This 1860 photograph shows the Minnesota photographer Charles Alfred Zimmerman with photo equipment and holding a stereo lens used to make photographs like the one of the Stone Arch Bridge seen here last week.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this photograph 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 color photograph of prairie plants, one of six, made by Minnesota photographer Linda Gammell in 1998.

For more information on this item, view this photograph in our collections database.

A small tintype photograph of John F. Stone.

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

(Note: The comments section has been temporarily disabled while we upgrade the website. You can always leave comments on our Flickr Photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnesotahistoricalsociety/)

Sights, Sounds and Soul: Twin Cities Through the Lens of Charles Chamblis is a new exhibit of his work, opening at the Minnesota Historical Society on April 26, 2014.

And join us for Retrorama: a celebration of fashion of the 70-80s on May 16, 2014!

Workmen cutting open a Coke vending machine after a boy gets his hand stuck.

Photographed by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on May 20, 1948.

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

(Note: The comments section has been temporarily disabled while we upgrade the website. You can always leave comments on our Flickr Photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnesotahistoricalsociety/)

An interesting photo card that shows a small photo of Captain J.R. Beatty of the 2nd Minnesota as well as a physical description, circa 1863.

For details, view this card in our collections database.

(Note: The comments section has been temporarily disabled while we upgrade the website. You can always leave comments on our Flickr Photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnesotahistoricalsociety/)

A photograph made by Charles Chamblis of couple guys posting with their car outside the Peacock Alley in Minneapolis in the late 1970s.

An exhibition of Chamblis’ work will be opening this April at MHS, please see this page for more information.

For details, view this photograph in our collections database.

(Note: The comments section has been temporarily disabled while we upgrade the website. You can always leave comments on our Flickr Photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnesotahistoricalsociety/)

Today I present one of my favorite photographs in the collection, showing a racecar in action during the 1916 Minnesota State Fair. The distortion you see was caused by the focal-plane shutter not being fast enough to capture the fast-moving car. This type of distortion is most famously seen in Jacque Henri Lartigue’s photograph of a racecar in 1912. A detailed explanation about what caused the distortion can be found here.

For details, view this photograph in our collections database.

(Note: The comments section has been temporarily disabled while we upgrade the website. You can always leave comments on our Flickr Photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnesotahistoricalsociety/)

An ambrotype photograph of Hastings, Minnesota circa 1860.

For details, view this photograph in our collections database.

(Note: The comments section has been temporarily disabled while we upgrade the website. You can always leave comments on our Flickr Photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnesotahistoricalsociety/)

Two men discuss a large “For Health – Drink Milk, not Booze” sign.

Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on November 11, 1941.

For details, view this photograph in our collections database.

George and Euphrasine Faribault’s wedding portrait daguerreotype. Left to right, top: Alexander Faribault, Father Augustin Ravoux. Left to right, bottom: George Faribault, Euphrasine St. Antoine Faribault, Jean Baptiste Faribault.

For details, view this Daguerreotype in our collections database.

Woman and her pet duck on a leash.

Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on August 13, 1937.

For details, view this photograph in our collections database.

A member of the Milwaukee Brewer’s baseball team yelling at the ump during a May 11, 1948 game against the Minneapolis Millers.

Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer in 1948.

For details, view this photograph in our collections database.

This is a portrait of Harry Wild Jones who was an influential Minneapolis architect and lover of goatees. He is credited with introducing the Shingle Style of architecture to Minneapolis and is probably best known as the designer of the Lakewood Cemetery Chapel and the Washburn Park Water Tower.

The man in this ambrotype portrait is John Harrington Stevens, an early settler of what would become Minneapolis and member of the first state legislature. You can admire his beard in person by visiting a statue of him located in Minnehaha Park.

As you can guess from the photograph, this is William B. Mitchell. Minnesota Supreme Court Judge, namesake of the William Mitchell College of Law and moustache aficionado.

William Watts Folwell, in addition to having a rather contemplative beard, was the first president of the University of Minnesota and has a building on the East Bank campus named after him.

