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 State Fair
The Great Minnesota Get-Together, a two-week event running through Labor Day, has been held every year with a few exceptions since 1859. Sadly, 2020 is one of those exceptions, so enjoy these past audio State Fair moments until we can go back through those open gates again.
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.
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).
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.
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
Audio excerpts providing a powerful aural experience from inside the South Dakota village during the Wounded Knee Occupation on the day of Buddy Lamont’s death. A journalistic rarity of this impactful moment.
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.