint).
• Write out numbers (Eight instead of 8). 
• Don't worry about punctuation. The search ignores punctuation.
• Searches are not case sensitive. Minnesota and minnesota are treated the same.

There are three main places to search for research materials at MNHS:

• Online Library Catalog
• Finding Aids
• Collections Online 

Primary Source - Materials from the time of the person or event being researched.  (Letters, diaries artifacts, photographs, and other types of first-hand accounts and records, as well as reminiscences and oral histories. Stories from newspapers of the time may also be primary sources.)

Secondary Source - Materials that were created at a later time.  They analyze and interpret primary sources; footnotes or bibliographies can lead to primary sources.

Still confused about Primary vs. Secondary Sources?  Check out our short video tutorial!

Gale Family Library
Minnesota Historical Society Library

Located on the Second Floor of the Minnesota History Center
345 West Kellogg Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55102

Library Hours:
Thursday to Saturday: 10am to 4pm
Sunday to Wednesday: Closed
 

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651-259-3300

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