Maple Lake Library Archives
Our mission is to create, collect, store and preserve the history of Maple Lake and its surrounding townships. The Maple Lake Library Archives provides information for community members to research their family history or town history.
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Our archival area has a reference bookcase which contains books on Maple Lake and Wright County history, a collection of Maple Lake yearbooks, plat maps, local recipe books, local authors’ books, family histories, a collection of articles on Maple Lake history prior to 1950, and photo albums donated from the elementary school. The black boxes located on the shelves have copies of obituaries and marriage announcements. We can also print copies of photos from our collections.
Pat Hamilton, granddaughter of
Maple Lake Messenger’s first
publisher Frank T. Hamilton, donated a copy of the first edition
of the Messenger.
The archival computer is a research tool that has over 26,00 entries. Most items are hyperlinked on this computer. The archival index contains articles on business, family, church, sports, recreation, organizations and school news. The Maple Lake Messenger's articles have been scanned from 1950 to current issues and are located on this computer. There is also a collection of birth and death records indexed and scanned from Maple Lake village and Albion Township.
As of January 2021 We have cataloged over 6,900 obituaries, 1,700 marriage announcements, and 3,500 photos. The library archivist will be glad to answer any questions you might have and help you with your research.
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The Maple Lake Library Archives requests the community's help. You hold the key to hidden treasures.
1. We would like to expand our collection of photos. History is what happened yesterday. Photos of families, organizations, businesses, farms, town celebrations etc. They should be labeled and dated.
2. We are currently looking for photos of inside or outside of businesses from 1900's to 1980's.
3. We have no copies of the Maple Messenger before May of 1950. If you have news articles of interest, family obituaries, or marriage announcements before 1950, we would love to include them in our archives.
4. If you have completed a family history and would be willing to share, it can be copied and put in the archives.
5. Small items that should be preserved.
Example: St. Patrick's Day buttons, business premiums, or post cards that feature Maple Lake.
6. If you are interested in volunteering a few hours a month, fill out the Volunteer form by clicking the link below. Or call the library at 320-963-2009.