Livingston Lord Library

Northwest Minnesota Historical Center

Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota


Location
Located in the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, on the 4th floor of the Chester Fritz Library, at the junction of University Avenue and Centennial Drive, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota.


Hours
        8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday - Tuesday; Thursday - Friday
        8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., Wednesday:


The staff of the Libby Collection can be contacted by:


Historical Collections
The Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection was established in 1952 and contains over 1400 collections, which measure approximately 13,100 linear feet of storage space.This includes:

  • Collections of documents concerning the political, economic and social history of Grand Forks, the Red River Valley and North Dakota.
  • Collections of personal papers of prominent individuals and ordinary North Dakotans, including diaries, memoirs, correspondence, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings.
  • Organizational records of many businesses, including bylaws and constitutions, incorporation documents, financial records, minutes of meetings, financial records, reports, newspaper clippings and promotional materials.

  • Approximately 25,000 photographs of all kinds that are housed separately in the Orin G. Libby Photograph Collection.

  • Further details about the collections can be obtained by consulting the four-volume set, Guide to the Orin Libby Manuscript Collection and Related Research Collections (Grand Forks: University of North Dakota, 1975 -- ), which is available in many North Dakota libraries.

Genealogical Materials at UND
The Elwyn Robinson Department of Special Collections, which houses the Libby Collection, also maintains a room for genealogical research, with emphasis on North Dakota families.For further information, contact the staff of the department, using the contact information given above.

Services Offered by the Libby Collection
Staff will attempt to answer specific e-mail, telephone or mail inquiries, but can only devote a limited amount of time for such inquiries, usually no more than an hour.Most documents, photographs, and other materials in the collections can be copied for research purposes; some items cannot be copied due to condition or restrictions on use.The staff can provide detailed information on copy costs.  

For further information, see the Archive's web site.