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.
LGBTQ+ life in Minnesota
The journey of the LGBTQ+ community in Minnesota is, in part, one of attaining acceptance and equality. That road has at times been two steps forward and one step back. MPR Archive has curated a chronological snapshot of audio to illustrate major accomplishments, intense struggles, and the simple human experience of love and family found within the LGBTQ community. While a collection of individual pieces, together they make up a singular story of how far has been traveled…and the road forward.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
A presentation of audio and a first-hand account of a significant moment in contemporary Native American history - the Wounded Knee Occupation in 1973.
Black life in Minnesota
In both celebration and honoring of Black History Month, MPR highlights the Black Life in Minnesota collection, 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.
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.
Notable Contemporary Native Americans in Minnesota
A portion of Governor Walz’s proclamation on October 11th, 2019, reads “…recognize the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples Day, in order to promote appreciation, tolerance, reconciliation, understanding, friendship, and continued partnerships among all of its people and the Indigenous Peoples of this land.” With those words in mind, MPR presents archived audio of five distinct contemporary Native American voices from this land: Winona LaDuke, Jim Northrup, Clyde Bellecourt, Louise Erdrich, and Peggy Flanagan. Their efforts in activism, literary work, environmentalism, social work, rights issues, and politics have made an indelible impact on Minnesota and beyond.
Not Just Art for Art's Sake
What do the arts mean for you? Do they play a role in your life? Whether they do or not, in this short collection, you will hear the stories and experiences behind the works of real people—visual artists, poets, writers, performers, artistic directors—mostly Minnesotan and some from out of state. The diverse array of voices and stories in this collection are personal and unique, yet they are simultaneously universal in that they come from a place of pain, struggle, longing, connection, and hope. Writer Ann Lamott has once said, “Everything that happens to you is yours and you get to tell it… your truth, your version of things, in your own voice—that’s all you have to offer.”
Asian Heritage in Minnesota
In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, MPR Archive presents a collection of stories from the numerous Asian and Pacific Islander communities that reside in Minnesota. It is a fascinating glimpse into tradition, family, and culture that enrich our state.
Hispanic heritage of 10,000 Lakes
MPR Archive presents a sampling of stories rooted in the Hispanic cultural experience within the state and region. Highlights include the entrepreneurial spirit in South Minneapolis & St. Paul’s West Side, the arts scene of Teatro del Pueblo, the voices of the migrant workers in the Red River Valley, and the music of Mariachi Flor y Canto, amongst other glimpses into Minnesota’s Hispanic past.
Labor in Minnesota
Virtually every industry across the state of Minnesota from factory work to logging, to farming, to teaching has seen major shifts in the relations between workers and their employers over the past century. These changes didn’t happen on their own, they are the result of years of organized work and collective energy. In these stories from the MPR Archive you will hear from prominent local labor leaders, migrant and permanent laborers, and individuals who today are still striving to influence and improve the ways we work. Covering the history of labor rights and issues from the early 1900s to the present day we hope this collection will give you insight into the way our past has shaped our present.
"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.
