Scope and Contents: The collection contains personal and financial correspondence, letterpress books, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, manuscripts written about local and family history, financial records, legal papers, maps, photographs, one audio cassette of an interview, and reference materials.
Most of the records pertain to Leodnidas, Alfred, and Andrus Merritt; other family members that are also well-represented in the collection include Alva, Cassius, Elizabeth (Wheeler), Hephzibah, Hulett C., John E., Leondias' children Ruth, Lucien, and Harry, Lewis H., Lewis J., Lucien F., Napoleon B. and T. H. "Bert" Merritt. There is little material on Jerome Merritt. The body of the collection covers the activities of the Merritts in Minnesota from their arrival in Oneota to approximately 1930.
Leonidas Merritt, probably the most prominent member of the family, is the central figure of these records and the collection has been constructed around that precept. While the collection represents the most comprehensive single group of records about the Merritt Family, there are some noticeable gaps in the correspondence and of the information contained in this collection about the Merritts, northeastern Minnesota, and early iron ore exploration.
Little remains known about the provenance of the portions of the collection that were donated to the St. Louis County Historical Society, and some records, particularly financial journals and ledgers, remain unidentifiable. Other records were donated to the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center.
The collection has been divided into the following series:
Personal Records
Letterpress Books
Financial Records
Legal Papers
Maps
Rockefeller materials
Photographs
Northeast Minnesota Historical Center records
See On-line Images/Records for more information
Merritt family papers
| Archives and Special Collections, Kathryn A. Martin Library, University of Minnesota Duluth
Subjects (links to similar collections)
