Alexander Faribault and his family undoubtedly hold an important place in the city’s historical memory. These memories are recorded in different ways, from written reports from within Minnesota’s state and local historical societies, to contemporary newspaper archives, to missionary records, and court documents. Narratives we found about the Faribault family can also contradict each other, and furthermore, the family’s intertwined history with the Dakota means that historic injustices manifest themselves within narratives of the Faribault family.

Throughout this digital history, we strive to make it clear which sources different narratives come from, especially when narratives about Faribault contradict. It’s important to include multiple perspectives on this history. Scholar Zinaida Manžuch states in an article for the Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies that scholars and museums must “overcome latent and unconscious assumptions about the roles of memory institutions, difficulties in reconciling conflicting perspectives about the past, and limitations in ensuring the inclusivity of all groups in engagement with the past.”¹ Understanding our positionality as college students with perceived academic authority means we should retain space for different historical memories, instead of expecting community partners to accept one single “correct” narrative. 

For this project, we used secondary-sources and some primary sources that were available online. However, we also used primary sources that we digitized while at the Rice County Historical Society. Our digitization process was to serve our community-partners at the Rice County Historical Society (RCHS), with an understanding that the curator’s and director’s work serve the broader public community. Part of our process related to the organization of these documents. We used a digital file system and naming conventions in order to preserve important information about each file that we digitized and to hopefully make it easier for the team at RCHS to organize. In order to make the information as accessible and clear for a public audience as possible, we also did very simple editing on documents that were not cropped or that were not easily readable. However, when editing public heritage documents, it’s important that the final product stays true to the original. As such, all edits were minor, and the original files have also been preserved.

We’re grateful for the Rice County Historical Society for providing us access to their collection, as well as for their guidance and enthusiasm for collaboration. 

1- Zinaida Manžuch, “Ethical Issues In Digitization Of Cultural Heritage,” Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 4, no. 2 (2017): 13, https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol4/iss2/4.

Sources

Adams, Arthur T. Portrait of Alexander Faribault, Faribault, Minnesota. 1929 1920. 10×8. Minnesota Historical Society. https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/hchm:1553.

Alexander Faribault House – Rice County Historical Society. https://rchistory.org/museum/alexander-faribault-house/.

Bjork, Kenneth. “The Alexander Faribault House.” Minnesota History, vol. 35, no. 7, 1957, pp. 320–24. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20176108.

Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn, and Stephen Jewett. History of Rice and Steele Counties, Minnesota. With New York Public Library. Chicago, H. C. Cooper, Jr., 1910. http://archive.org/details/historyofriceste01curt.

DeCarlo, Peter J. “Treaty of Mendota, 1851 | MNopedia.” Accessed November 24, 2025. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/treaty-mendota-1851.

Denial, Catherine. “Pelagie Faribault’s Island: Property, Kinship, and the Meaning of Marriage in Dakota Country.” Minnesota History, 2010.

Flanagan, John T. “Big Game Hunter, Henry H. Sibley.” Minnesota History 41, no. 5 (1969): 217–28.

Granquist, Luther. “An early challenge: locating deaf and blind students.” Access Press – Minnesota’s Disability Community Newspaper, 10 January 2010, https://mn.gov/mnddc/past/access_press/Access_Press_01-10.pdf.

Henry Leavenworth | The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Minnesota Historical Society. https://www.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/history/henry-leavenworth

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Manžuch, Zinaida. “Ethical Issues In Digitization Of Cultural Heritage.” Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 4, no. 2 (2017). https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol4/iss2/4.

Minnesota Patriot. “Notice: Antoine Provincial, and Alexander Faribault, Attorney for Antoine Provincial.” March 19, 1858. Minnesesota Historical Society Digital Newspaper Hub. https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn89064822/1859-03-19/ed-1/seq-3.

N., G. L. “Alexander Faribault.” Minnesota History 8, no. 2 (1927): 177–80.

O’Leary, Johanna M. Historical Sketch of the Parish of the Immaculate Conception, Faribault, Minnesota : With Some Biographical Data and Records of Pioneer Families. With Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. [Faribault, Minn.] : Faribault Journal Press, 1938. http://archive.org/details/historicalsketch00olea.

RCHS. “ The Alexander Faribault Home The History and Restoration 1853 -1946 “. Rice County Historical Society, Alexander Faribault House Preservation, https://drive.google.com/file/d/17XCbRvxRE3ikrg7XKBkGTjOVBya5WuWb/view.

“Roads and Trails in the Minnesota Triangle, 1849-60 on JSTOR.” Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20160874?seq=1.

Schreier, David. “Pike Island: Two Dakota County Families Living on the Island a Century Apart.” Dakota County History, November 2000.

Sibley, Henry Hastings. Memoir of Jean Baptiste Faribault. 1880. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Memoir_of_Jean_Baptiste_Faribault_%28IA_memoirofjeanbapt00siblrich%29.pdf.

Steimann, Richard J. “The Wapacootas and the White Man: The Story of the Early Development of Faribault [By].” St. John’s University, 1971.

“Treaty with the Eastern Sioux, 1820.” Accessed November 20, 2025. https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-eastern-sioux-1820-22484.

Unknown. “Daily Globe.” Minnesota Historical Society (St. Paul, Minn.), November 23, 1880, 4.

Unknown. “Minnesota Patriot.” Minnesota Historical Society (Wabashaw, Minn.), March 19, 1859.

Unknown. “Rice County.” The Faribault Herald (Faribault, Rice County, M.T. [Minn.]), August 6, 1857.

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Vaughan, Margaret. “Faribault, Pelagie (1783–1847) | MNopedia.” Accessed November 6, 2025. https://www3.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/person/faribault-pelagie-1783-1847.

“Wambditanka (Big Eagle) | The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.” Accessed November 24, 2025. https://www.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/history/wambditanka-big-eagle.

Westerman, Gwen. Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota. With Bruce M. White. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2012.

“Who Was Alexander Faribault? · History of Faribault · Religions in Minnesota.” Accessed November 6, 2025. https://religionsmn.carleton.edu/exhibits/show/history-of-faribault/building-a-community-together-/who-was-alexander-faribault-.

Williams, Richard. To Ronald Wilkes. March 29, 2000. Alexander Faribault House Correspondence RE:House. Rice County Historical Society.