Iron Range Research Center Photograph Collections

Holdings of the Iron Range Research Center (IRRC) Archives include over 2,000 photographic collections containing more than 150,000 Iron Range images dating from the late 1800’s to the present. Collection subjects include but, are not limited to, agriculture, architecture, business and businesses, community life, immigration, industry, logging, mining, people, schools, and main street scenes.

In the past collections were accessioned and organized by donor. The IRRC’s in-house photographic lab then copied collections on black & white or color transparency film and made copy negatives of the original photographs. Contact sheets of the negatives were produced, then each collection was assigned an accession number, and each negative an individual negative number. 

Collections are still accessioned and organized by donor. Today however, photographs are electronically scanned. Every collection receives an accession number and all photographs an individual image number. Digital surrogates are created and assigned a unique 8-digit ISO number, cataloged, and uploaded to a PastPerfect photographic database for more efficient collection wide identification, access and retrieval. 

The in-house photographic digitization lab is equipped to conduct custom digitization, reprinting and presentation of black & white or color photographs.

Photographic Collection Access and Usage

Currently the IRRC’s Photographic Collections can only be accessed on site by prior arrangement with the Photo Archivist. If neither you nor your representative are able to conduct research at the IRRC, our staff does offer custom research services. The charge for custom research is $30 per hour, billable in half-hour increments, with a minimum charge of $15.00.  

Because photographs are covered by U.S. copyright law, and each collection may have its own additional set of rights and restrictions stipulated in the original donation agreement, some collections can be accessed and viewed only. Other collections can be accessed and reproduced for private or public use in research, publications, or advertising. As a result, material from the collections to be used for publication or commercial purposes, regardless the format of the image delivered, is governed by our Historical Materials License Agreement. Please consult the Photo Archivist in regards to specific photographic collections to see what conditions apply.

Click Here for detailed pricing and contact information.