Welcome to the Minnesota Public Radio Archive
Below you will find ever evolving curated collections highlighting diverse, historically relevant, and special interest content. Each collection contains audio stories of a particular subject, represented in chronological order. Explore our state and its people!
Click on "About" to find a detailed informational guide on further utilizing this site.
Farming: Minnesota's agricultural landscape
Agriculture has been an integral part of Minnesota’s land and water for a thousand years. While crops have changed, the spirit of farming has remained constant. MPR Archive presents a selection of stories that reflect the diversity of what has been harvested, such as corn, soybeans, wild rice, and even tree fiber. This collection is also about the many hands that toil in, and care for, the soil and water…from the migrant farm worker in Red River Valley’s sugar beet fields, the Hmong immigrant planting near Homer, the Chanarambie Township farmer amidst the 1980s farm crisis, and Ojibwe members following ancient harvesting traditions.
Award Collection
Since our beginning, the stations and programs affiliated with Minnesota Public Radio and later American Public Media, have endeavored to create quality programming for the community and audiences we serve, in keeping with our mission of public service. We have been honored that so many of the talented individuals and teams and their programs have won prestigious industry and audience awards; the MPR Archive is proud to highlight and present these winners in a way that celebrate the award recipient along with the subjects, stories, and communities that demonstrate public media's meaning and impact.
Hmong life in Minnesota
The Hmong experience in Minnesota is a story nearly 50 years old. MPR has captured moments along the way and the Archive presents a handful to illustrate the decades journey. The Hmong people’s resettlement to the U.S. is one of complexity and challenges. As refugees from war, the Hmong community have faced an intense language barrier, a generational divide, culture clashes, and changing gender roles…successes resulting in momentous achievements in the likes of politics, arts, business, and sports. Through it all, they created a home for family and clan in the northland.
Minnesota Musicians
The MPR Archives invites you to jump into the deep end of the music pool. Of course, this collection includes stories on Minnesota luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Prince, and Replacements; but there is an incredible amount of talent and sounds coming out of the land of 10,000 Lakes. This sampling tries to play homage to those many artists. Test your musical knowledge on the likes of the Hmong group Asian Invasion; transgender artist Venus; North Woods rappers Crew Jones; all-girl garage band The Continental Co-ets; Native American rock musician Jake Reum; throat singer Steve Sklar; or jazz vocalist Roberta Davis. Have fun taking a dip and exploring!
"Wait 10 Minutes" - Minnesota's historic weather events
Minnesotans seem to have something between a pastime and an obsession when it comes to weather, which stands to reason: living here offers a little bit of everything and a LOT of a few things (if you don’t know what I am alluding to here, you must spend your winters elsewhere). MPR Archive has curated a chronological representation on some memorable weather events. What is striking is that underlying in these stories of the extreme cold, heat, water, and wind, are the voices of Minnesotans as they are both persevere and remain humble to the power of Mother Nature.
Midday
An MPR news program, broadcasting a variety of public affairs programming covering politics, education, business, world affairs, and sports. Shows were a mix of call-in discussions, interviews, speeches, debates, special presentations, live coverage, and documentaries. Longtime home of the popular hosts Bob Potter and Gary Eichten.
