21Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Minot Public Library
Minot, North Dakota
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Minot.
1894 to 2009Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
934,510Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Minot, North Dakota.
Explore the past of Minot, North Dakota through newspapers in the Minot Public Library's digital archive. Its twenty-one titles include material from 1894 to 2009.
Opens in a new tab.
-
Selected titles
In the collection shared by Minot Public Library, you will find “Bishop Ryan Catholic Schools” as well as “Ward County Reporter And The Minot Journal”.
-
Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
-
A closer look
Newspaper pages connect individual accounts with a wider story, preserving how events were reported and presented to the readers of the day.
Reporting from the time can reveal how people described the events, work and concerns of their day, placing a local story within the history unfolding around it. Whether you are tracing a family connection, exploring a local event or sharing history with a class, there is more to discover than names and dates alone. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse twenty-one titles and 934,510 digitized pages, with material from 1894 to 2009. This collection is shared through Minot Public Library's partnership with Advantage Archives. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
If you are tracing a family connection or exploring local history, the titles below offer a place to begin and a thread to follow.
Bishop Ryan Catholic Schools
4,216 pages from 1971 to 2009
Daily Ward County Reporter
482 pages in 1906
Farmer's Weekly Optic
16 pages in 1907
Minot Daily Optic Reporter
11,340 pages from 1914 to 1916
Minot Daily Reporter
18,830 pages from 1906 to 1914
Minot High School
5,464 pages from 1923 to 1981
Minot High School Supplement
44 pages in 1977
Minot Weekly Optic Reporter
1,412 pages from 1913 to 1916
The Burlington Reporter
392 pages in 1912
The Campaigner
16 pages in 1900
The Minot Daily News
446,724 pages from 1966 to 1991
The Minot Daily News And Daily Optic Reporter
347,496 pages from 1926 to 1966
The Minot Daily News And Minot Daily Optic Reporter
54,334 pages from 1916 to 1926
The Minot Daily Optic
21,276 pages from 1904 to 1914
The Minot Journal
322 pages in 1894
The Minot Mirror
598 pages from 1895 to 1896
The Minot Optic
2,644 pages from 1898 to 1904
The Minot Weekly Optic
3,942 pages from 1905 to 1914
The Ward County Independent
1,680 pages in 1908
Ward County Reporter
12,524 pages from 1896 to 1914
Ward County Reporter And The Minot Journal
758 pages from 1894 to 1896
Opens in a new tab.
About the Archive
About The Minot Public Library’s History Archives
Explore the Minot Public Library ’s digital archives, made possible through a partnership with Advantage Archives . These archives provide free access to a wide range of historical newspapers and records, preserving the rich history of Minot, North Dakota. Whether you are a historian, genealogist, or simply interested in local history, these collections offer an invaluable resource for discovering the past.
About the Library
About The Minot Public Library
The Minot Public Library serves as a center for information and exploration for the Minot community. Established to foster knowledge, learning, and enrichment, the library offers a range of traditional and state-of-the-art services. By preserving local history and providing access to valuable archives, the library plays a vital role in connecting residents to their heritage.
Partner Story
Mission, Vision, and Core Values
Mission: The Minot Public Library is the center of information and exploration for the community. Vision: The Library will be a leader in both traditional and state-of-the-art library services, be responsive to the diverse interests and needs of residents of all ages, and create productive partnerships within the community and region. Core Values: Connect, Enrich, Inspire The Minot Public Library’s Strategic Plan, revised in 2021, is designed to guide the Library in best serving its patrons and the community at large, with a focus on connecting people with the resources they need to thrive.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Look for the story behind a result
A family name, a familiar street or a story passed down through generations can lead to a closer look at the history of Minot. The digital archive shared by the Minot Public Library offers a place to begin. When using historical newspapers, try alternate spellings and nearby dates, then read the surrounding page to place a local story in its time. Compare later reporting or another available title to explore different perspectives rather than treating one account as the whole story. Search a person, place, or event with a second term, then compare the date and context of each result. A repeated name needs more evidence before it identifies the same person or connects two parts of a story.
After recording the issue and page, search a second term tied to the result and compare the surrounding dates and accounts. Keep matching names provisional until the place and context fit. This can turn one result into a better question without turning a repeated name into a confirmed story.
Capture the title, date, and page or item location for a detail you may want to revisit. Label your interpretation as your reading, not the source's own words. Keep enough context with the note that another reader can retrace it.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Minot Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.
Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.
Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.
Learn about partnerships
Stories, research tips, and archive news
Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.
May 7, 2025
Why Microfilm is still important in 2023
Preserving documents on microfilm has been a popular method of storage for many years, and it still holds many benefits today. Here…
Read article
May 7, 2025
Don’t Search For An Obituary By Only Searching For An “Obituary”
In the quest to trace our roots and understand our heritage, obituaries often serve as a crucial starting point. Obituaries are undoubtedly…
Read article
April 9, 2025
Unveiling the Hidden Mysteries: Exploring Cold Cases and Unconventional Clues
Even the most esteemed police forces in the county encounter perplexing cold case files. These unsolved mysteries often leave investigators and genealogists…
Read article
April 1, 2025
This Week in History: March 31st through April 6th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. This week in history, there is absolutely nothing to talk about… April Fools! April…
Read article
March 24, 2025
This Week in History: March 24th through March 30th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. It has officially been a year since I started writing This Week in History,…
Read article
March 18, 2025
It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?
We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
Read article