The Hill Library Manuscript Services department houses nationally significant collections that focus on the history of business in the United States. The Library maintains and conserves the James J. Hill, Louis W. Hill, Maud Van Cortlandt Taylor Hill, Reed/Hyde Family, and other papers, while actively seeking additional manuscript collections.

GRANTS PROGRAM
Each year, the Hill Library sponsors the Hill Research Grants program, an international competition open to scholars whose projects require substantive use of the manuscript collections at the Hill Library. Click here for more information and to apply.

ABOUT THE HILL MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION

James J. Hill Papers: (1856-1916) Hill wrote constantly, inquiring about everything from railroading to settlement. Remarkably well preserved and comprehensive, James J. Hill's Papers are among the most complete business and private papers of any major American industrialist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Louis W. Hill Papers: (1886-1948) The Louis W. Hill Papers document many of the same subjects as those of his father. Beyond that, Louis Hill was involved in the development of Minnesota's iron mining industry, as well as the creation of Glacier National Park and the related tourist industry. His papers and those of his spouse, Maud Van Cortlandt Taylor Hill, also detail social and cultural activities from the Gilded Age to the post World War II era.

Maud Van Cortlandt Taylor Hill Papers: (1870-1961) The Maud Hill Papers document varied aspects of society from the Gilded Age to the post World War II years. Letters detail family life and child rearing, social rituals, entertainment, fashion, the arts, travel, philanthropy, religion and upper class attitudes.

Reed/Hyde Family Papers: (1853-1960) The Reed/Hyde Family Papers document the business activities, family, and social lives of four generations. Samuel Reed was a civil engineer best known for his surveying and construction work on the Union Pacific Railroad, which in 1869 became the nation's first transcontinental line. Other family members were involved in farming, milling, mining, and many other activities in the Upper Midwest and elsewhere.