Library Research Guides: Minnesota Legal History: Online documents

Minnesota Reflections

Minnesota Digital Library
The Minnesota State Law Library has been in operation since 1849, so we own many historical documents. These documents are often old and fragile and not available for public use. To make them more accessible, the Library has begun digitizing some of our most precious documents so they can be used without the danger of damaging the original. The documents that have been digitized so far are available through the Minnesota Digital Library.

A few of our digitized resources

Oral History Videos Now Available!
The State Law Library has a collection of Oral History Interviews with Justices from the Supreme Court and they are now being added to the Minnesota Digital Library. 14 are now available with more to come. See the Oral History Guide for more information.
Debates and proceedings of the Constitutional convention for the territory of Minnesota
Publication Date: 1858
This volume contains the debates, etc., of the Republican section of the Minnesota Constitutional convention. The Democratic and the Republican sections of the convention met separately. The constitution finally adopted was the work of a joint committee. This volume is 624 pages and was printed by G. W. Moore.
Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Minnesota, Volume I
Publication Date: 1858
Cases argued and determined in the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1858.
Volumes 1-20 of the Original Minnesota Reports have been digitized.
Rules of Court - Handwritten
Publication Date: 1849
These are the handwritten first Rules of Court for the Minnesota Territory, as recorded by Harvey Wilson, District Court clerk in Stillwater, St. Croix County, Minnesota Territory on August 13, 1849.
Minnesota Legislative Manual
Publication Date: 1867
Legislative manual [bluebook] of who's who in state government along with statistics about the legislators and the state.
Volumes from 1867-1874 have been digitized.
Roll of Attorneys, Supreme Court, State of Minnesota, 1858-1970
Publication Date: 1970
Signatures of attorneys registered to practice law in the State of Minnesota. Names were verified and biographical data obtained from Minnesota Biographies (MHS 1912), Legislators Past and Present (website), State Board of Law Examiners register (1891-1921), Minnesota birth and death certificates indexes, Minnesota court system websites, published alumni directories of the University of Minnesota law school and the St. Paul College of Law, Minnesota Legal History Project (website), the Minnesota Historical Society's online catalog (PALS), and a variety of miscellaneous sources.
Volume 2: 1971-1983 is also available.
Roll of Attorneys, Supreme Court, State of Minnesota, 1971-1983
Publication Date: 1983
Signatures of attorneys registered to practice law in the State of Minnesota. Names were verified and biographical data obtained from Minnesota Biographies (MHS 1912), Legislators Past and Present (website), State Board of Law Examiners register (1891-1921), Minnesota birth and death certificates indexes, Minnesota court system websites, published alumni directories of the University of Minnesota law school and the St. Paul College of Law, Minnesota Legal History Project (website), the Minnesota Historical Society's online catalog, and a variety of miscellaneous sources.

Historical resources from libraries around the country

All Minnesota Reflections content is also available through the Digital Public Library of America, an amazing resource bringing together digital repositories from all across the country. See the video below for more information on the DPLA.

DPLA - Digital Public Library of America

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.

Google Books Library Project
Through the Google Books Library Project millions of books in university libraries have been fully digitized and made available through Google Books. If the books are out of copyright or in the public domain, the full contents of the books are accessible and the full books may be downloaded. Books from Minnesota have ended up all over the country, so it's a great place to look for historical books.

Internet Archive This link opens in a new window
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

DISCLAIMER

In our positions as librarians, not lawyers, we can suggest resources but cannot give legal advice (such as which form to file) or legal opinions (such as how a statute might apply to particular facts). To do so could be considered the unauthorized practice of law. Even though we try to suggest materials that will be of help, more research is often required to find a complete and correct answer. For many questions, the best answer may be to consult an attorney.

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Minnesota Reflections

A few of our digitized resources

Historical resources from libraries around the country

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