This tintype portrait, circa 1880, is of Judson A. Bly a miller who lived and worked in Forestville, Minnesota. Forestville is now a ghost town located in Forestville State Park and is still reportedly haunted by Bly’s Hulihee style beard.

The man with all the medals on his chest and hair on his lip is Lucius F. Hubbard. He was an orphan who moved to Red Wing, Minnesota at the age of 21. He joined the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry at the outbreak of the Civil War and in 1881 he was elected governor. The Minnesota county of Hubbard is named after him.

The man with the sideburns is Dorilus Morrison, the first (and third) mayor of Minneapolis and founder the Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis which would later become Wells Fargo.

Last but not least, this photograph made by a Minneapolis Star-Tribune photographer in 1937 shows the world famous professional wrestler Farmer Tobin taking in a relaxing game of golf in Minnesota between bouts. He combined a 6 foot 7 inch frame with a tattoo collection and massive beard to make a formidable wrestling persona.

Ambrotype of the family of Jean Baptiste Faribault taken on the occasion of the wedding of his son, George Faribault, to Euphrasine St. Antoine circa 1850.  Present are, clockwise from top left: Alexander Faribault, Father Augustin Ravoux, Jean Baptiste Faribault, Euphrasine St. Antoine Faribault, and George Faribault.

For details, view the ambrotype in our online collections database.

Minneapolis Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey throws out the first pitch for the Minneapolis Millers at Nicollet Park. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on April 27, 1948.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Tintype photograph of Lillian Victoria Thayer taken circa 1870.

For details, view the tintype in our online collections database.

A mother poses with her eight daughters in this photograph taken by John Runk circa 1911.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, May 12, 2013.

Calvert Fredric Spensley and an unidentified companion pose with their catch of fish circa 1900. For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

The 2013 Minnesota fishing season begins May 11.

Henry Whipple St. Clair poses for a studio portrait circa 1885, when he was a 15 year-old student attending Shattuck School in Faribault, Minnesota. St. Clair, an Episcopal deacon of Dakota Indian heritage ordained by Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple in 1899, served communities throughout Minnesota and South Dakota and was an army chaplain during World War II.

For more information about the St. Clair family, visit their biographical page at In Honor of the People: Exploring American Indian culture in the Bishop Whipple collections.

For details about the photograph of St. Clair, visit our online collections database.

A man and woman execute an acrobatic pose near the beach at Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on June 14, 1947.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Studio photograph taken circa 1858 of Birdella M. Ross and her (probably twin) sister.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Daguerreotype of Charles D. Elfelt’s store and Joel Emmons Whitney’s photography gallery at Third and Cedar Streets in St. Paul, Minnesota taken by Whitney in 1852. Christ Episcopal Church is visible in the background at right.

For details, view the daguerreotype in our online collections database.

An Ojibwe family poses for a portrait in a photographer’s studio circa 1905.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Babe Ruth pauses for a photograph with a young fan on the tarmac at Wold-Chamberlain Field (now Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport) during a visit to Minnesota. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer in August of 1947. Ruth was to die a year later on August 16, 1948.

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

Members of the band Flyte Tyme, including Terry Lewis (middle center), Cynthia Johnson (bottom center), and Jellybean Johnson (back right), pose for a group photograph in their Halloween costumes. Captured by photographer Charles Chamblis circa 1980.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Photograph of St. Anthony Falls looking towards the west. Taken by St. Paul-based photographer Joel Emmons Whitney circa 1852.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Two women (tentatively identified as Harriet Varner and Mrs. Lucius N. Parker) pose for a tintype portrait in a photography studio circa 1870. Photographer unknown.

For details, view the tintype in our online collections database.

Wood and brass viewfinder, or stereoscope, patented in 1866 and manufactured during the 1880s. Stereoscopes combine the twin images of stereoptical slides within one plane of vision, producing a three-dimensional effect. The viewfinder was grasped at the bottom and a slide inserted into the slot at one end, as shown in the picture below.

Example of a stereoscopic slide:

For details, view the stereoscope in our online collections database.

