Record Atlas
6 eras · 1679–2026 · 110 places

Minnesota

St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth, Mankato, Fort Snelling, Rochester. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1679–1762 New France - fur-trade explorers no registers survive

French explorers and fur traders arrived in the 1650s and 1660s, and Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, helped arrange a Dakota-Ojibwe peace in 1679.
1762–1803 Spanish Louisiana west of the Mississippi; east of the river to the United States in 1783 no registers survive

Land east of the Mississippi went to the United States under the 1783 Treaty of Paris and was part of the Northwest Territory from 1787. The western part passed from France to Spain in 1762, back to France in 1800 and to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
1803–1849 Louisiana Purchase (west) and Northwest Territory lands (east): successive territories FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

The western part moved through the District of Louisiana (1804), Louisiana Territory and Missouri Territory (1812), and Iowa Territory from 1838; the eastern part through Michigan and Wisconsin territories. Fort Snelling was begun in 1819.
1849–1858 Minnesota Territory FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

Created on 3 March 1849 with St. Paul as capital, it also covered the eastern parts of present North and South Dakota. The 1850 census counted 6,077 people in nine counties, and Dakota treaties of 1851 opened much of the land to settlement. Statehood is dated 11 May 1858, a date some pages give as 24 May.
1858–1900 State of Minnesota FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

In the Dakota War of 1862, fighting broke out in the Minnesota River valley, and 38 Dakota men were hanged at Mankato on 26 December 1862; many other Dakota were confined and later exiled.
1900–2026 Minnesota - statewide registration FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Statewide birth registration is dated 1900 and numbered death certificates 1908; deaths of 1900-1907 were recorded without certificate numbers. The Minnesota Historical Society holds death certificates and a birth index (births 1900-1934, with selected earlier records); certified copies come from the Minnesota Department of Health.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1679–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

110 places on this ground

1856 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1796 more.

All record regions · The map