WPA Stearns County Biographies

4.2 linear feet

The collection consists of over 1500 biographical sketches created by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the years from 1936 through 1939 of early settlers of Stearns County, Minnesota, who lived predominantly during the 1800s, though a few can be dated to the late 1700s. By keeping their focus on the "common" person in society, the WPA biographies present examples of how the working class spent their lives. In addition, there are several immigrant accounts that share struggles and triumphs of settling in Stearns County.

A combination of interviews, information taken from books or newspapers, census data and courthouse records are put together in these files to create as complete of a genealogical picture as possible. All files are different - some may contain a combination of an interview summary, information taken from published sources, and census data and courthouse from the Stearns County courthouse. If the interview is not conducted with the subject themselves, they were usually conducted with a family member. This information is listed at the end of each sketch along with the name of the interviewer. Birth and death dates were included if known. It is believed that the people presented in these biographies were selected at random which come from diverse backgrounds. Some of the subjects discuss their interactions with Native Americans, while others briefly talk about their daily routine.

Included with these biographies is A Report on The Stearns County, Minnesota Biographical Sketches, written in 1983 by undergaduate student Marilyn Salzl Brinkman. This detailed report focuses on the analyzation of demographic data and interpretation of the agriculture-based subjects the WPA interviewed.

These biographical sketches are arranged in alphabetical order by last name.

Records are located at 37A.1a-2c.

There are no access restrictions.

Permission to publish, quote, and reproduce must be secured from copyright holder.

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These records were loaned by the Stearns History Museum to the Central Minnesota Historical Center sometime during the 1970s and the latest agreement authorized the loan until 2010. In September 2014, the St. Cloud State University Archivist, now in charge of the former Central Minnesota Historical Center (now collection), approached the Stearns History Museum to discuss possible gifting of the biographies to St. Cloud State instead of extending the loan. An agreement could not be reached and the collection was returned to the Stearns History Museum. In February 2015, the St. Cloud State University Archivist approached the museum to reconsider their October 2014 decision. The Stearns History Museum did reconsider and gifted the collection, without any restriction, to St. Cloud State University to become a permanent part of the now Central Minnesota Historical Collection.

These biographical sketches are the basis of the genealogical files at the Stearns History Museum in St. Cloud, Minnesota. But they are only a small part of those files. For more information of the families featured in this collection, please contact the Stearns History Museum by phone at 320-253-8424 or by email at info@stearns-museum.org.

The Stearns History website can be found at https://www.stearnshistorymuseum.org/.

Cathy Coats began processing the collection in April 2015. Andrew Romitti continued the project and processed the vast majority of the collection between September and November 2015.

Scanning and uploading of digital objects were done between November 2015 and June 2017. Special thanks to Andrew Romitti, Will Gottwalt, Jake Loftus, Paige Gayle, Isaac Anderson, and Nazar Pavlyk. In 2022, the digital objects were moved from the Archives' Archon portal to the Repository @ St. Cloud State.