Photograph of boxer Elmer “Kid Violent” Ray at home with one of his heavyweight boxing championship trophies. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on September 10, 1946.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

A man and a woman chop down a tree (or pose as if they are doing so) on the roof of a building in downtown Minneapolis. The Foshay Tower rises in the background. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on October 3, 1946.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Photograph of John Risedorph of the 4th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company E, taken circa 1865. Risedorph began his military service as a private and rose to the rank of sergeant.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Learn more:

• 4th Minnesota museum collections
• 4th Minnesota manuscript collections
• Civil War collections
• Minnesota and the Civil War exhibit
• Civil War Daybook
• Civil War programs and resources

Children gather around a Twin Cities Driving school vehicle that has crashed into a tree. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on July 5, 1946.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

A tattoo artist applies a tattoo to his client’s artificial leg. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on November 28, 1944.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Martha E. Clark Hall, who worked as the nurse of Laura Furness, poses with her charge for a photograph taken in 1882 or 1883. Laura Furness was the daughter of Marion Ramsey Furness and Charles Eliot Furness, and the granddaughter of Minnesota governor Alexander Ramsey.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Two members of the Vulcan Krewe take a police officer hostage during the 1946 St. Paul Winter Carnival. The Krewe is a fraternal organization whose members are elected on a yearly basis and participate in charitable, promotional and theatrical activities associated with the Carnival. The image was captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on February 22, 1946.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

A young woman delivers the Star Journal Tribune newspaper to 1083 Gordon Avenue in Maplewood, Minnesota. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on June 20, 1946.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

The crew of the B-29 bomber “Lady Marge” pose next to their aircraft during a visit to Minnesota. The crew flew documents finalizing the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II to Washington D.C. on September 1, 1945. During the flight they averaged 285 miles per hour, setting a world record for a flight from Honolulu to Washington. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer in October of 1945.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Three babies eat turkey legs while seated at high chairs in a bedroom setting. Two of the babies (those on the left and right) appear to be twins. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on November 21, 1944.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Students attending the government-run school for American Indian children in Morton, Minnesota pose for a class picture. Photographed by N.B. Andersen circa 1905.

A large-scale reproduction of this photograph has been incorporated into Then Now Wow, an interactive exhibit designed especially for kids and families now on view at the History Center in St. Paul.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Firefighters work to contain a fire burning inside the Agriculture Building on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on November 10, 1944.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

To view historical firefighting objects, and to learn about the dedication of the Minnesota Fallen Firefighter Memorial on September 30, 2012, watch our podcast Firefighting in Minnesota: A Salute to the Fallen.

View from the top of the Ferris Wheel on the Midway of the 1944 Minnesota State Fair. Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on August 28, 1944.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Tintype photograph of the Sunday school class held at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Taylors Falls, Minnesota.  A piece of paper accompanying the tintype adds the following information.

This picture of an M[ethodist] E[piscopal] Sunday school class at Taylors Falls was taken about 1877 for presentation to the class teacher, Aunt Matilda (Ward Weeks) Folsom.  The class members were, left to right:

Stradler (went to Stillwater/took up painting); Stowell (his parents lived near old Swedish Luth[eran] church); Alfred “Big” Paine; Edwin Clark; Jacob J. Folsom; Albert “Little” Paine; Edward Clark; Frank Woolley; Walter Folsom

For details, view the tintype in our online collections database.

Four University of Minnesota students pose in a dorm room bed after the cancellation of classes due to a strike.  Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on January 14, 1944.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Pedestrians in downtown Minneapolis gather at a newsstand to read about the Allies’ invasion of Normandy in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune.  Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on June 6, 1944.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Fighter pilot Richard Ira Bong, posing on an airstrip next to his P-38 Lightning in Minnesota during a publicity tour.  Taken by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on June 12, 1944.  Bong died in 1945 when the fuel pump of the plane he was flying malfunctioned.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Daguerreotype of Minnesota politician Abram McCormack Fridley (1817-1888) taken in 1848. He is the namesake of the city of Fridley in Anoka County, Minnesota.

For details, view the daguerreotype in our online collections database.

