A great place to start would be the Minnesota Historical Society they should be able to help you out.

Good Luck!
R

I would search out libraries with special collections that include primary source material from Minnesota in 1870. The Minnesota Historical Society can also provide a lot of leads, but those leads will likely be through libraries or museums.

thank you Robhaya and Godfather—I should have included in my question, that I have already found the Minnesota Historical Society to be very useful, but wanted to dig further. I thought someone might have other leads for me. Perhaps personal histories, memoirs that haven’t been published or which might be nearly impossible to find by the usual search…

I’ve been reading the memoirs of a Minnesota farmer from the turn of the century—have to get back further, though. Even info from 1850 would be useful. Anyway, I really appreciate your answers.

@ thegodfather: do you know of any special collections not referenced by the Minnesota Historical Society?

Specifically what I’m looking for are details of everyday life in the 1800s in agriculture communities of Minnesota.

Curators usually have interest in local histories, so I’d at least give the University of Minnesota’s library special collections a try:

http://special.lib.umn.edu/rare/

You can always call or email the curator for leads; they have their phone numbers listed on the special collections web page. If you’re a student, many times your school will provide you with access through their library to other libraries across the country, and if they’ve digitized their special collections, you could go that route which certainly cuts down on research time. Hope this helps.