Primary Source Sets
The Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills by exploring a variety of topics related to Minnesota’s history and culture. Using both primary and secondary sources, these sets bring together resources in new ways to help students better understand historic events in their context.
Drawing materials from libraries, archives, and museums across Minnesota, these sets use letters, photographs, advertisements, oral histories, postcards, newsletters, speeches, and more. Each set includes a topic overview, ten to twenty primary sources from the MDL collection, links to related resources, and a section called “Think Like a Historian” which offers discussion questions and classroom activities. We invite educators and researchers to use these primary source sets in their teaching and learning.
Fey Brothers, Automobile Inventors
Learn about early automobile history by examining the four custom-built automobiles of Lincoln and Frank Fey.
Main Streets
Learn about Minnesota's main streets, their role in a community, and how they have changed over time.
Minnesota's Three Major Railroads
Learn how three of Minnesota's major railroads formed and how they contributed to the development of Minnesota.
New
Rondo: Before the Highway
A look at Minnesota’s first African American neighborhood from its founding through the mid-twentieth century.
New
Rondo: During and After the Highway
A look at Minnesota’s first African American neighborhood, from the construction of I-94 until present day.
Traveling Library Services in Minnesota
Minnesota's earliest mobile library services were traveling libraries and bookmobile services.
Twin Cities Streetcars - The Rise and Fall
Learn about the rise and fall of streetcars in the Twin Cities - the first public transit system in the area.
Whaleback Boats on the Great Lakes
This set outlines the development, construction, and use of whaleback boats on the Great Lakes.