A group of women pose inside an art exhibition held at the Minneapolis Public Library’s art gallery at the intersection of Tenth Street and Hennepin Avenue.   Captured by an unknown photographer circa 1910.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Tintype photograph of an Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) family group created circa 1870. Photographer unknown.

For details, view the tintype in our online collections database.

Three men examine a car tire made from wood pulp.  During World War II, the rationing of rubber led American tire manufacturers to turn to alternative raw materials.  Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on September 5, 1943.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Charles Eliot Furness and a companion pose for a tintype photograph in 1873.  Furness married Marion Ramsey, daughter of Minnesota governor Alexander Ramsey, in 1875.  He died on January 22, 1907 in Rochester, Minnesota.

For details, view the tintype in our online collections database.

Onlookers crowd a Minneapolis sidewalk to watch a turkey race on the day after Thanksgiving.  Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on November 25, 1955.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Two boy scouts pose in front of stacks of bundled papers.  The sign they hold reads, “8960 election signs etc. removed from trees, poles, buildings on Minneapolis public property and boulevards by Boy Scouts.”  Photographed by Lee Brothers Photography in 1921.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Jimmy Clark and Jeanne Hansel pose for a photograph with a carved pumpkin, which wears a cloth hat and a mischievous grin.  Captured by a St. Paul newspaper photographer in 1942.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Photograph of a cat lying down in a doll’s bed taken by Louis Enstrom in 1915.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Carte-de-visite photograph of John Lincoln Clem (1851-1937), also called Johnny or Johnny Shiloh.  Clem served as a drummer boy for the Union Army during the Civil War and went on to achieve the rank of brigadier general in the Quartermaster Corps.

For details, view the carte-de-visite in our online collections database.

Learn more:

• Civil War Daybook
• Civil War programs
• Civil War collections

An acrobat executes a headstand on the roof edge of a skyscraper in downtown Minneapolis. The Foshay Tower looms behind the acrobat; Marquette Avenue recedes into the distance at his right.  Captured by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on September 27, 1942.

For details, view the image in our online collections database.

Original ambrotype, made in 1859, of Everett H. Bailey and his sister, Catherine Bailey. Everett Bailey served as president of the First National Bank of St. Paul during the early 1900s.

For details, view the ambrotype in our online collections database.

To celebrate this year’s Minnesota State Fair, the Item of the Day blog is offering  a series of posts featuring artifacts, art and photographs from fairs past. Look for a new post every weekday until August 31.

Photograph of a bread-baking demonstration given by a Minnesota Boys and Girls Club (branch unknown) at the 1918 Minnesota State Fair.  Photographer unknown.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

Learn More:

• Spectacular Fair: the Minnesota State Fair podcast
• Minnesota State Fair in Archival Film Footage podcast

Photograph of a group of runners covered in mud after running a race in the rain during a 1940 NCAA Track and Field Championships at the University of Minnesota’s Memorial Stadium.  Captured by a Minneapolis Star Tribune staff photographer (name unknown).

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.

An unidentified man opens a fire hydrant for a young boy on a hot summer day. The image was captured by a photographer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune on June 21, 1938.

For details, view the image in our online collections database.

Fold-out souvenir photo album purchased in Japan by John W. Schmidt of the United States Army 21st Infantry Band during the Spanish-American War (1898-99). The covers are of lacquered wood and are painted with an image of a boating party in a mountain landscape. Opened from one side, the images are colorized scenes of Nagasaki, Japan. Opened from the other, the photos show geishas in various domestic scenes.

For details, view the album in our online collections database.

With summer just around the corner and prime picnicking season already upon us, we present a century’s worth of images of that perennial warm-weather sightseeing destination: Minnehaha Falls. Tourists and naturalists alike have long appreciated the falls and surrounding parkland for their dramatic views, shady woods and abundant wildlife. Luckily for future generations, they documented their trips in photographs, many of which are preserved in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society.

Music credit: Cian Nugent, “Grass Above My Head,” recorded live at WFMU on The Long Rally with Scott McDowell, December 16, 2011 (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Micro-Z portrait camera and case, built and used by Lifetouch Inc., of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, circa 1981-2005.  Cameras of this type were brought to schools around the country to capture individual student and class portraits.

