WSU Retention List Stories

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. Here is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Emeritus Professor Brian Aldrich (Sociology) devoted considerable research to the issue of housing in less developed economies. Both of his books, which are now only available for purchase in India, are on WSU’s retention list.

Aldrich, Brian C., and Ranvinder Singh Sandhu. Housing in Asia: Problems and Perspectives. Rawat Publications, 1990.

Aldrich, Brian C., and Ranvinder Singh Sandhu, editors. Housing for the Urban Poor in Developing Countries. Rawat Publications, 2015.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. Here is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Below are two books about the Mississippi River which are on Winona State’s retention list. One is a discussion of the history of European exploration when the area was claimed by France, and one a memoir of a more contemporary river boat captain.

Peyser, Joseph L. Letters from New France: The Upper Country, 1686-1783. University of Illinois Press, 1992.

Hillman, Norman. One Man and the Mighty Mississippi: A Sixty-Year Adventure on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Great River Publishing, Heritage Press, 2001.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. Here is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

On July 17^th, 2024, we are currently in the middle of the National Republican Convention. This fifty-year-old book on WSU’s retention list shows that the fear of rigged elections is not a new phenomenon. This book was clearly accurate in its predictions, because, only five years later, Ronald Reagan, that notorious dictator of big labor and the radicals, swept into the White House. Just ask a teamster, or an air-traffic controller.

Caddy, Douglas. How They Rig Our Elections: The Coming Dictatorship of Big Labor and the Radicals. Arlington House, 1975.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. Here is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

During the summer, Winona hosts the Great River Shakespeare Festival. One of the titles we are retaining in our section on literature is a text by the esteemed Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro.

“But wait!” you say, “The whole point of the retention list is to identify books that are relatively rare in the State of Minnesota. How could an important study by one of the best-known contemporary Shakespeare scholars appear on our list?”

The answer is that the American edition of the book, published by Simon and Schuster, is common in Minnesota. It is not on our retention list, even though we own a copy of that edition. Instead, the copy on our retention list is the British edition, which was published in London. Winona State has both editions.

Shapiro, James. 1606: Shakespeare and the Year of Lear. London: Faber & Faber, 2016.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. Here is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Most Americans have heard about the Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought from July 1^st through July 3^rd, 1863. The WSU retention list does not contain any of our many books that study either that battle or the Battle of Antietam; however, a book about the lesser-known Battle of Fort Donelson is. Fort Donelson was the first victory in Ulysses Grant’s ascent to fame.

Hamilton, James J. The Battle of Fort Donelson. South Brunswick: T. Yoseloff, 1968.