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Gale Family Library at the Minnesota Historical Society

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Gale Family Library at the Minnesota Historical Society

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Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Gale Family Library at the Minnesota Historical Society, 345 Kellogg Boulevard W, Saint Paul, MN.

The reference librarians at the Gale Family Library are maintaining this page as a space to engage with our community of researchers in Minnesota and around the world. On this page, we:
* Share how-to’s, tips, and tricks for researching with our collections

* Highlight helpful resources

* Update people on library news and opportunities

* Answer your research questions

* Invite you to share your research experiences and stories

11/10/2026

Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day, a day to honor all those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Interested in learning more about Minnesotans who have served this Veteran’s Day? Digitized newspapers from the Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub are a great way to find personal, first-hand accounts of those who served. From draft rolls, to furloughs, to the obituaries of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, newspapers tell the story of how every day Minnesotans experienced conflict.

Not sure where to start? A keyword search of specific names, battles, or locations can be a good way to begin. Slang terms for soldiers, like “Doughboy” during World War I and “G.I.” during World War II and the Korean War might also help. For example, we tried doing a keyword search of the word “furlough,” and then narrowed down those results to ones from the year 1918. This yielded over 3,000 results, which eventually led us to one of the articles posted here, describing a party held in honor of Corporal Gust B. Olson, who was back home in the Duluth area on furlough.

There are so many more stories to be found within the Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub– let us know what you find! And thank you to all of those who have served.

Sources:

The Duluth Herald. 8 February 1918, p. 16.
https://mnhs.info/4zCfEpV

The Duluth Herald. 15 April 1965, p. 9.
https://mnhs.info/4zDAJQE

Johnson, Jack K. “At Home and Abroad: Minnesota at War. MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society.
https://mnhs.info/4ejBxSp

Rochester Post-Bulletin. 14 March 1945, p. 16.
https://mnhs.info/4zLfrRz

11/05/2026

Today is the 2nd National Doughnut Day of the year and we are commemorating the occasion by looking back in time to the Doughnut Girls of WWI. That’s right, our beloved doughnuts were made on or near the battlefields in Europe. Let's explore the story of the “doughnut lassies” of the Salvation Army to understand this moment in time and the ladies who inspired this celebration.

When the doughnut girls were sent overseas in 1917, their purpose was not originally to make doughnuts. As time went on, the idea to make doughnuts to remind the soldiers of home was born! However, they could not just run to the store to buy rolling pins and deep fryers, instead they had to get inventive if they wanted to successfully make their doughnuts.

W**e bottles and shell casings were repurposed into baking equipment and some soldiers' helmets became makeshift deep fryers. With these humble tools, the ladies began to churn out thousands of doughnuts for the soldiers along with other various baked goods! The doughnut girls may not have been in combat like the soldiers in the trenches but they brought a taste of home to many who missed their families. Today grab your favorite doughnut and think of the young ladies who volunteered to go to Europe and became doughnut girls.

If you want to make your own doughnuts, explore a digitized cookbook including The Christmas cook book from 1899 or make an appointment at the Gale Family Library to come in to find your doughnut recipe and who knows what else might be lurking in those old books? Could you decide to make a meat soufflé with a snow cake or a classic like meat loaf and angel food cake?

Works Cited
Boissoneault, Lorraine. “The Women Who Fried Donuts and Dodged Bombs on the Front Lines of WWI.” Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Institution, 12 Apr. 2017,
https://mnhs.info/4zq00Oh.

Kelly, David. “The Donut Girls.” The Salvation Army USA, 3 June 2024,
https://mnhs.info/4egbgnV.

“National Donut Day History: ‘Donut Girls’ Braved Bullets and Bombs.” Salvation Army, 4 May 2021, https://mnhs.info/4iDsI7b.

1st image: The Salvation Army Gives Doughnuts and Coffee To The Boys Over There, ca. 1914-1918

2nd image: The Salvation Army Furnishes Doughnuts to Doughboys, ca. 1914-1918

3rd image: Page from The Christmas cook book, 1899

10/31/2026

Happy Halloween from all of us at the Gale Family Library!

