MCKNIGHT FOUNDATION:

An Inventory of Its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society

Manuscripts Collection

Part or all of this collection is restricted.
For details, please see restrictions.

OVERVIEW


	Creator:	McKnight Foundation, creator.
	Title:	McKnight Foundation records.
	Dates:	1957-2011 (bulk 1974-2011).
	Language:	Materials in English.
	Abstract:	Historical and program files of the McKnight Foundation, a Minneapolis-based family foundation established in 1953 by William L. McKnight and his wife Maude that made grants to programs focusing on children and youth, the region and communities, the environment, the arts, and neuroscience research. Materials include memoranda, directors' meetings materials, brochures and reports, planning documents, program descriptions, program guidelines, news clippings, photographs, video recordings, and audio recordings and transcripts of oral history interviews with early leaders of the Foundation.
	Quantity:	2.8 cubic feet (3 boxes), 2 master video files: MOV (16 GB), 2 user video files: MP4 (5.4 GB), 4 master audio files: WAV (3.4 GB), and 4 user audio files: MP3 (619 MB).
	Location:	Remote Storage: See Detailed Description for shelf locations.

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Access Restrictions:

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

Until January 27, 2034 access to the collection requires written permission.

Due to copyright and written permission requirement restrictions, the audiovisual recordings in this collection are not available online. Please consult the reference staff for more information.

Annual reports, news releases, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, commonly available publications, and like material of a public nature are excluded from this restriction. Researchers wishing to see restricted materials must apply in writing for that permission. Please consult the reference staff for more information.

Use Restrictions:

Until January 27, 2034, quotation or publication beyond the fair use provisions of the copyright law requires written permission.

Annual reports, news releases, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, commonly available publications, and like material of a public nature are excluded from this restriction. For further information concerning copyright status and/or permission to publish, please consult the reference staff.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. McKnight Foundation. McKnight Foundation records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 16,757

Location of Master Files:

Digital masters of the audiovisual material are maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.

The original audiocassettes and videocassettes were disposed after the material was digitally reformatted into mov and wav files.

Processing Information:

Legacy Amendment logo

Processed by: David B. Peterson, June 2013

Digitization and encoding by April Rodriguez, June 3, 2022.

Digital audio of the oral history interview conducted by Susan Mundale was transferred from master audiocassettes by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes (June 2022).

Digital video transferred from master videocassettes material by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes (June 2022).

Digitization was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.

Catalog ID number: 990076941970104294

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION


Location	Box
305.E.15.6F	1	McKnight Foundation historical materials:
			Compilations of documents and background materials, oral history interviews, biographical data, reports, clippings, and other items documenting the history and programs of the Foundation and the lives of its founders and principal officers.
			The McKnight notebook, 2006. 6 folders.
				A compilation of historical data on the Foundation and its mission, board of directors, administration, grant programs, and finances.
			Lessons from effective philanthropy, February 1988. 4 folders.
				A report to the board of directors of the McKnight Foundation by Jeanne L. Campbell and Michael Quinn Patton on three major programs: the Minneapolis/St. Paul Family Housing Fund, the Lowertown Redevelopment Corporation, and the McKnight Programs in Higher Education in Florida.
			Foundation priorities, 1991-1994.
			Key interviews for McKnight history, 1993-2005.
				Summaries/synopses of interviews with Foundation staff, affiliates, friends.
			Family interviews and key documents, 2003.
				Interview synopses, notes, photocopies of articles, and miscellany.
			3M/William L. McKnight historical data, 1978-2008. 2 folders.
			Scenes W. L. McKnight knew in his boyhood, 1957. 1 volume.
				Photograph album.
Location
Internet			Oral history interviews:
				RESTRICTED.
				Note: Interviewer has trouble with recording equipment, there are intermittent audio drop outs and loud sounds.
				Virginia McKnight Binger, March 1993. 1 master audio file (1 hour, 46 minutes): WAV (538 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (97.3 MB).
					Part one of the interview takes place on March 23rd, part two takes place at an unknown date and includes former McKnight Foundation employee Marilyn Pidany.
				James H. Binger, March 23, 1993. 1 master audio file (1 hour, 33 minutes): WAV (469 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (82.6 MB).
					Recording ends abruptly.
				Russell V. Ewald, 1993. 1 master audio file (5 hours, 41 minutes): WAV (1.6 GB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (304 MB).
					00:00:00-02:16:12 March 17 and March 29, 1993.
					02:16:12-03:44:56 April 1, 1993.
					03:44:56-05:41:16 June 21, 1993.
				Marilyn Pidany, 1993. 1 master audio file (2 hours, 38 minutes): WAV (775 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (137 MB).
Location	Box
305.E.15.6F	1			Michael O'Keefe: Transcripts and notes, 1994-1999.
			McKnight family biographical miscellany. 1978-2003.
			Directors meeting, April 2-3, 1976. 9 folders.
				Agenda items for this meeting, including data on Foundation finances, grant programs, grant requests, grant commitments, and investment and grant-making policies.
Location	Box
305.E.15.7F	2		President's report, 1976-1991.
				Photocopies from each year's Foundation annual report.
			McKnight Foundation miscellany, 1974-2004. 2 folders.
				Articles, memoranda, and other documents.


