Launch of Digital Public Library of America brings greater access to local treasures

Portrait of Dr. G. A. Dahl, Mankato, Minnesota

The Nicollet County Historical Society in south central Minnesota sits on the site of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, signed between the United States and the Dakota nation in 1851. Eleven years later, following several treaty violations by the U.S. government, war broke out in the region, which resulted in the execution of 38 Dakota — to this day the largest mass execution in American history.

St. Peter, Minnesota — a mile down the road from the treaty site — might have been the capital of Minnesota, if not for the trickery of Joe Rolette, a legislator from Pembina. In 1857, the Minnesota territorial legislature passed a law to move the capital from St. Paul to St. Peter. But Rolette — with the bill in his possession — disappeared long enough to ensure that the governor could not sign the law before the end of the legislative session.

This place is truly historic. And that history will now become much easier for the public across the nation and the world to learn about and access thanks to the recent launch of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).

Digital Public Library of America aggregates millions of digital artifacts

The DPLA (located at http://dp.la) is a groundbreaking project that, for the first time, will make many of our nation’s significant digital collections searchable and accessible to the public from a single site. It will aggregate millions of digital artifacts from local archives, libraries, museums, and cultural heritage institutions across America and deliver them to students, teachers, scholars, and the public via a powerful search interface.

“You can’t tell the history of Minnesota or even the history of the United States without telling the story that happened here,” said Ben Leonard, director of the Nicollet County Historical Society. “We really do have unique items in the collection and the reality is that the vast majority of Americans wouldn’t know that they’re here — wouldn’t know we’re here — without the Digital Public Library of America.”

Minnesota Digital Library a key partner in DPLA

Figure skaters posing at Winter Haven, Sartell, Minnesota.Stearns HIstory Museum.

The DPLA launched on April 18, two-and-a-half years after planning began in October 2010. With total funding to date of about $7.8 million, the DPLA brings together a national network of more than 40 state/regional digital libraries and myriad large digital libraries. These include large “content” hubs, such as The Smithsonian Institution, and state and regional “service” hubs, such as the Minnesota Digital Library.

The Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) has received $350,000 in funding — $250,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and $100,000 from the Knight Foundation. The funding is being used for digitizing existing special collections, making them searchable and accessible through the DPLA, providing outreach and education to communities about the DPLA, supporting the development of new, “born digital” content, and capturing the unique and diverse stories of the communities throughout the state and region.

The MDL is supported through a statewide collaboration of Minitex, the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, and other key institutions. (Minitex is a joint program of the of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the University of Minnesota.) In its role as a DPLA hub, the MDL will serve as an “on-ramp” to interested public libraries, special libraries, colleges, museums, historical societies,