St. Cloud Area Genealogists

12/22/2025

✨Founding Contributor Highlight✨ The University of Minnesota Duluth Archives in the Kathryn A. Martin Library collects, preserves, and provides access to materials that document the history of University of Minnesota Duluth and northeastern Minnesota, including the city of Duluth and Minnesota's four northeastern counties – St. Louis, Lake, Cook, and Carlton.

The UMD Archives collection in the Minnesota Digital Library includes records from its early days as the Duluth Normal School and Duluth State Teachers College. Regional history collections include photographs, maps, manuscripts, documents, and other records of northeastern businesses, people, and events.

The University of Minnesota Duluth Archives & Special Collections was one of MDL’s 51 founding contributors in 2005. Learn more about the organization and browse their collection in MDL: https://mndigital.org/about/contributing-organizations/university-minnesota-duluth-kathryn-martin-library-university

Image: Aerial Lift Bridge from bay, Duluth, c. 1905: https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/umd:5379

12/21/2025

12/19/2025

Volunteer with the National Archives and help our nation celebrate America250! Come share the American Story and be at the center of this exciting, year-long celebration. Students through seniors- sign up now! archives.gov/a250

12/19/2025

When research feels stalled, the next breakthrough often comes from rethinking familiar sources. The October–December 2025 issue of NGS Magazine features the article Overlooked Opportunities in Public Libraries: A Genealogy Librarian’s Perspective by Rhonda Hoffman.

It explores how public libraries can support deeper and more effective family history research. Members can log in now to read the current issue. Not a member yet? Join NGS for access. https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/

12/18/2025

We're once again sponsoring a Family History Writing Contest for area youth! Stearns County students in public, parochial or home schools in Stearns County are encouraged to interview someone age 60 or older about school memories.

Entries will be divided into two categories: 4th to 7th grade and 8th to 12th grade. For each category, there will be three winners who will receive $100, $50 and $25.

The holidays are a great time to connect with family members and share stories!

To find more information about the contest criteria, email info@scagmn.org or find a link in the comments. Entries must be received by January 20, 2026.

12/17/2025

We're excited to announce Images of America: St. Cloud will be published May 5, 2026!

Images of America is Arcadia Publishing's best-selling series exploring the history of towns and cities across the United States through a combination of photographs and prose. In January, Arcadia reached out to us about creating an Images of America book on St. Cloud. Since then, our librarian Miranda and archivist Grant have been hard at work on selecting the best stories and photographs to represent the unique history of the city of St. Cloud. All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Stearns History Museum.

We're especially thankful to former archivist John Decker for contributing the foreword to the book!

Keep your eyes open for updates, events, and information on how to purchase the book as we get closer to the publication date!

12/14/2025

What better gift to give your loved ones this holiday season than the preservation of their most cherished memories? Photos from family trips, holiday celebrations captured on film, grandma’s handwritten recipe cards - the Memory Lab at MCPL can digitize it all – and much more! Visit us online at: https://www.mymcpl.org/genealogy/about-mgc/memory-lab to learn more about the Memory Lab and book your FREE appointment now!

12/13/2025

Have you tried "mapping" your family surnames to see where exactly the surname shows up? Try some of these sites to pinpoint locations: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Surname_Distribution_Maps
The example here includes some surnames in Spain.

12/11/2025

In 1872 this family immigrated from Falkowice, a small village in Silesia, southwest Poland. They settled on farmland south of Bowlus near the Stearns County line. Sometime in 1898, Peter Stodolka …

12/07/2025

Now recalled as heroes of wilderness and masculinity, lumberjacks in their own time were despised as amoral transients. Join us on Saturday, December 13 for a thoroughly revealing correction - a cultural history of the life and lore of the real lumberjack and his true place in American history.

North Star Voices: Gentlemen of the Woods is a free program featuring Dr. Willa Hammitt Brown and starts at 2:00 pm in the 3M Auditorium.

Link to event: https://mnhs.info/4o9l5Ga

IMAGE: Lumberjacks skidding a large log with the help of four oxen at Mud Creek, east of Mora, circa 1892. From the MNHS John Runk photograph collection.

12/05/2025

You may have a picture like this in your collection of family photographs. But what is it called?

Introduced in 1866, this common photographic format is called a cabinet card. It consists of a photographic print mounted directly on a piece of thin cardstock that measured 4.25 x 6.5 inches. Many cabinet cards, such as this family portrait, also included decorative border elements, information about the photography studio, gilt details, colors, or scalloped edges. They were designed to be displayed in cabinets, on mantels, or other similar types of furniture.

Learn more about cabinet cards and other photographic techniques in MDL’s History of Photography timeline, available through our website at https://mndigital.org/projects/timelines.

Image: Myhre Studio portrait of an unidentified family, Sacred Heart, 1880-1882. Sacred Heart Area Historical Society, https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/sac:8