Elmer L. Anderson Library
222 21st Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
United States
Additional Details
Andersen Library Cavern and Archive Tour
Confluence Members are invited to our fall Confluence Event: Cavern and Archive Tour at Andersen Library on November 18th. This unique University of Minnesota Library is home to the University's Archives and Special Collections Department, and the evening will be co-led by Rebecca Toov, Collections Archivist at Andersen Library.
The event will start with a charcuterie spread and treats by the St Paul Cheese Shop, along with a selection of non-alcoholic beverages procured from Marigold. We will then have a private viewing of historical Weisman artifacts dating back to when WAM was the University Art Gallery, housed at Northrop. The evening will also include a true behind-the-scenes moment during a tour of Andersen Library’s enormous underground caverns, where they house their collection.
More about the Caverns! The two enormous caverns, each two stories high and the length of two football fields, lie below a 30-foot layer of limestone plus an additional 30 feet of topsoil, clay, and gravel. The solid limestone serves both as the structural roof of the caverns and the foundation for the Andersen Library building above. Read more here.
This event is FREE for all Confluence Members, RSVP required. Eligible Confluence Members will receive an invite four weeks in advance. If you haven’t received your invitation or would like to learn more about joining at the Confluence level, please email us at [email protected] or visit our Membership Page. We look forward to hearing from you!
WAM Photography and Video policy: To help us promote future events and programs, WAM visitors may be photographed or recorded during museum events or in the exhibition galleries. By attending the Weisman's events and programs, you consent to appear in this documentation and to its future use by the museum. Please let staff know upon arrival if you prefer not to be photographed or otherwise recorded.
Image credit: Image composite including photographs of Elmer L. Anderson library, schematic drawing from article by Andy Sturdevant for Minnpost and stacks at the UMN Collections Facility located in Saint Paul, Minnesota (NOT the Anderson Library cavern) by Adria Carpenter for University of Minnesota Libraries.
Rebecca Toov is the Collections Archivist at the University of Minnesota Archives, where she preserves, processes, and provides access to the historical records of the University of Minnesota.
She received her M.S. with a focus in Museum Studies from the UMN College of Continuing and Professional Studies in 2012. Her thesis, “From Experiment to Experienced: The Cultivation of a Gallery – and a Curator – at the University of Minnesota,” a case study of the practices of Ruth Lawrence, the first permanent full-time curator/director of WAM, was inspired by her role as Exhibition and Archival Processing Intern at the museum from 2010-2012 where she worked on The WAM Files project, an archival processing collaboration between WAM and UMN Archives.
Toov also previously worked at the Weisman Art Museum as Visitor Services Assistant, was a member of the WAM Collective, served as student representative on the Colleagues Advisory Board, and co-curated the 2012 WAM exhibit: The WAM Files: The Art of the Archives. In her current role, Toov regularly collaborates with WAM staff to provide access to records that document the museum's historical exhibitions and programming as well as manage new donations to the Weisman Art Museum records preserved at UMN Archives.
The Elmer L. Andersen Library is uniquely suited to the task of preserving the records of human thought and achievement for the citizens of Minnesota. They store over 1.5 million volumes of books, manuscripts, illustrations and artifacts, protected and preserved for posterity. The practical realization of Governor Andersen's vision of the "fourth mission" of the University, the Elmer L. Andersen Library preserves, maintains, and passes on to future generations the raw materials for research and discovery.
