A children’s buckskin coat with beaded floral motifs on the front and back that are backed with newspaper. On the inside of the jacket is a painted figure with long legs and taloned feet holding a pipe in its left hand and a plumed object in its right. There are two types of red cloth ribbon trim and fringe along the seams and bottom. Jacket is most likely Crow, circa 1900.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this coat in our collections database.

This cyanotype photograph shows spectators crowding the stands for a baseball game at Nicollet Park. Taken around 1900.

In case you don’t know, this photograph is called a cyanotype where iron salts are used in place of silver, producing the blue color. This process was most often used to make blueprints.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this photograph in our collections database.

A clear glass “Minnesota” or “Muchness” pattern open flared compote (footed shallow dish) produced by the United States Glass Company, circa 1898-1904, as a part of their “States” series of glassware patterns. The compote’s decorative pattern includes a repeated eight-point “Star of the North” motif as well as round lumps representing lakes and triangular crosshatching representing evergreen trees.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this compote in our collections database.

Join us in celebrating the re-opening of the Minnesota State Capitol building today, January 3, 2017! After 3 years of restoration, renovation and technical updates the building is finally open to the public. Please visit the capitol website for more information on tours.

In honor of this occasion, the Item of the Day presents the first page of a recently acquired state capitol construction photo album. It contains over 275 photographs taken during the construction of the capitol building between 1896 and 1905. Please visit the finding aid for the collection here, and the entire album can be seen (as a PDF) here.

A souvenir needle case produced by the Pillsbury Company for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis, Missouri, 1904.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this case in our collections database.

A postcard showing a group of men eating breakfast(?) in the cook shack in a logging camp near Bemidji in 1908.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this postcard in our collections database.

A sterling silver trophy from the 1907 Minnesota State Lawn Tennis Championship for women’s doubles, won by Marguerite Davis.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this trophy in our collections database.

A clear glass tumbler from the Shakopee Brewery in Shakopee, Minnesota, which was managed by Hubert Nyssen, circa 1900.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this glass in our collections database.

A United States Army Model 1905 knife bayonet features a single-edge blade with a narrow, unstopped fuller running to the point. It is stamped “US / 40486″ on the front and “SA /1906″ on the back with a grenade insignia. The pommel is of the birds-head type. The cross guard is slotted adjacent to the blade, above and below, and forms circular terminals, the upper being larger and pierced to slip over a gun muzzle. The scales are wood, secured by a machine screw that is bushed on both sides.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this bayonet in our collections database.

A Territorial Pioneer Women Club lapel pin that depicts a gopher flanked by ladyslipper flowers. Circa 1900.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this pin in our collections database.