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These 142 letters were written between Virginia Brainard and her parents Dudley and Merl Brainard between 1939 and 1949. There are a small number of letters not between daughter and parents, but letters written about the Brainard family and a few other significant letters, such as the letter sent by author Sinclair Lewis to Dudley.

At Iowa State

Dating between 1940 and 1943 while attending Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa, these letters are mostly written and mailed by Virginia Brainard to her parents, Dudley and Merl Brainard. She candidly wrote her family about possibly anything and everything, especially adjustments to social life, dating, school, political discussions, her friends and roommates, food, clothing, hygiene, mental health, and various information about her siblings (Connie, Eleanor, Charles, and Edward), her parents, and other family members.

Virginia had immense concern over grades and classes. Money was especially a common worry, needed class expenses, housing, fees, books, personals, clothing, etc. Virginia often wrote about her desire and passion for her journalism classes and writing stories for the student newspaper Iowa State Daily Student. She was also extremely proud when her father Dudley was appointed St. Cloud State president in early 1943.

Going to school during World War II, Virginia also offered insights to the anxieties of young adults and how rationing, army training and the drafting of young men affected Iowa State.

In 1943, Virginia graduated with a degree in Journalism and Home Economics.

After Iowa State

Letters written between the years of 1944 to 1949 were mostly from Dudley and Merl to Virginia. There is a small portion of letters from non-family members and military officials, including Sinclair Lewis, US Navy, and Major Julian Gist.

For the entire year of 1949, the letters are exclusively from Dudley and Merl to Virginia. They generally report of their daily lives, issues, and people they see. The letters are extremely candid about the other Brainard children, especially about how they are each doing in school and their personal lives. Dudley and Merl were extremely proud of Virginia in her accomplishments in journalism and for her future.

These materials measure and describe the economic impact of St. Cloud State University on the city of St. Cloud and neighboring communities between 1962 and 1993.

This collection contains records from the Evelyn Payne Hatcher Museum of Anthropology, totaling 6 boxes. The documents begin with the opening of the museum in 1973, when it was known as the St. Cloud Museum of Man.

The records date from 1972-1997.  The majority of the records pertain to museum artifacts that have been accessioned and deaccessioned.

The collection is arranged into two series, which are as follows:

Series 1: Administrative Records, 1972-1997

This series consists of documents such as correspondence and memorandum, minutes and agendas, articles of incorporation and by-laws, etc.  The subject matter of the materials focuses on the day to day operations of the museum.   There are also pamphlets and photographs for exhibits that the museum hosted, many of which were devoted to Native American culture.

Series 2: Accession and Deaccession Catalogs, 1970s-1990s

This series consists of the accession and deaccession sheets that were kept by the museum for inventory of artifacts.  The records include the date the museum acquired the items, the condition of said items, and oftentimes photographs to identify them.  If an artifact was taken out of the collection, this information was also noted and listed as a deaccession.

Edited by Francis and Ludmilla (Mil) Voelker, the papers are centered around the collection, creation, editing, and publishing of three editions of Mass Media: Forces in Our Society. The first edition was a publishing trend-setter, making articles by professionals in all areas of media readily available in one attractively designed source. The second edition received a Certificate of Excellence from the American Institute of Graphic Arts and was selected in the 1975 AIGA Learning Materials Show as one of 50 best designed books published that year.  The third and final edition appeared in 1978.

The collection contains various campaign material related to Gene Wenstrom's campaigns for the United States House of Representatives seat in the Minnesota's 7th District in 1982. The material consist of voter mailing, requests for donations, newspaper advertisement, press releases, fundraisers, campaign committees, political correspondences, reports on voter attitudes and opinions, and other campaign related material.

These general oral histories were conducted from 1973 to 1993 predominantly in the late 1970s.  25 of the interviews are centered on the three cities of St. Cloud, Waite Park, and Sauk Rapids, while the remaining interviews are from communities north and east of that region.  Three interviews are from communities west of Duluth.

The people interviewed represent a wide spectrum of occupations including business owners in a variety of fields and farmers.  Journalists, teachers, musicians, peace officers, and medical care givers are also interviewed.  Each interviewee shares experiences from the early 1900s to the time of their interview and all discuss the changes to their community that they have seen in that time.  Many discuss how their parents or grandparents migrated to the United States and then to St. Cloud area, as well as giving family experiences in the area.  Experiences during the world wars, both at home and in the services, are provided, particularly economic effects on agriculture and manufacturing.  In some, experiences with the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression are also referenced.

Brief biographical and interview notes are given for all participants.  Date of birth and death were given when known using the oral histories, St. Cloud Times obituaries, Google search, or Findagrave.com.

Some interviews were actually transcribed. The typewritten transcripts were keyed into a Word document but have not been checked against the audio. Past experiences has suggested that the transcripts may not be complete. In the meantime, the transcripts are available here as PDFs.

The George Alderink Papers contain mainly correspondences of the Representative, government and legislative reports, and miscellaneous materials relating to Alderink. The majority of the items date between 1955 and 1958, during his time in elected office.

This small collection contains the manuscript and drawings for her book War Drums at Eden Prairie, which was published in 1977. Also here are clippings and press releases, as well as a separate author's notations.

The Sherwood Papers contain mainly correspondence, legislation materials, government pamphlets and reports, and newspaper clippings. The majority of the items date between 1972 and 1980. This collection is organized into two series, Constituent Correspondence and Legislative Subject Files. The constituent correspondence are the letters between Sherwood and the voting members within his district. The second series, Legislative subject files consists the topics of alcohol, drinking and driving, raising the drinking age, and fish sounder and finder legislation.

The collection contains two of Goehring’s field books that date from 1951 to the early 1970s. The first book contains notes regarding his banding efforts over 20 years of brown bats and winter bat banding. The other book documents efforts to band chimney swift birds near campus including the downtown Paramount Theatre. These books include records of banding both species of bats, the bat's sex, and bat's band number. The field books also includes include yearly summaries of bat banding efforts and grand totals. The books also contains correspondence from various institutions in which banded bats or swift bats had been caught, injured, or found deceased.