		McKnight Foundation programs:
			Grant making policies and procedures brochures, undated and 1992-2001.
			Arts program:
				Guidelines for grant applicants brochures, undated.
				Evaluation of arts funding plan, 1983-1989.
					Formal evaluations of the Foundation's arts funding plan (Michael Washburn & Associates, May 1983) and of its regional arts councils components (Dianne Brennan, April 1983), with related memos (1984, 1989).
				Memos and planning documents, circa 1989.
				Arts funding plan evaluation, 1989-1990.
					Evaluation of the Arts Funding Plan final draft, by Patricia Davis et al. (February 1990), with related memos and planning documents.
				Arts presentation overheads, February 1990.
				New funding plan, 1990.
				Program guidelines, planning memos and reports, 1992-1995. 2 folders.
				Literature, 1994-1995.
					Two reports to the Foundation on the field of literature in Minnesota.
				Music in Minnesota: a report to the McKnight Foundation by Carol L. Heen, September 15, 1994.
				Visual arts, October 1994.
					Two typescript reports to the Foundation by Vince Leo.
				McKnight Artist Fellowships brochures, 1997-2002.
				McKnight Foundation website communications proposal, 2000. 1 volume.
				Minnesota Artists Online, 2001-2003.
					Planning documents, project descriptions, terms of use, and related memos.
				Distinguished artist, 1998-2011. 5 folders.
					One pamphlet per year, with information on the biography and works of that year's winner of the Foundation's Distinguished Artist Award.
				Art in the suburbs, 2002-2005.
					2 Foundation pamphlets: A new angle: arts development in the suburbs (2002) and You are here: exploring art in the suburbs (2005).
				Dance community gathering, May 13, 2005. 1 volume.
					A compilation of notes and summaries of this Day of Conversation sponsored by the Foundation.
				Miscellany, undated and 1990-2005. 2 folders.
					Includes miscellaneous notes, planning items, the pamphlet, Bright stars: charting the impact of the arts in rural Minnesota (2005), and a brochure, State of the arts (undated).
			Awards in Human Service, 1994-2011. 4 folders.
				One pamphlet per year, providing information on the winners (10 per year) of this Foundation award. After the first year, they were titled The Virginia McKnight Binger Awards in Human Service.
			Children and families programs:
				Aid to families in poverty: Program descriptions and evaluations, 1991-1993.
				Family loan program: Program descriptions and evaluations, 1995. 1 folder.
Location
Internet				The Family Loan Program: Moving Toward Self-Sufficiency, 1995. 1 master video file (17 minutes, 54 seconds): MOV (4 GB) and 1 user video file: MP4 (1.3 GB).
					RESTRICTED.
Location	Box
305.E.15.7F	2			Housing: Planning memos and documents, 1991-1995.
Location	Box
305.E.15.8F	3			Children, families, and communities program overview, June 2000. 1 volume.
				Miscellany, 1991-1995.
					Planning memos for initiatives in child care, child abuse, literacy, school reforms, legal services for women, social ministries, summer youth programs.
			Eating disorders program, 1992-2000.
				Report, The McKnight Foundation program for research and training in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of eating disorders (May 1994); final report, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/McKnight Foundation Task Force on Eating Disorders (May 1996); related memos (1992-1993); videotape of Nova (television) program, Dying to be thin, with teacher's guide (2000).
