Minneapolis

Libraries and Museums

The Minneapolis Public Library operates a central library downtown, 14 neighborhood branches, and one book-mobile. In addition, its Municipal Information Library, housed in City Hall, has two-and-a-half million items, including 2,800 periodical subscriptions; its Central Library has the largest collection in the state. The library system had some 400,000 registered borrowers in 1997, who checked out approximately two-and-a-half million books and other items.

The Twin Cities houses several major art collections and more than 50 art galleries. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts houses a collection of over 85,000 art objects, including an excellent Impressionist display and a world-famous Rembrandt painting, and numerous works by nineteenth-and twentieth-century European and American painters. The Walker Art Center is well known for the quality of its contemporary art collection, as well as its presentation of innovative performance programs. The University of Minnesota's Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum houses a mostly modern collection in a dramatic contemporary riverfront building designed by architect Frank Gehry.

The Minnesota History Center in St. Paul displays all things Minnesotan—from the mysteries of grain silo operation to facets of the state's multi-cultural past. Also located in St. Paul are the Science Museum of Minnesota and Minnesota Children's Museum. Specialty museums in Minneapolis include the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History, the American Swedish Institute, and the Bakken Library and Museum of Electricity in Life.