Featured Collections
MPR Archive staff maintains curated collections to highlight diverse, historically relevant, and special interest content. New collections are routinely created for a fresh perspective upon return visits to the MPR Archive portal.
About the MPR Archive
Welcome to the MPR Archive Portal, an informational site designed to provide public access of historical audio materials that highlight the thoughts, stories, and sounds that represent the many aspects of our region and community. Click on “About the MPR Archive” for further details.
Minnesota Musicians
It’s summertime, and 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!
Women in the 1970s
MPR Archive presents Women in the 1970s, a collection of memorable Minnesota moments that were a part of the momentous social changes. From the swearing in of the state’s first female Supreme Court justice, to the “Willmar 8,” a breadth of stories on how women influenced this decade of change.
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: A Chronology
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, or the BWCA, is one of the most loved and visited wilderness areas in the country. But the BWCA is not only a place of nature and beauty; its history demonstrates the conflicts surrounding environment, law, community, economy, recreation, and nature in our state. Over the many decades, lines have been drawn far beyond its actual borders. This audio collection follows the timeline of this Minnesota treasure.
Walter Mondale
With the passing of Walter Mondale, MPR Archive reaches back to share the many impactful, meaningful, and personal moments of a true Minnesota political icon. Hubert Humphrey shined the national political spotlight on Minnesota, and Mondale took that torch and became a trailblazer. His voice and words speak to his importantance, then and now.
Black life in Minnesota
The Black Life in Minnesota collection is an auditory sampling of the millions of stories on the black experience in the North Star state; one of warmth, joy, anger, sadness, and strength. Within the collection you will hear Josie Johnson’s social activism, Alan Page’s legal/philanthropic mind, Lou Bellamy’s artistic force, and innumerable others that give voice to their own story and community.
Minnesota Politicians
From controversial to influential, Minnesota politics has never been dull. The state is home to numerous “political firsts”, half a dozen presidential candidates, and important social and fiscal discourse. Minnesota politicians Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey, Paul Wellstone, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Pawlenty, Jesse Ventura, Keith Ellison, Michele Bachmann, R.T. Rybak, Eugene McCarthy, and Arne Carlson are just a handful of the political figures highlighted in this political audio collection presenting issues addressed and debated in years past.
Classical Interviews
MPR studios host an array of interviews and broadcasts with the world's master musicians, composers, and conductors. A guitar lesson from Sharon Isbin or advice from Van Cliburn are just a few of the musical gems to be found within this collection.
Mainstreet Radio
An MPR rural-news project, with the mission of reporting from rural Minnesota to all of Minnesota. For decades, this series has provided insight into Minnesota’s small towns, land use, and farming communities.
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.
Spectrum
An MPR regional public affairs program, which hosted discussions on Twin Cities politics, education, health, and arts & culture. An interesting time-capsule on the local subject matter of the day for Minnesotans in the 1970s.
Healthcare
MPR news and documentary programming highlighting medical and political commentary on the changing landscape of American healthcare. Minnesota is not only home to Mayo Clinic, UCare, and Hazelden, it has been at the forefront of the health discussion, from the state’s historic tobacco settlement case to the idea of prepaid health plans (later known as HMOs).
Minnesota Books and Authors
For decades, MPR has been an important space for regional authors to connect with their readers. This collection includes Sigurd Olson, Tim O'Brien, Robert Bly, Louise Erdich, August Wilson, and other Minnesota authors reading and discussing their works. Numerous visiting non-Minnesotans author’s speeches and interviews also make up this collection as part of our greater literary experience.
Cultural Legacy Digitization Project
This initial MPR archive digitization project contains an assortment of news reports spanning from 1972 to 2004 and was made possible via the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Voices of Minnesota
An MPR interview series with the prominent and historically relevant voices in Minnesota politics, business, and the arts. Series provides intimate conversations with figures such as Miles Lord, Ann Bancroft, and Lou Bellamy, among many others.
The sound of Wounded Knee from the inside
A presentation of audio and a first-hand account of a significant moment in contemporary Native American history - the Wounded Knee Occupation in 1973.
Poems, Poets, and Poetry
Poetry is an undercurrent in Minnesota. There are easily as many poets as there are lakes and they all meander different paths, like the state’s tributaries. The MPR Archive celebrates poetry by presenting a sampling of literary verse. Some are home-grown, such as Carol Connolly, Robert Bly, and Ed Bok Lee. Then there are the traveling wordsmiths, the likes of Donald Hall, Joy Harjo, and Nikki Giovanni, who’ve shared their work to an intrigued North Star State audience. This collection is as causal or deep as you wish to explore, just like the water.
The day Gorbachev came to town
On June 3rd, 1990, there was a strange electricity in the air. It was raining, yet people lined the streets for a glimpse of the once in a lifetime event. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of America’s greatest adversary during the Cold War, was in the Twin Cities. Minnesota was an unlikely rare stopover for one of the most powerful people in the world. These hours of audio montage from MPR follow the man, and record the unique day.