INSTITUTE FOR MINNESOTA ARCHAEOLOGY:

The Institute for Minnesota Archaeology (IMA) was founded in May 1982 to conduct archaeological investigations, to promote archaeological awareness especially at the local community level, and to acquire archaeological sites for preservation. It was funded principally through grants by public and private entities and earned income from contracts to conduct archaeological investigations. Although the organization’s primary focus remained Minnesota, it participated in projects in surrounding states, principally Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Illinois. Major work included numerous investigations around Red Wing, Minnesota (Goodhue County) and in adjacent Pierce County, Wisconsin, in Morrison County (Little Falls, Camp Ripley), and at the Bridgehead Site in downtown Minneapolis. It owned the Little Elk Heritage Preserve in rural Morrison County, eventually transferring this site to the Trust for Public Land (successor to the Minnesota Parks Foundation).

The IMA conducted many archaeological field schools, especially in cooperation with the Goodhue and Morrison county historical societies and teacher workshops (for which it developed detailed curriculum materials). It sponsored numerous formal conferences (Historical Archaeology Conference of the Upper Midwest), public awareness activities (Archaeology Days, Archaeology Week, Hamline Digs), and public tours. Through a grant from the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources, it produced a website entitled “Great River/Great Peoples,” centering on archaeology along the Mississippi River.

In 1994 the IMA organized IMA Consulting, Inc. (IMAC) as a business venture to perform contract archaeological work. IMAC contracted with Natural Resources Group (NRG) of Minneapolis to provide cultural resource management to a number of gas pipeline transmission firms (especially Lakehead Pipeline), primarily in Wisconsin and Illinois. This wholly-owned subsidiary of IMA failed to produce the anticipated profits and eventually resulted in litigation between the two organizations. In 1998, IMAC assets were sold to Hemisphere Field Services, Inc. (HFS) and its offshoot, HEM Group, Inc. (HGI). All three of these entities eventually were liquidated. Financial difficulties continued to plague the organization. In January 2003 it voted to dissolve after disposing of its remaining assets.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Access Restrictions:

Access to and use of the Reports of Investigations requires the archaeology director's permission. Please consult the reference staff for more information.

Portions of this collection are located off site in Remote Storage. Advance arrangements are required in order to view its contents. Please consult the reference staff for more information.

Preferred Citation:

(Indicate the cited item and/or series here). Institute for Minnesota Archaeology. Institute records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 16,396; 17,079; 17,502; 17,734

Processing Information:

Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Catalog ID number: 990073387360104294

Additions by: David B. Peterson, January 2016, November 2017, and October 2023.

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Location

Box

123.D.13.1B

1

History of the organization by Rhoda Gilman, circa 2006:

Includes a chronology and an interpretive assessment.

Twenty Years of IMA Initiatives, 1982-2002

The Institute for Minnesota Archaeology: Looking at the Questions, the Story, and the Records

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ACCESS RESTRICTED

Reports of archaeological investigations conducted at sites located principally in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. Many of the investigations were conducted at the behest of the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office. Especially numerous are investigations done for pipeline companies, and investigations conducted in connection with proposed residential developments that had the potential to threaten Native American burial mounds. Files typically include correspondence and memoranda, maps, photographs, field notes, and final reports produced by the Institute at the conclusion of the project. Some reports are missing from the set.

Reports are filed numerically by number and are organized chronologically by year. Researchers should use the Reports of Investigations list to access the reports.

Location

Box

309.Y.6.8F

11

Reports of investigations list, undated.

List gives the report number, the authors of the reports, a descriptive title of each project, the year, and the county and state or foreign country in which the investigation was conducted.

Digital version

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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:

Excavations (Archaeology) -- Minnesota.

Mounds--Minnesota.

Natural gas pipeines.

Petroleum pipelines.

Persons:

Birk, Douglas A. (Douglas Arthur), 1943- , author.

Breakey, Kim C., author.

Dobbs, Clark Alan, author.

Gilman, Rhoda R., author.

Johnson, Craig M., author.

Nodland, Beth, author.

Ward, Jeanne A., author.

Wendt, Dan, author.

Organizations:

Hemisphere Field Services, Inc., author

Hemisphere Group, Inc., author.

IMA Consulting, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.), author.

Minnesota Historical Society. State Historic Preservation Office.

Places:

Camp Ripley (Minn.).

Document Types:

Color slides.

Photographs.

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