MNopedia: The Minnesota Encyclopedia

MNopedia is an award-winning online encyclopedia of Minnesota created by MNHS, designed for use by a general audience, teachers, and students. In 2015, the MNopedia library grew to include essays on Hmong, African American, and Jewish history, and articles on topics as diverse as Minnesota in World War I, immigration to the Iron Range, Dayton's department store, and the Grange in Minnesota. A new feature, This Day in Minnesota History, a Minnesota book of days, was added. The online newspaper MinnPost published MNopedia articles weekly. MNopedia partnered with the MNHS's Press, Education, and Public Programs departments to actively reach out to 7,800 visitors at 28 events, including visits to historic sites, History Center public programs, teacher workshops, and the Minnesota Library Association and Minnesota Educator Academy conferences. MNopedia's return visitation has increased by 4.9 percent for the period Jan. 1-Nov. 15, 2015, over the same period the previous year, while still reaching a high percentage of new users. MNopedia is commissioning new content on American Indian topics and overviews of Indian Americans and Latinos in Minnesota. Plans are being made to add the Minnesota Place Names database to MNopedia in 2016.