Location
Internet				Dying to be thin, 2000. 1 master video file (57 minutes, 49 seconds): MOV (12.2 GB) and 1 user video file: MP4 (4.1 GB).
					RESTRICTED: In copyright.
Location	Box
305.E.15.8F	3		Economic development, 1994-circa 2000.
				Planning memo (February 1994); final report, An evaluation of the Minneapolis neighborhood revitalization program, funded by the Foundation (January 1995); white paper, A new economy strategy for the Twin Cities region (circa 2000).
			Environment program:
				Embrace open space: Project brochures and evaluations, circa 2001-2005.
				Mississippi River, 1993-2008. 2 folders.
					Grant applicant guidelines for projects to protect and restore the environmental health of the Mississippi River and riverside communities; a Foundation report, The Mississippi River in the Upper Midwest: its economy, ecology, and management (1996); a user's guide to the National Research Council's 2008 report on Mississippi River water quality, produced by the Foundation.
				Miscellaneous printed materials, 1995-2004.
					Grant applicant guidelines; planning memos (1995); The great waters report: a review of six major watershed initiatives in the United States (February 1998, commissioned to support the Foundation's grant making); pamphlet, Defining WE in environmental advocacy (July 2004, supported by the Foundation).
			International projects:
				Miscellany: Grant-making planning memos, 1976-1992.
				Collaborative crop research program, 1993-circa 2000.
					Program descriptions, application guidelines, program review (1999).
			Minnesota Initiative Funds, 1991-1996.
				Planning memo (1991), program description (undated), report, The growth of regional economic centers in Greater Minnesota (1996, commissioned by the Foundation).
			Neuroscience program:
				1991 Scholars awards committee, 1991.
					Descriptions of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience; application guidelines; information on research project applicants and awardees.
				Fitzsimmons, Stephen J., and Oren Grad. An evaluation of the McKnight Foundation neuroscience program, May 1994. 1 volume.
				2005 Conference brochure, 2005.
				Strobel, Gabrielle. Research funding in neuroscience: a profile of the McKnight Endowment Fund. Amsterdam; Boston: Elsevier Academic Press, 2007. 1 volume.
			Welfare to Work program:
				Progress report, March 2000. 2 volumes.
					Summary and full report, prepared by the Wilder Research Center.
				Filling the gaps in welfare reform: the Minnesota welfare-to-work partnerships initiative, August 2001. 1 volume.
					Final report to the McKnight Foundation, by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.
				Newsletters, 1998-2002.
				Miscellaneous printed materials, 1998-1999.
					The McKnight Foundation welfare reform initiative workshop on operating a loan or grant program for job retention (January 1998); Early lessons from the Minnesota welfare to work partnership: an interim report to the McKnight Foundation (February 1999).
				Clippings, 1997-1999. 2 folders.
					[.20 cubic feet empty, letter sized]

CATALOG HEADINGS

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:: Charities -- Minnesota.; Endowments -- Minnesota.; Family foundations -- Minnesota.; Philanthropists -- Minnesota.

Persons:: McKnight, William L. (William Lester), 1887-1978.

Document Types:: Oral histories (document genres); Photographs.; Sound recordings.; Video recordings (physical artifacts).

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