Major floods in Minnesota history include:
Flood information taken from
Major Disasters in Minnesota, by Ruth Bauer Anderson
MNHS call number: Reference Desk 606.1 .A67 2001
Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Fire, Flood, and Tornado Relief Records, 1937-1939
Correspondence and financial records for five relief projects administered by the Department of Agriculture: floods at Thief River Falls in Aitkin County and in the Snake River Valley, a tornado in southern and southwestern Minnesota, and a forest fire in St. Louis County.
MNHS Call Number: See finding aid in the library (Agriculture Department)
Minnesota Division of Emergency Services, 1993 and 1997 Flood Relief Files, 1993-1997
Records documenting the major flooding on the Minnesota, Red, and Mississippi rivers and their tributaries in Minnesota during the summer of 1993 and the spring of 1997. Includes situation/briefing memos, federal and state agreements and publications, various county boards’ assistance and agricultural disaster resolutions and requests, photographs, legislation and appropriations, press clippings, future planning materials, and more.
MNHS Call Number: Digital Finding Aid
Minnesota Executive Council, Relief Correspondence and Records, 1919-1955
Correspondence and related materials to disaster relief for a wide range of disasters in Minnesota. Includes records flood relief.
MNHS Call Number: See finding aid in the library (Executive Council)
Minnesota Military Support Section, Flood Claim Records, 1972
Damage survey reports, audit reports, vouchers, and related records of federal disaster assistance claims for flood damage suffered during the summer of 1972.
MNHS Call Number: See the finding aid in the library (Military Affairs Department: Military Support Section)
Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, Natural Disaster Audits, 1965-1973
Financial summaries, project applications, and audit reports compiled by the Public Examiner/Legislative Auditor in order to approve reimbursement from state funds to counties and communities, largely for repair of flood damages.
MNHS Call Number: See the finding aid in the library (Legislative Auditor)
Mississippi River Flood of 1965 Photograph Collection
Views of Mississippi River flooding during April of 1965 commissioned by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. Includes images of rail lines and surrounding areas in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
MNHS Call Number: Digital Finding Aid
The Red River Floods of 1997 Oral History Project
Interviews documenting the 1997 flood and its effects on the people living in the Minnesota communities along the Red River of the North. Narrators include government officials, private citizens, homeowners, business owners, weather forecasters, insurance personnel and psychologists. To listen to an individual interview or read a transcript, click on the individual interviews listed in the "Related Collections" section, then click on the related icon at the top of the screen.
MNHS Call Number: Digital Collection
Search for images related to floods through our Collections Online database. Then filter the results using the options in the system's left-hand column.
You may want to try specific terms like:
Extreme Weather Watch: Online project provides Minneapolis, Minnesota Weather averages and records from 1891–2022 (based on data made available by the NOAA)
The Minnesota Historical Society holds the world's largest collection of Minnesota newspapers, with dates ranging from 1849 to the present day.
Past issues of most newspaper titles are available on microfilm in the MNHS library, but there is also digital access to select newspapers.
Use the links to the left to search for newspapers available at MNHS and to search within digitized newspaper collections.
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
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