College of Menominee Library, Keshena Campus

The Menominee Tribal Legislature chartered College of Menominee Nation (CMN) as an institution of higher education in March of 1993. In 1996 the Menominee people reinforced the college’s existence by initiating a charter for the college under Article VIII of the Menominee Tribal Constitution and by-laws.

CMN is an accredited, tribally controlled, two-year community college. The College serves the Menominee Nation, neighboring tribal nations, and surrounding communities. The main campus is located on the Menominee Reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, with a second campus location near the Oneida Reservation in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

CMN Reading Room

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin’s Digitizing Special Menominee Collections project will be coordinated with the assistance of the College of Menominee Nation Library. This library serves faculty, staff and students at the college, as well as the Menominee community. With its new growth and larger facility, the library is becoming the leading community library. Currently, community members have access to the circulating book collection through NEW ERA, a partnership with libraries in the Northeastern part of Wisconsin. Community members also have access to the Special Collections/Archives.

Special Collections Vault

With the opening of the College of Menominee Nation Library’s Special Collections in March 2009, the only archive/special collections for historical documents within the Menominee Community, the tribe felt it was imperative to access the skills and resources of one of its leading institutions to prioritize preservation and access of these important and rare materials.

Within the past year, the CMN library has received donations of archival resources for the Special Collections area, including 27 boxes of very important legal manuscripts documenting the journey of the Menominee from Termination to Restoration. These rare documents are housed at CMN in a safe location, but await the inventorying and cataloging process to ensure future scholarly use. Many of the items are carbon-copy papers that are thin and fading.