Business -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis

The Business Trade Card Collection contains hundreds of decorative cards from businesses in Minneapolis. The bulk of the collection dates from about 1880 to 1910.

Most of the cards have been digitized and are available in Minnesota Reflections: /reflections.mndigital.org/cdm/search/collection/mpls/searchterm/Trade%20cards/field/all/mode/exact/conn/and/order/title/page/1>

This collection consists of two albums of photographs of Minneapolis business firms taken circa 1912. Album 1 contains 48 photographs and Album 2 contains 35 photographs.

Fact sheets, brochures, building information, newspaper clippings, correspondence and other administrative records documenting the history and operations of the Minneapolis Business Branch from 1916 to 1960 and the Minneapolis Municipal Information Library from 1972-2003. Both libraries were part of the Minneapolis Public Library. The Minneapolis Public Library and Hennepin County Library merged in 2008.

Trade catalogs created by Minneapolis and Hennepin County business firms from the late 1800s to the present. Most firms represented were headquartered locally, but some local editions of national or regional catalogs are included in the collection. Materials of note include department store catalogs, farm implement catalogs, and educational course catalogs.