In 1989, Dr. Rouse Farnham, a retired soil science professor at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, donated his personal peat collection, consisting of thousands of books, technical reports, conference proceedings, journal articles, maps, and more, to the Natural Resources Library at the Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth. To promote the collection, a press release was sent to WDIO TV in Duluth. WDIO TV produced this video from the press release and an oral interview with the addition of peat-related content from the TV station’s archives.
Video of interview: peat collection
An author bibliography and a subject index to the peat collection, by John H. Sandy (and others), was prepared for print and digital access to materials in the collection.
For digital access:
Author Catalog of the Peat Research Collection at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Alt title: The Farnham Peat Collection: Author Catalog of the Peat Research Materials in the Natural Resources Library
For access to print copies:
The University on Minnesota Twin Cities. Magrath Library.
Print copies of the author catalog and subject catalog are also held by the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library in St. Paul, Minnesota, the DNR Library, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, St. Paul, Minnesota, and the National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, Maryland.
Print copies of the author catalog, only, are found in the libraries of Bemidji State University, St. Cloud State University, University of Wisconsin Madison, North Dakota State University, and Washington State University.
However, the current status of the Farnham Peat Collection at the University of Minnesota Duluth is unclear. As an example of this, the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) and its parent, the University of Minnesota Duluth, do not have a print copy of the author catalog or the subject catalog.
At some point after 1991, the Natural Resources Library at NRRI was closed. The materials in the Farnham Peat Collection were transferred to the main library of the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). After the transfer was completed, UMD librarians wrote a report (NRRI Peat Collection: Evaluating a Working Research Collection (umn.edu) explaining how the collection was handled by the UMD library. The report shows the steps taken to evaluate the peat collection. The report indicates that the UMD Library chose not to keep the Farnham Peat Collection intact, preserve its integrity, as a special research collection. The report further shows that many research documents in the Farnham Peat Collection were dispersed to other libraries, and in some cases, thrown in the trash.
The Farnham Peat Collection has immense value for peat research, trade, and commerce. For more information about documents in the Farnham Peat Collection, which still remain in Duluth, contact the Kathryn A. Martin Library on the Campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth: phone 218-726-8102. email: lib@d.umn.edu
