WSU Retention List Stories

This past Friday was Albert Einstein’s 146^th birthday. Einstein is so popular in academic libraries that none of our biographies of him are on the Krueger Library retention list. However, a collection of his letters with fellow Nobel-prize-winner Max Born is on our retention list.

Einstein, Albert, Max Born, and Hedwig Born. The Born-Einstein Letters: Friendship, Politics, and Physics in Uncertain Times … with Commentaries by Max Born. Houndmills, UK: Macmillan, 2005.

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. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

With flooding in the news, it is wise to recall the flooding problems in Winona, MN. After the catastrophic floods of 1965, the current levee was built between Winona and the Mississippi River. Fifty years ago, a team of Winona State faculty, led by Cal Fremling, published an environmental impact report on that work. Phase II of that report is on the Krueger Library’s retention list.

Fremling, Calvin R, Ervin G Bublitz, and Roger A Carlson. Environmental Impact Assessment Report on the Flood Control Project and Waterfront Development at Winona, Minnesota: Phase II Report. Winona, Minn: Winona State College, 1974.

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.

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.

The tragedy on September 11, 2001, rallied the vast majority of Americans to our flag. Most of the books in our library about 9/11 are widely held in Minnesota. One of the books in the Krueger Library about 9/11 which is rare in Minnesota is a text that criticizes its memorialization.

Skotnes, Andor and Jim O’Brien. Historicizing 9/11. Duke University Press, 2011.

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.

As we approach the Labor Day holiday, below are two of the many titles related to labor issues and strikes on the WSU retention list.

Manning, Thomas G., editor. The Chicago Strike of 1894; Industrial Labor in the Late Nineteenth Century. Holt, 1960.

Sulzberger, Cyrus Leo. Sit down with John L. Lewis. Random House, 1938.

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.

Some of the books on the WSU retention list deal with death, and some deal with taxes. Regarding death, a book in the medical section lists some of its causes. In the tax department, WSU owns a forty-volume version of the land survey created after the Norman Conquest called the Domesday Book. This survey facilitated the collection of taxes in eleventh century England. (And, with a name like the Domesday Book, it sounds like it would be about death.)

Carrington, Hereward. Death, Its Causes and Phenomena. Arno Press, 1977.

Domesday Book. 40 volumes. 1983 ed., Phillimore, 1983.

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.

Local history on the retention list includes books about communities adjacent to Winona, but in Wisconsin: one from Arcadia and one from Fountain City.

Bryan, Brad. Arcadians Each and All: “From Newspaper Archives.” Pathagorous Press, 2005.

Johnson, Dwight A. Fountain City May Have Talkie Shows: The Story of a Small Town and Its Weekly Newspaper. Arlan Communications, 1994.

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.

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.

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.

Winona State has forty-two volumes of the largest collection of US slave narratives published, but they are not on our retention list; however, a more obscure volume of slave narratives specifically from Texas is on our list. The holiday Juneteenth memorializes the day in 1865 when a quarter million enslaved persons in the state of Texas, which had been the last bastion for slavery at the end of the American Civil War, were declared free by the U.S. Army.

Murphy, Lawrence R., and Ronnie C. Tyler. The Slave Narratives of Texas. Encino Press, 1974.

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.

Some books initially make you wonder who would ever read them again. On WSU’s retention list is a book, written in German, which offered predictions of the future and which was published in 1970. Of what use today could a 1970 prediction about the future have? One of the chapters discussed the prognosis for East Germany. I can easily imagine an interesting essay comparing what actually happened to what was predicted in 1970.

Waterkamp, Rainer. Futurologie und Zukunftsplanung. Forschungsergebnisse. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1970.

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.

One might suppose that Winona State’s library would have on our retention list books about the local community and about Winona State itself. That is generally not the case. Enough other libraries in Minnesota possess books about Winona’s local history and about our university, they were not put on the list. One of the few retention books related to the community of Winona is a collection of tall tales by Jerome Christenson. The only title about the institution of Winona State on the list is a guide to the tree species found on our campus.

Christenson, Jerome. Growing up Short: A Collection of Tall Tales. Winona, MN: Winona Post, 1996.

Meyer, Bill, and Tom Grier. Campus of Trees: Winona State University. Winona, MN: Winona State University, 2010.

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.

Among the many texts on Winona State’s retention list which deal with labor issues, there are two pamphlets from the National Museum of Wales that deal with the history of child labor.

Evans, Richard Meurig. Children in the Mines, 1840-42. Museum Schools Service, National Museum of Wales, 1972.

Evans, Richard Meurig. Children in the Iron Industry, 1840-42. Museum Schools Service, National Museum of Wales, 1972.

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.

Winona State accepts donations of books by members of the general public (though we reserve the right to decide whether to add them or not). Some of those donations have shown up on our retention list. Here are two donations, the first from the estate of the former U.S. Marine Daniel Besser, and another from the estate of Minnesota film promoter Al Milgrom.

Oflag 64: The Fiftieth Anniversary Book. Evanston, Ill: Evanston Pub., 1993.

(An oflag, or offizierlager, was a German prison camp for captured enemy officers.)

Tarkovsky, Andreĭ Arsenʹevich. Andrei Rublëv. London: Faber and Faber, 1991.

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.

Over the last ten years, the Krueger Library has had a program of labelling some books with a decal that indicates that the volume is a “notable book.” For example, in the juvenile book collection, Caldecott or Newbery award winners might be given the “notable book” label. In the regular collection, one of the bibliographies we have consulted to identify notable books is the American Historical Association’s Guide to Historical Literature.

Because academic libraries try to collect books that are noted in their fields of study, those well-regarded titles are likely to be widely held and are not likely be on any one library’s retention list. Only about two percent of the books on our retention list also have a “notable book” label. Here are two of those rare titles, which both are well-regarded among scholars and are uncommon in Minnesota. The second was donated to our library by former Dean of Liberal Arts, Peter Henderson.

Thiesenhusen, William C. Searching for Agrarian Reform in Latin America. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1989.

O’Crouley, Pedro Alonso. A Description of the Kingdom of New Spain. Translated by Seán Galvin. San Francisco: J. Howell, 1972 (originally written in 1774).

When multiple institutions within the Minnesota Shared Print Program have the same series of volumes, the institution which has the most complete set is awarded the series on its retention list. Winona State has the distinction of having been the first state-supported normal school west of the Mississippi and was founded the same year as the National Education Association. Winona State’s run of the proceedings of the NEA goes back to 1860, and we were awarded that series on our retention list.

Proceedings. Washington, D. C: National Education Association, 1858-.

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.