Enjoy this spooooooooky video from from our social media archives 👻

10/29/2026

The Gale Family Library will be closed to the public on Thursday, November 5 and Friday, November 6. Due to high demand for our distance research services, we will be working hard to catch up in order to serve our researchers as efficiently as possible.

We will be open our regular hours on Saturday, November 7 from 10 am - 4 pm. Thank you for your understanding and enjoy these photos of early office life and technology!

Images:
Office interior, Butler Brothers employees at work, Approximately 1895 - Approximately 1918. MNHS locator number HF3 p275

Polk Directories on shelf, Polk Directory Office, Endicott-on-Robert building, St. Paul, 1959. MNHS locator number: HF3 p177

Electra Data, Griggs building, St. Paul, 1957. MNHS locator number HF3 p178

Photostat machine, Griggs Midway, St. Paul, 1957. MNHS locator number HF3 p193

H. W. Files, Vice President of Pillsbury Flour Mills Company, Minneapolis, speaking in a dictaphone, 1938. Use copy locator number Norton & Peel 127440

Interior of an office room, 1936. MNHS use copy locator number Norton & Peel 115784

10/27/2026

Just in time for spoooooooky season.... Happy National Black Cat Day!

To celebrate, we are sharing the many sweet faces of black cats owned by our Library and Archival Collections Staff.

Name (in order of appearance, not spookiness!):
Mike
Winnie
Rhubarb
Ripley
Travis

10/26/2026

In September we added titles from Stillwater, Chisholm, Hibbing, Eveleth, Lauderdale, Minneapolis, Warrorad, Maple Grove, Anoka, Washington D.C., and Mercedes, Tex. to the Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub. Happy researching!

Stillwater evening gazette (Stillwater, Minn.) 1964-1967 added.
https://mnhs.info/4zGyVWQ

Stillwater weekly gazette (Stillwater, Minn.) 1964-1967 added.
https://mnhs.info/4sk544a

Tribune-herald (Chisholm, Minn.) 1924-1931 added.
https://mnhs.info/3WFyDRJ

Hibbing daily news (Hibbing, Minn.) 1922-1927.
https://mnhs.info/4eKz1oa

St. Louis County independent (Hibbing, Minn.) 1922-1944.
https://mnhs.info/4yDu2gi

Eveleth clarion (Eveleth, Minn.) 1923-1941 added.
https://mnhs.info/3WFyEoL

Lauderdale village crier (Lauderdale, Minn.) 1966-1970.
https://mnhs.info/3WFyEFh

Flashlight (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1928-1929.
https://mnhs.info/4yDu2Nk

Warroad advocate (Warroad, Minn.) 2019.
https://mnhs.info/3WFyEVN

Minnesota border patrol (Mercedes, Tex.) 1916.
https://mnhs.info/3UJWdw9

Maple Grove watchman (Maple Grove, Minn.) 1970.
https://mnhs.info/47zGoLm

ADA world. Minnesota ed. (Washington, D.C.) 1947.
https://mnhs.info/3WFyFsP

Anoka journal (Anoka, Minn.) 1875-1876.
https://mnhs.info/3WFyGgn

Image source:
The Eveleth Clarion. 20 September 1928, p. 1.
https://mnhs.info/47zGrH2

10/24/2026

For our final feature, we are showcasing Northern Minnesota's mining and rail history!

Though amateur films might be unpolished, they offer the most authentic windows into our shared human experience.

This once-silent home movie—later transferred to video with a musical soundtrack—captures the grit and dedication of the people who shaped that community's past. Here's an incredible glimpse of daily work life at the Oliver Mining Company’s Trout Lake Concentrator. Watch closely as workers manage heavy mining equipment and actively operate the trains and railway system that powered the region.

Like some silent films rescued from attics, this original footage was later transferred to video with music added to fill the silence, giving it new life.

Thank you for celebrating with us and the Gale Family Library! By sharing these films, we help rescue ordinary local history from decay and fill critical gaps in our cultural memory. Thank you for following along with us all month!

The Bugaloosa kids and other scenes 1936, MNHS film locator #897, original runtime approximately 16 minutes.

