This page attempts to catalog research materials related to electric railways and streetcars in Minnesota. Note that some of these materials are designed for use by historical researchers and may not be written or organized in a way that most clearly tells the story of electric railways or streetcars in Minnesota and often include extraordinarily detailed information. If you’re looking for a more general overview of streetcars in Minnesota you may want to check out some of our other historic resources pages including books, publications, and presentations.

You may also contact the archivist and curator of the museum, Aaron Isaacs, for more information.

Useful Resources On Other Site Pages

• Our Publications and Books page includes links to several books and special publications which have been published by the museum over the years. Of particular note is the Electric Railways of Minnesota (“ERM”) book which is available online and is perhaps the preeminent published history of electric railways and streetcars in Minnesota.
• The Minnesota Transportation Museum Minnegazettes started as a museum newsletter but grew to include detailed articles on a variety of historic articles and photographs beginning in 1981, greatly expanding history coverage in 1990, and becoming nearly entirely history oriented in 2005.
• The Twin City Lines quarterly publication is the successor to the Minnegazettes from 2007 onward. Each issue typically covers one or more detailed history topics on electric railways and/or streetcars in Minnesota. Current issues are mailed to members quarterly, online access opens up about two years after each issue is published.
• Historic maps have been posted to the website as well. Additional maps and track details are frequently found in other publications and books mentioned above.
• Historic photos from our collection are also available online. Additional photos not available online as well as a searchable photo database are available by contacting our museum archivist and curator.
• Videos about various aspects of the streetcar system including digitized vintage film are also available.

Russell L. Olson Research Papers

Scanned copies of the research files of Russell L. Olson held by the Minnesota Streetcar Museum related to electric railways and streetcars in Minnesota have been posted to the Internet Archive. These were primarily collected in the research for the Electric Railways of Minnesota book but have been updated through about 2009 as additional primary sources were found.

This item includes 48 large PDF files, each PDF file in this item is the contents of one binder of research. The physical binders are held in the collection of the Minnesota Streetcar Museum in Minneapolis, MN.

Physical Holdings

The Minnesota Streetcar Museum has a variety of physical holdings located in Minneapolis, MN that may be of interest to historical researchers. These include:

• The Russell L. Olson research papers in their original physical form
• Original valuation reports of the Twin City Rapid Transit Company
• Builders prints for some aspects of some of the TCRT streetcars
• Books related to streetcars and electric railways in Minnesota and other parts of the country
• A variety of physical artifacts including TCRT signage, station photo collages, stamps, employee record cards, and more

Access to the MSM Russell L. Olson Library is by appointment only. Contact the archivist and curator of the museum, Aaron Isaacs, for more information.