PHOTOGRAPHS
The photograph collections are some of the most important and frequently used items at the Hennepin History Museum. They include images of Hennepin County from some of its earliest settlements in the 1850s to the development of its newest suburban subdivisions in the 1990s. There are thousands of individual images as well as the following collections of photographs. Confer Realty Company Photographs
This is an intact collection of over 2,500 photographs of houses sold in Minneapolis by Confer Realty Company between 1900 and 1945. Since their arrival in 1977, these have been the most often-used materials at the museum. Architectural historians, preservationists, neighborhood historians, and others have used this resource to answer questions about neighborhood development, remodeling alterations, and the original appearance of houses. George Luxton Collection of Theatrical Portraits
George Luxton was a news photographer for various Twin Cities newspapers from 1898 until the Second World War. Luxton collected these images of theatrical celebrities who performed in Minnesota over the same time period.
Hirschoff Collection: Gateway Redevelopment Project,1958-1960.These 150 photographs document the last days of Minneapolis' Gateway district. 
The Gateway was once a notorious skid row until an urban renewal project razed 13 city blocks. Gone were the flophouses, brothels, and taverns, but also some of the city's most distinguished architecture.
St. Anthony Falls Waterpower Company PhotographsA gift from Northern States Power company in 1960, these photographs document the development of the waterpower and milling facilities at St. Anthony Falls.
It includes over 300 photographs taken between 1885 and 1899.
Suburban Documentation Project
Hennepin History Museum is one of several public archives serving as a repository for the Suburban Documentation Project (SDP), a nonprofit organization founded to record in words and photos new suburbs across the Midwest.
PERSONAL PAPERS AND DIARIES
HHM's collection of personal papers and diaries include some very important items dating back to the earliest days of European settlement in the Hennepin County area. For instance, the diaries of Gideon Pond, an early missionary and the first person to write a Dakota-English language dictionary, are housed in our archive. Several significant collections of correspondence are also housed here, as are the papers of Minneapolis mayors Eric Hoyer (1949-1956) and Charles Stenvig (1969-1973). Native American activist and writer Gerald Vizenor contributed his personal collection of articles and documentation on racism in the Twin Cities. The papers of Harold Savage, son of Marion Savage, who was the owner of race horse Dan Patch, are housed at HHM, as are the family histories of countless residents of Hennepin County. Fascinating documents relating to the famous and the anonymous can all be found in abundance in the HHM archive.
BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
The register for the Winslow House hotel, which is where the Museum's Angel Gabriel weathervane flew, is in our collection; this book recorded the names of most visitors who passed through this area from 1857-1861. The Minnesota Department of Highways documentation of the demolition of houses and businesses along Hiawatha Avenue in the early 1960s is an important collection in our archive. We also hold several collections of photos and documents relating to water power and water supply development in the mid- to late 1800s. The HHM archive also contains copies of the patents for many local inventions.
MAPS AND ATLASES
The Hennepin History Museum's collection of maps and atlases contains items dating from 1856 through today. This includes very early maps of St. Anthony and buildings in Minneapolis, details of the Milling District in the 1870s and 1880s, and sections of Hennepin County from throughout the mid- to late-1800s. Atlases of Minneapolis and Hennepin County date to 1887; however, some of the most useful research materials are the Sanborn Insurance maps, which are relatively new dating from the 1930s and the 1950s. The Sanborn maps are useful when researching homes and neighborhoods because they sometimes detail additions and changes to properties and their surrounds.
Besides the general city and county maps, detailed areas are also included in the map collection. These areas include the Mississippi Riverfront, Lake Minnetonka, the University of Minnesota, Bohemian Flats and public housing and urban redevelopment.
If you wish to do research using maps and atlases, please be prepared to make sketches of what you find, as many of these items are too fragile to photocopy.