Walter Frederick (“Fritz”) Mondale, a native Minnesotan, has spent most of his life in public service, at the state, national, and international levels. A liberal Democrat and an influential strategist in Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), he has held the offices of Minnesota attorney general (1960-1964), United States Senator from Minnesota (1964-1976), Vice President of the United States (1977-1981), Democratic Party candidate for President (1984), and ambassador to Japan (1993-1996).

Learn more about Mondale: his life, family, and times

About the Walter Mondale papers project

In 2008, The Minnesota Historical Society was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to process and describe the Walter Mondale Papers and to develop a Mondale web page. The web page provides a fully articulated finding aid to the 1,500 cubic feet of Mondale Papers; it contextualizes Mondale's career in a number of brief essays; it provides easy access to thousands of digitized artifacts, photographs, and documents from the Mondale collection; and hosts an extensive interview with Mondale. Future content will include essays and podcasts featuring prominent Mondale scholars.

The extensive Mondale Papers document his entire career, from his terms as Minnesota's attorney general (1960-1964), through his senatorial career (1964-1976), his years as vice president (1977-1980), his 1984 presidential campaign, his brief ambassadorial career, and subsequent public service.

NEH has accorded this project the distinction of including it amongst its We the People projects, which support work that explores significant themes and events in the nation's history.

Collections at MNHS

The Walter F. Mondale Collection is a rich resources for students, scholars, and the interested public to learn more about the man, his work, and his times.

Papers

• Walter F. Mondale Papers
• Political Papers and Campaign Files
• Senatorial Papers
• Vice Presidential Papers
• Ambassadorial Papers
• Personal Papers

Photographs

View well over 1,000 photographs spanning Mondale's life in public service.

Publications

The Minnesota Historical Society Library holds many publications by Walter Mondale as well as those about his long and distinguished career.

• Books and other writings by Walter Mondale
• Biographies about Mondale and politics

Artifacts

The Minnesota Historical Society houses a fantastic collection of artifacts spanning the whole of Walter Mondale's career, including many campaign pieces.

• Artifacts - Vice-President
• Artifacts - Presidential Campaign
• Artifacts - All

Film clips

This small selection of film clips is to demonstrate the range of material available in the Collection.

• Video - Senate, 1964 - 1976
  • Walter Mondale speaking in Breckinridge, Minnesota
  • Walter Mondale going to the Senate
  • Walter Mondale discusses Medicare
• Video - Vice-President, 1976 - 1980
  • Walter Mondale introduces Jimmy Carter, 1976 presidential campaign
  • Walter and Joan Mondale interview, 1976 presidental campaign
  • Walter Mondale press conference the morning following the 1976 presidental election
• Video - Mondale Family
  • Walter Mondale plays kickball with his family
  • Walter Mondale and family at the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument

Oral history

In June of 2011, Mr. Mondale sat down with Gary Eichten of Minnesota Public Radio to discuss his life and career. Here are clips of the interview by topic; the whole is available in the section under the Mondale Interview title.

• Part 1
• 1984 Election
• Education
• MN DFL Formation
• Senate and Civil Rights
• Vice-President
• Politics
• Vietnam
• Legacy

Other Repositories

Walter F. Mondale: Spokesman for Reform and Justice in the U.S. Senate

The University of Minnesota Law Library is pleased to provide access to an extensive body of information on the senatorial career of Walter F. Mondale, United States Senator from Minnesota, 1964 - 1976.

WorldCat links to other repositories of Mondale archival material

WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. Through it links can be found to many other repositories with Mondale holdings, including the Library of Congress, Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Yale, Ohio Historical Society, Cornell, and Arizona State University, among others.

National Archives links to its own and other repositories of Mondale archival material

The U.S. National Archives provides links to Walter F. Mondale materials at the National Archives itself as well as presidential libraries.