Southwest Minnesota History Center
History Center
BA 512, 507-537-7373
The Southwest Minnesota Regional Research Center began in 1972 as a joint venture of the Minnesota Historical Society and members of the History Department of Southwest Minnesota State University.
As an official public records repository established to serve the 19 counties of southwestern Minnesota, it is one of eight regional research centers in the state of Minnesota. The mission of the center is to preserve historical documents and encourage research and knowledge gathering on southwestern Minnesota. The Southwest History Center has reason to be proud of its activity level and involvement in outreach, publications, and research.
Recognized as an official public records repository, one of the major responsibilities of the archives is to preserve various types of documents and manuscript collections. The types of documents housed in the History Center vary greatly, but the broad categories are as follows - Government Records (including state, county, town and township records), Legislative Records (collections from past legislators) Church Records, Business Records, Oral History Interviews, Newspapers, Photographs, Census Records, and Naturalization Records.