I have been meaning to do this for awhile and I finally got around to it this morning.  I would like to highlight some of the online tools that researches can use when researching Northfield history.

Carleton College

Carleton College uses a digital collection content management system called CONTENTdm to present their online collection.  With-in Content DM you can have many collections.  Three of these collections are especially useful for historical research:

Archival Photos

The photos included in this collection were taken between 1871 and 1922.  They reflect student life at Carleton.  The highlighted collection is the Stork Collection.  These are photographs donated by Henry Stork, a former Carleton Professor of botany from 1920 to 1955.  This collection includes many aerial photos of campus, drawing on Stork’s experience as an aerial photographer in WWI.  All of the photos are housed in the Carleton College Archives.

Historical Documents

Contains scanned documents that are pertinent to the history of the college.  Included are early campus maps, blueprints & architectural drawings for campus buildings, miscellaneous letters and documents.  The highlighted collection is the Horace Goodhue Jr. Collection.  He was the first faculty member hired by Northfield College, later to be named Carleton College in 1870.  The letters are a wonderful snap shot of life in Northfield and at Carleton in the late 1860s through 1870s.

The Carletonian

Contains digital copies of the weekly student run newspaper.  It is one of the oldest student run publications in the nation with the first issue being published in 1877.

The Carletonian is presented online through software called ArcaSearch.

Carleton College Digital Collections

Dalby Database

The Dalby Database is a wonderful research tool if you are doing genealogical research.  In 1981 John Dalby suffered a heart attack and could not return to work.  While doing research for a family member John became very interested in researching family history.  So he decided to walk every cemetery in Rice County, he started in 1983.  After finishing  Rice County he and his wife, Jan decided to walk other cemeteries in Southern Minnesota.  Not being content with walking cemeteries they decided to start indexing history books, plats, and newspaper articles. Recording church records, marriages, birth, Civil War veterans and city directories of Rice County.

Right now people can search this web site for references in all those fields.  If you need help using the Dalby Database please contact us at 507-645-9268 or email us.

Dalby Database

St. Olaf College Archives Digital Images

St. Olaf College uses CONTENTdm to present their digital collection as well.

The Shaw-Olson Center for College History (College Archives) has a vast archival collection of photographs that portray the college, its faculty and students, alumni and the Northfield area.  In this digital collection you can search images that depict the college and the Northfield area from the 1870s to the 1920s.  Many of the images are from the Ole Felland collection, an early faculty member of St. Olaf and librarian.  All of the original images are housed at the College Archives.

St. Olaf College Archives Digital Images

I hope you find these online tools useful and if you have any questions about them please contact us or the respective institution.  I have posted links to each of these tools in our links section.

Right now, NHS along with the Carleton College, Northfield Public Library , and the Rice County Historical Society are developing a one-stop shopping center for historical research of the Northfield area.  We are in the testing phase of the web site and we hope to have it fully operational in the next few months.  Keep coming back for more information.