# Wright County District Court *Court of Wright County, Minnesota; its catalogued records begin in 1881.* The Wright County District Court of Wright County, [[Minnesota]], appears in this record as the subject of one at-issue item, AI-Humphrey-011. The item concerns the absence of the court's 1859 case file from its catalogued records.[^1][^2] The [[Minnesota Historical Society]]'s finding aid for the Wright County District Court records (gr02765) shows earliest catalogued holdings beginning in 1881. The 1859 criminal case file does not appear in the county's catalogued court records.[^1] The record does not establish whether this reflects loss, destruction, or period filing practice, and this article does not assert a cause.[^1] ## Who The court's surviving records are described in a finding aid published by the Minnesota Historical Society under the identifier gr02765.[^1] The at-issue item treats the court as the graded party, the institution whose custody of its own record is in question.[^2] ## What The finding aid lists no catalogued holdings for the court earlier than 1881.[^1] The 1859 criminal case file is not among the catalogued holdings.[^1] ## When The earliest catalogued holdings date from 1881, twenty-two years after the 1859 case the at-issue item concerns.[^1] The at-issue item, drawing on the same finding aid, states that the 1859 file "does not survive". The finding aid itself shows only that the file is absent from the catalogued holdings, and the cause of that absence is not established.[^1] ## How The archival finding rests on the finding aid for the court's records.[^1] A second finding aid, for the records of [[governor]] Sibley, lists a folder titled "Letters Received, 1859: Wright County Affair," in box 154.J.14.1B. The folder has been located, but its contents have not been retrieved.[^3] ## In the at-issue record - **AI-Humphrey-011 (Humphrey package), rank 11, section *The Waverly Promise & the Boundary County Edition* (1859):** The item states that the 1859 Wright County case file does not survive, and that the finding aid shows earliest holdings beginning in 1881.[^1] It describes the county's "founding enforcement failure" as "reconstructable only from newspapers, because the institution that failed did not keep the record of failing."[^2] The item's anchor is a White House Government Transparency Task Force fact sheet. The item cites it for the point that "custody of the record by the graded party is the transparency failure at issue".[^2] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Finding aid for Wright County District Court records (gr02765)* (undated) — earliest catalogued holdings begin in 1881; the 1859 criminal case file does not appear in the county's catalogued court records; cause not established. https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-finding-aids-public/library/findaids/gr02765.html [^2]: The White House, *Government Transparency Task Force fact sheet* (July 2026) — anchor cited by at-issue item AI-Humphrey-011 for the point that custody of the record by the graded party is the transparency failure at issue. https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/the-white-house-government-transparency-task-force-fact-sheet/ [^3]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Finding aid for Governor Sibley records (gov015)* (undated) — folder "Letters Received, 1859: Wright County Affair," box 154.J.14.1B, located; contents not retrieved. https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-finding-aids-public/library/findaids/gov015.html