For details, view the camera in our online collections database.

For more information, see our What’s New post about the camera.

Graflex XL medium format camera fitted with an 80 mm f-2.8 planar lens and manufactured by Carl Zeiss circa 1970. Used by Leonard Phillipich of Thomas-Leonard Studio in Eveleth, Minnesota.

Contact print made by amateur photographer Sadie Ray circa 1908.  Ray appears at left in the first image on the second row, along with her husband, Elmer, and daughter, Emma.  The Ray family lived in St. Paul and Excelsior, Minnesota.

Watch the podcast What a Picture is Worth:  The Sadie and Emma Ray Photography Collection for more information about the Rays and the dozens of photographs taken by mother and daughter.  To view additional pictures, visit our online collections database.

Jerome Liebling photographed Minnesotan people and their landscapes throughout the 1950s and 1960s, during a time when the social, political, and demographic landscape was rapidly changing both here and nationally. Recently, Mr. Liebling donated to the Minnesota Historical Society nearly 200 black-and-white gelatin silver print photographs taken during this time period, the majority of which document activities of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

Jerome Liebling passed away yesterday, July 27, 2011. As an artist, educator, and documentarian, he has both presented Minnesota to others and left a legacy of compassionate art within our state.

Jerome Liebling began his career as a photographer in New York in the 1940s. In 1949, his move to Minnesota shifted his work to a more rural landscape. His art, however, maintained its focus on people and the spaces that they occupy. During the late 1950s, a time when Minnesota was becoming nationally known for its politics, Liebling began photographing Minnesotan politicians. Recently, Jerome Liebling donated to the Minnesota Historical Society nearly 200 black and white photographs of these images, the majority of which are documenting activities of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. During his years in Minnesota, he trained countless artist photographers in the Fine Arts department at the University of Minnesota. In this way, as did the politicians in his photographs, Jerome Liebling has left his own legacy in our state.  He passed away on July 27, 2011.

Learn More:

• Photos by Jerome Liebling in the Minnesota Historical Society’s collection

• More photos by Jerome Liebling

• The 1968 Exhibit Blog: Wallace Visits MN, Liebling is there

• Item of the Day

Political campaigns are chaotic, frenzied affairs and the best way to peer into this process is through the lens of a camera. Fortunately, Minnesota is blessed with having some of the best documentary photographers in the field. The exhibition, The Campaign Trail: Minnesota’s Historic Role in Modern Politics examines campaign photography by featuring work by three talented and dedicated political photographers in Minnesota-Tom Arndt, Terry Gydesen and Ann Marsden. Each has been documenting the political scene for many years, providing an important visual document for future generations. In particular, Tom Arndt and Terry Gydesen’s thoughtful and sensitive chronicle of the Mondale and Wellstone campaigns provide an in depth portrait of the candidate and his campaign.

Come see an exhibit of these fascinating images on view at the James J. Hill House Gallery until Feb. 22, 2009.

Above photo by Tom Arndt

The Society’s collection holds more than 800 of Whitney’s images, including seven daguerreotypes, taken during the 1850s of St. Anthony Falls, St. Paul and residents. These are rare views of Minnesota’s pre-Civil War scenes and citizens.

Daguerreotypes were mirror-like, one-of-a-kind portraits (no negative was involved) that first appeared in 1839 and peaked in popularity by 1858. To have a “daguerreian portrait” of Minnesota’s most prolific and famous photographer is a benchmark contribution to the iconographic history of the state. This acquisition completes a singular collection of Whitney’s pioneering work held by the Minnesota Historical Society. It was secured with private funds from the Lila J. Goff Acquisitions Endowment, the Josephine Harper Darling Estate and the Virginia Moe Endowment Fund. Tentative plans are underway to display this daguerreian portrait of Whitney and selections of his work from the Society’s collection, in 2008.

Learn More:

• Whitney’s Images in the Visual Resources Database
• Whitney’s Works in the Library Collection
• Records in the Library related to Joel E. Whitney
• Photograph Collection at MHS
• Caring for Photographs