New Library Materials
Items added during: May 2025
Contents:
Information Extra
Collection Close-up: Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia, by Warren Upham [print]
The names of places, the names that people give to the land, the rivers, the towns, and the cities, contain miniature history lessons, stories wrapped up in a few words. Naming a place is a way of connecting to it and making it more familiar. An important aspect of identity, place names honor the past, telling who came before us, and they speak to the future, telling of our hopes and ambitions. And sometimes, they're simply products of our whimsy.
From Big Bird Lake to Cucumber Island, Big Stone to Wanamingo, Puposky Township to the Zumbro River, thousands of discoveries await the reader of Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. This classic book tells the stories behind more than 20,000 names of the towns and cities, townships and counties, lakes and rivers of the North Star state.
This comprehensive volume is a browser's delight and a rich reference for historians, linguists, geographers, folklorists, genealogists, and those interested in the origin of place names. It includes tales for such curious place names as Embarrass and Sleepy Eye, Bemidji and Climax, the Rum River and Man Trap Lake. Did you know that the Rat Root River was named for the roots that fed muskrats that populated its banks, or that Winona is the Dakota word for "first-born daughter"?
Published originally in 1920 as the culmination of Warren Upham's lifetime of collecting Minnesota minutiae, this book is a remarkable achievement and classic of Minnesota history. For this revised edition, the staff of the Minnesota Historical Society combed recent literature and databases to update entries and add new names.
In this handsome new edition, Minnesota Place Names captures much of the lost lore of familiar places and of towns that have disappeared—and of the people who made the state what it is today.
Transportation Research Record
TRB’s journal Transportation Research Record is now published in digital-only format. Full text is available to MnDOT employees. Check out new articles or sign up for an alert at Transportation Research Record.
How to Request Listed Resources
To request an item below, please fill out the Ask a Librarian form. Each listing links to a digital copy if available.
ASPHALT
Synthesis of Seal Coat Research in Minnesota
TE270 .M37 2024
CONNECTED AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
goMARTI: MnDOT final report
TL152.8 .G6 2025
Minnesota Governor's Council on Connected and Automated Vehicles 2024 annual report
CONSTRUCTION
Open-book Pricing Practices for Construction Manager/General Contractor and Progressive Design-Build Projects
NCHRP SYN 653
COST ESTIMATING
Heavy Construction Costs with RSMeans Data 2025
TH435 .H43x 2025
Electrical Costs with RSMeans data 2025
TK435 .E43x 2025
Building Construction Costs with RSMeans data 2025
TH435 .B84x 2025
Mechanical Costs with RSMeans data 2025
TH435 .M43x 2025
GEOGRAPHY
Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia
F604 .U66 2001
GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
Geotechnical Depth Practice Exams for the Civil PE Exam
TA705 .W65 2022
PE Civil: Geotechnical Practice Exam
TA705 .N38 2023
Six-minute Solutions for Civil PE exam: Geotechnical Depth Problems
TA705 .W65 2019
GRAVEL ROADS
Best practices for dust control in Minnesota
TE220.63 .M37 2024
PEDESTRIAN FACILITIES
Assessing the Deterioration of Pedestrian Assets
HE336.P43 N54 2025
PRESERVATION
Preparing Successful No-effect and No-adverse-effect Section 106 Determinations: A Handbook for Transportation Cultural Resource Practitioners
NCHRP 1133
RIGHT OF WAY
Value of Dedicated Right-of-Way: Transit Service Reliability and User Impacts
HE4487.M6 S66 2025
ROAD MARKINGS
Pavement Marking Patterns and Widths – Human Factor Study
TE203 .P56 2025
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