NORTHWEST BANCORPORATION:

Northwest Bancorporation ("Banco"), a Minneapolis-based bank holding company, was organized in 1929 by executives of the Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis. Conceived as a "group banking" organization, each member bank exchanged its stock for stock in the holding company. Each bank retained its unit structure and continued to operate on a local basis, with its own board of directors. The holding company was expected to provide specialized services that the member banks usually could not provide for themselves, and would sell stock to the public, with the proceeds used to protect member banks from adverse economic conditions.

Original member banks included Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis; First National Bank and Trust Company of Fargo, North Dakota; and the First National Bank of Mason City, Iowa. By early 1930 there were 105 affiliated banks located in 84 towns and cities in eight states. In 1983 Northwest Bancorporation included 86 commercial banks in seven states: Minnesota, Montana, Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Banco had other subsidiaries engaged in leasing, mortgage banking, insurance, trust management, commercial financing, agricultural lending, and international banking. It also owned Northwest Growth Fund, Inc., a small business investment company.

Northwest Bancorporation's flagship bank, Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis, was founded in 1872. The Minnesota Loan and Trust Company was organized in Minneapolis in 1883, became affiliated with the Northwestern National Bank in 1909, and was formally merged into Northwestern National Bank in 1934. Northwest Bancorporation became Norwest Corporation in 1983. In 1998 a merger between Norwest, then the nation's 12th-largest bank holding company, and Wells Fargo Bank, San Francisco, was in progress.

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Includes minute books, stock ledgers, journals and cash books, bank histories, subject files, biographies, financial information, newspaper clippings, promotion and exhibits scrapbooks, press releases, advertising material, and photographs.

The bulk of the material relates to the Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis. There is information about company history and anniversaries, branch offices, officers and employees, a Northwestern women employees' organization, the bank's trust department, community and other events and promotions, and advertising and publicity. There are photographs of and other information about Northwestern's 1930 headquarters building in downtown Minneapolis.

There is information about other affiliated/member banks, the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company, the Minneapolis Clearing House Association, and several non-bank companies.

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These records are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Northwest Bancorporation Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 13,874; 15,338; 16,695

Processing Information:

Processed by: Bonnie Palmquist, October 1987.

Additions by: David B. Peterson, September 1998; Jennifer Huebscher, June 2011; David B. Peterson, September 2012.

Catalog ID number: 990017349510104294

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Files include some historical material, newspaper clippings, and photographs.

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The Minneapolis Clearing House Association was formed in 1880. It acted as a clearinghouse for checks, employed a staff of examiners to audit member banks, and tried to regulate banking practices.

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Photographs and Negatives:

Films:

Sound:

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Annual reports and newsletters from Northwest Bancorporation, Minnesota Loan and Trust Company, Norwest Corporation, and Norwest Bank Minneapolis are in the Minnesota Historical Society serials collection.

Records of the Covered Wagon Club, an informal group of employees with at least 20 years of service with Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis and its affiliates, are in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Bank holding companies -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Banks and banking -- Iowa.

Banks and banking -- Minnesota.

Banks and banking -- Montana.

Banks and banking -- Nebraska.

Banks and banking -- North Dakota.

Banks and banking -- South Dakota.

Banks and banking -- Wisconsin.

Clearinghouses (Banking) -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Festivals -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Women -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis -- Societies and clubs.

Place:

Northwestern National Bank Building (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Organizations:

Minneapolis Clearing House Association (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company.

Minnesota Loan and Trust Company.

Northern Farms Company (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Northwestern National Bank (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Norwest Corporation.

Sheldon Brothers Company (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Union Realty Company (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Types of Documentation:

Photographs.

Press releases.

Scrapbooks.

Occupation:

Bankers.

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