Collection, 1856-2001, of business records and legal records documenting the Minnesota Land Company, a private company that owned timber and mineral lands in northeastern Minnesota. Contents include deeds, contracts, bills of sale, affidavits, court proceedings, probate files, organizational documents (articles of incorporation, rules and regulations), shareholder lists, shareholder meeting notices and proxy forms, stock certificate copies and receipts, correspondence, financial records (checks, receipts, cash statements, accounts), tax records, maps, figures, reports on timber and mineral interests, negatives, and a corporate record book including documents and shareholder meeting minutes. The materials span the venture’s three stages as the Merritt Land Pool; the Minnesota Land Company, Limited; and the Minnesota Land Company Trust.

Series I, Merritt Land Pool, includes financial records, legal records, shareholder information, and land information. Financial records include tax records for Lake County, Cook County, and Aitkin County, MN, checks, and receipts and disbursements. Legal records include land patents, deeds and related probate documentation, contracts, court proceedings, and the trust agreement establishing the Land Pool. Shareholder information includes a shareholder list. Land information includes maps of Minnesota, land figures, and a set of six reports on mining prospects in Minnesota. The reports are addressed by mining experts to D. H. Merritt, A. Merritt (one of the seven Merritt brothers who charted and promoted the Mesabi Range in the 1890s), Longyear, and their mining companies (Mountain Iron Co., North American Iron Co.) between 1891-1910. The corporation record book refers to three additional reports from 1889.

Series II, Minnesota Land Company, Limited, contains financial records, legal records, organizational documents, governance and shareholder information, correspondence, land information, and the corporate record book. Financial records include tax records for Lake County and Cook County. Legal records include deeds and related probate, state assignment certificates, sales contracts, option agreements, tax certificates and tax titles, documentation of the company's authority to conduct business in Minnesota, documentation of the company’s withdrawal from Minneota and dissolution in Michigan, and information concerning a Native American land scrip owned by the company. Organizational documents include the company’s articles of incorporation and rules and regulations. Governance and shareholder information includes shareholder meeting notices and proxy forms, shareholder lists, and stock certificate copies and receipts. Correspondence includes several files concerning the land scrip, deeds, dissolution, and other business. The corporate record book contains copies of organizational documents, shareholder information, and annual meeting minutes. Series III, Minnesota Land Company Trust, includes financial records, legal records, shareholder information, correspondence, and land information. Financial records include tax records for Lake County and Cook County. Legal records include the declaration of trust, a quit claim deed transferring mineral rights to Michigan Tech, the transfer of trusteeship to Michigan Tech, statements of severed mineral interests, affidavits of ownership, a tax exemption application for Cook County, and information about their Torrens certificates. Shareholder information includes 1967 and 1975 shareholder lists. Correspondence included one file on the transfer of mineral rights to Michigan Tech, including Michigan Tech’s plans to use the Minnesota property for mining education; three files on Minnesota’s severed mineral interests tax; a 1974 valuation of the mineral rights; and miscellaneous correspondence.