Tag Archives: Minnesota

Minnesota Psychiatry Oral History Project

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Project description: The project involved 35 interviews with Minnesota psychiatrists. Per the finding aide, the interviews begin with recollections of the 1940s and 1950s and trace the progress of medicines, the perception of mental illness, and practice of psychiatrists in rural and urban Minnesota.

Regulatory significance: Many of the interviewees played key roles in the Minnesota Psychiatric Association and the Minnesota Medical Association, and the collection speaks to regulatory issues of professional legitimization through licensing practices and self-regulatory organizations.

Repository: Minnesota Historical Society

Interview dates: 1979, 2009-2011

Digital access: Transcripts and audio are available online.

Physical access: Original audio tapes are kept at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/voicesofmn/index.php/10003896

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

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Project description: Per the finding aid, these five interviews provide the current and past presidents of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis with the opportunity to reflect on what they perceive to be the key historical events and managerial decisions that have influenced Bank history. The interviews address topics such as policy development and implementation, organization, staffing, building issues, special initiatives, and major operational events.

Regulatory significance: These interviews are instructive regarding financial regulation, particularly as it relates to agriculture and the linkages in the Federal Reserve.

Repository: Minnesota Historical Society

Interview dates: 1991-1992

Digital access: Transcripts are available online.

Physical access: Audio tapes are kept at the Federal Reserve Bank Library in Minneapolis.

Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/voicesofmn/index.php/10002818

Minnesota Powerline Oral History Project

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Project description: These 44 interviews involve people on all sides of a controversy in western Minnesota over the routing of power lines. Per the finding aide, “the controversy escalated as costs of the project rose and additional frustration was created by cumbersome review processes, and by what many protesters saw as excessive concern by the federal and state governments for wildlife areas and highway right of way at the expense of protection for productive farmland.”

Regulatory significance: This project effectively captures a kaleidoscope of views over what tradeoffs regulators should make. Interviewees include politicians, regulators at the Department of Natural Resources, affected farmers, and board members of the electric cooperatives.

Repository: Minnesota Historical Society

Interview dates: 1977-1979

Digital access: Transcripts and audio are available online.

Physical access: Original audio tapes are kept at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/voicesofmn/index.php/10002532

Minnesota Farm Economy Oral History Project

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Project description: These eighteen interviews explore Minnesota farm life, particularly during the early 20th century. Interviewees discuss their roles and those of various agricultural organizations, and their work in banking and business development on Minnesota’s agricultural economy.

Regulatory significance: Some of these interviews explore the links between financial regulations and agriculture. They also address issues of private regulation through agricultural organizations and lobbying efforts to change agricultural regulatory practice, including price setting. Migrant labor and labor regulation also comes in a few interviews.

Repository: Minnesota Historical Society

Interview dates: 1988-1992

Digital access: Transcripts, as well as audio and in some cases video, are available online.

Physical access: Audio tapes are kept at the Federal Reserve Bank Library in Minneapolis.

Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/voicesofmn/index.php/10002533

Minnesota Environmental Issues Oral History Project

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Project description: This project contains more than 30 interviews with a variety of players in Minnesota environmental regulation. They explore issues such as timber wolf preservation, acid rain control, and forest management policies.

Regulatory significance: These interviews involve a wide range of environmental regulation issues, including use of lawsuits, tradeoffs with agricultural production, the involvement of nonprofits like the Nature Conservancy. Most of the interviewees were involved in these issues as activists and members of nonprofit organizations rather than as governmental regulators.

Repository: Minnesota Historical Society

Interview dates: 1986-1990

Digital access: Transcripts and audio are available online, as well as photos of many of the interviewees.

Physical access: For any interview not available online, visit the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/voicesofmn/index.php/10002529

Red River Valley Sugarbeet Industry Oral History Project

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Project description: This project contains 51 interviews with a variety of players in Minnesota sugarbeet industry. Interviews document the American Crystal Sugar Company’s operations in the Red River Valley farming region of Minnesota and North Dakota and the company buyout by the Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Association. Includes discussion on the sugarbeet industry, including labor, research, and changes in farming methods.

Regulatory significance: Many of the interviews deal with the growers association and its relationship with government regulators, especially attempts to keep a united front. Labor and transportation regulations are also addressed.

Repository: Minnesota Historical Society

Interview dates: 1987-1990

Digital access: Transcripts and audio are available online, as well as photos of many of the interviewees.

Physical access: Original transcripts and sound cassettes are held by the Northwest Minnesota Historical Center, Moorhead.

Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/voicesofmn/index.php/10003897

Mississippi Headwaters Board Oral History Project

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Project description: Per the finding aide, the Mississippi Headwaters Board was created to coordinate the identification and protection of the natural, cultural, historical, scientific, and recreational values of the first 400 miles of the Mississippi River. Its work centered on eight counties in north central Minnesota through which this portion of the river flows. The 14 people interviewed discuss their own river-related activities, as well as their observations on changes in recreational, commercial, and residential use of the river and its shoreline. Many of the interviews include comments on water quality, floods, droughts, dam construction, fishing, wildlife, and conservation.

Regulatory significance: Collection deals with many issues of local environmental regulation, including water quality ordinances, and trade-offs with business interests—particularly agriculture and development.

Repository: Minnesota Historical Society

Interview dates: 1999-2001. Interviews conducted with people associated with the Mississippi River during the period 1910-1960.

Digital access: Transcripts are available online, as well as photos of many of the interviewees.

Physical access: The tapes are held by Mississippi Headwaters Board, Walker, Minnesota.

Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/voicesofmn/index.php/10003891

Minneapolis Riverfront Redevelopment Oral History Project

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Project description: A series of interviews conducted by journalist Linda Mack with individuals who were influential in the redevelopment of the Mississippi River riverfront in central Minneapolis. The narrators discuss the social, industrial, architectural and political history of the Minneapolis riverfront, the many and often conflicting plans for its redevelopment, and the actions taken to create the successful urban district that exists in 2008-2009. The project includes 26 interviews with 29 people. [Description from the finding aid]

Regulatory significance: Some of the interviews hit at least tangentially on land use and environmental regulation, particularly historic preservation and redevelopment of industrial space.

Repository: Minnesota Historical Society

Interview dates: 2008-2009

Digital access: Transcripts and some audio are available online.

Physical access: Visit the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10606709

Pioneers of the Medical Device Industry in Minnesota

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Project description: This collection of 17 interviews focuses on the growth of the medical device industry in Minnesota.

Regulatory significance: Many of these interviews discuss regulation of the medical device industry by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Discussions also involve liability, non-U.S. regulation in Europe and South America, and the role of trade groups and state support for the industry.

Repository: Minnesota Historical Society

Interview dates: 1995-2001

Digital access: Transcripts, as well as audio, are available online.

Physical access: Original interview materials are available at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/voicesofmn/index.php/10002544