Temporary Exhibit: Greater Minnesota Two-Spirit & LGBTQIA+ History Map Resources

There are many directions you can take to dig into Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ history in Minnesota. It can be overwhelming! Here you will find links to a number of archives and collections.

• As for navigating the catalogs and finding aids for the MNHS Collections, the Tretter Collection, and more, the Minnesota Historical Society has assembled a research orientation document! Pay special attention to the recommended keywords, as they are organized by date-range. If there are "full-text" search capabilities in primary source databases, knowing these contemporary terms can make-or-break finding primary sources.

Note: Do be aware that the terms can be offensive, and doing historical research on marginalized peoples can take an emotional toll. Expect that you may feel uncomfortable, and that images and personal stories can be very explicit. Even when you are looking to study topics of joy and celebration from the past, you will also have to wade through important information about discrimination and atrocities. It is an unavoidable part of historical research, but that does not mean that you have to be stoic throughout the process. If you hoping to be a K-12 teacher or to work in cultural heritage institutions especially, you may be interested in reading up about "hard history." While certainly an understatement, it is one current term for how educators are talking about approaching these topics in classrooms and public history education.

• Lesbian Elders Oral History Project

• The Tretter Transgender Oral History Project

• HIV/AIDS Caregivers Oral History Project

You may need to be present at the Tretter in order to access the materials in this collection, which has two phases, may 

• Rainbow Seniors Oral History

• HIV/AIDS Winona Oral History Project

Archive: a physical or digital collection of historical records. When something is called an "archive," and all of the materials come from the same source, family, or organization, it can also be called a "fonds."

Collection: Materials assembled by a person, organization, or repository form a variety of sources.

Finding Aid: Finding aids are your key to navigating archival collections. Archivists write these documents to give you a look into what makes up the collection, and what kinds of materials are within it. Includes contextual and structural information about the archival resource.

Metadata: The information about the data. Describes objects, entries, and data. Promotes discovery, structures data objects, and supports the administration and preservation of records. Without metadata, it can be very hard to find things! 

Provenance: The origin or source of something; information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection