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Hill Reference Library Closes Railroad Magnate’s ArchiveAfter more than 30 years of owning the personal papers of railroad magnate James J. Hill (1838–1916), the James J. Hill Reference Library is looking for a new home for them. The private business reference library in Saint Paul, Minnesota, closed the archive June 1 after announcing that it no longer matched the library’s mission of providing practical information to the global business community, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press reported June 6.The papers, which include sales receipts, correspondence, telegrams, political writings, diaries, and business records of the founder of the Great Northern Railway, are considered one of the most complete archives of any business leader from the Gilded Age. The library, which also eliminated two curator positions for the papers, hopes to transfer the collection to a more appropriate venue—perhaps the Minnesota Historical Society or the University of Minnesota—by the end of the year. The archive takes up about 470 linear feet of library space. Some researchers are disappointed with the decision. Dick Nicholson, who lives in James J. Hill’s son Louis’s former home in Saint Paul, told the Pioneer Press that he wished the library was more interested in local history. “The whole fabric of Saint Paul can be found in a lot of these papers,” he said. “The papers—emotionally, I love them. It’s cool stuff” said Library President Sam Richter. “But they don’t fit in with what we’re trying to do as an organization.” Posted June 8, 2007. |
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