10/22/2026

Just a touch over 100 years ago, Sinclair Lewis published his classic novel, "Main Street," on October 23, 1920. A story of small town life in Minnesota in the early 20th century, it would become a classic of American Literature, helping to solidify Lewis’ reputation and legacy.

We take a moment today to celebrate the legendary novel, as well as the life and work of one of Minnesota’s most skillful and talented writers. The Minnesota Historical Society features a number of printings of his works, including "Arrowsmith," "It Can’t Happen Here," and "Babbitt," just to name a few.

Featured here in this post are book covers, photos, and some other ephemera to mark this anniversary. Learn even more about Sinclair Lewis through his MNopedia entry: (https://mnhs.info/4Bp2gqA), materials found in our library and archives catalog (https://mnhs.info/4A6So3p) and Collections Online database (https://mnhs.info/3TQSjkV). All are welcome to visit us here at the Gale Family Library to view his works and manuscript collections (https://mnhs.info/4igJusN).

Images:
Main Street : the story of Carol Kennicott (Supplied title), 1921, Sinclair Lewis, author, Grosset & Dunlap, Publisher, MNHS locator number: PS3523.E94 M2 1920b

A portrait of Sinclair Lewis, 1930, Bersagel, T. L., Creator, Hood, Richard, Etcher. MNHS accession number AV1987.132

Sinclair Lewis Days button (Supplied title), 1983, MNHS accession number 2000.121.4

Sinclair Lewis (Supplied title), 1945, Minneapolis Star and Tribune Photograph Collection, MNHS locator number: por 11048 p8

Mantrap (Supplied title), 1921, Sinclair Lewis, author, Jonathan Cape http://Ltd., Publisher, MNHS locator number: PS3523.E94 M5 1926d

Sinclair Lewis (Supplied title), 1945, Minneapolis Star and Tribune Photograph Collection, MNHS locator number por 11048 p10

10/20/2026

When the NHL expanded the league in 1966, one of the teams announced for the expansion was the Minnesota North Stars. The North Stars first home game was played on October 21, 1967, at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington.

The North Stars won their debut home game against the California/Oakland Seals - the team’s first win. The team would make it to the Stanley Cup playoffs in their inaugural season, but were eliminated by the St. Louis Blues in the semifinals.

The North Stars played in Minnesota until the 1992-1993 season before owner Norm Green moved the team to Dallas after the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission denied him the opportunity to improve the Met Center and connect it to the new Mall of America. The State of Hockey was left without an NHL team until 2000, when the league expanded again and the Minnesota Wild debuted that year.

Learn more about hockey (https://mnhs.info/4B7rFoz) and the Minnesota North Stars (https://mnhs.info/4i58d36) through materials available in our library and archives catalog and photos and 3D objects for hockey (https://mnhs.info/4hZT7vs) and the Minnesota North Stars (https://mnhs.info/4jp2SWx) found within our Collections Online database.

Images:
St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 21, 1967
St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 21, 1967
St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 22, 1967
St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 22, 1967

10/17/2026

“They’re terrible pictures but they’re the only record we have...” – Stuart Lane Arey

For , we are partnering with the Gale Family Library to bring everyday glimpses of our shared past straight to your feed every Saturday!

This week's feature is a home movie originally captured on 16mm film. In this clip, Stuart Arey narrates over the once-silent footage, guiding us through fond family memories: his son Oz sledding, a local trolley, and a wide shot of vibrant peonies grown by Albert M. Slocum of the Red & White Grocery Corporation.

Spanning two hours, the full original footage transitions from black-and-white to color, perfectly capturing the growth of film technology available to amateur filmmakers at the time.

Rescuing these films from attics and closets fills critical gaps in our cultural memory. Help us celebrate the beautifully ordinary history of our community—watch, enjoy, and share this post with your friends!

Arey home movies 1927-1960, MNHS film locator #592

Address

345 Kellogg Boulevard W
Saint Paul, MN
55102

Opening Hours

Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm

Telephone

(651) 259-3300

Website

https://www.mnhs.org/library

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