Margaret Virum Collection

By cimail , 29 January 2026

Thanks to the generous funding from the Margaret Virum Endowed Fund for School Partnerships and the generous donations of time, memories, and materials from Margaret's friends and family members, the Department of Curriculum and Instruction has had the privilege of archiving and holding over 400 professional texts, children's literature books, artifacts, albums of personal communication with students and families, and oral histories documenting the 49-year teaching career of Margaret Virum.

Text Written by Lee Galda and Sarah Hansen from The Margaret Virum Collection: Jump into my heart: Teachings from the life of an innovative educator by Amy Scatliff and Sarah Hansen

MV1

The Best Friends Award

The Margaret Virum Collection is a crucial piece of the Best Friends Award, granted biannually to undergraduate student applicants who are enrolled in The Foundations of Reading Course - CI5413. This course is taken by elementary education and early childhood education majors.

Read more:

  • An article from CE+HD News announcing the 2014 winners
  • An article from the Star Tribune about Margaret Virum and her contributions to the Minneapolis teaching community and University of Minnesota

Call Number Example

All Margaret Virum Collection materials are catalogued as follows:

MV Indicates Margaret Virum Collection
XX Type of materials (see below)
YY Subcategory of materials
AUT Author Last Name (First three letters)
REF### Reference Number
MV2

Call Number Codes

Professional Literature - PL

  • Writing - W
  • Children's Literature - CL
  • Innovative Classrooms/Learning - IC/L
  • Expression/Drama - E/D
  • Poetry - P
  • Reading/Language Arts - R/LA
  • Teachers and Teaching - T/T
  • Whole Child - W/C

Children's Literature - CL

  • Folklore - FL
  • Literature Depicting Many Cultures - C
  • Beginning/Newly Independent Readers - BR/NIR
  • Nonfiction/Informational - NF
  • Poetry - P
  • Jokes and Riddles - JR
  • Literature in Many Languages - L
  • Author Collection - AC
  • Caldecott - CM
  • Miscellaneous - M
  • Playing with Language - PWL

Adolescent Literature - AL

  • Miscellaneous - M
  • Author Collection - AC

Textbooks - TB

  • Reading/Language Arts - R/LA
  • Poetry - P

Miscellaneous Literature - L

Document Case - DC

Album Boxes - ALBUM

  • Mentoring - Mentor
  • Alumni - A
  • Classroom - CR
  • Miscellaneous - M
  • Retirement - R
  • School Yearbook - YB
  • Connections and Memories - CM
  • Teaching Philosophy/Curriculum - TPC

Artifacts - ARTIFACT

  • Japan Teaching Collection - JTC
  • Retirement - R
  • Miscellaneous - M
  • Art
  • Children’s Literature - CL
  • Children’s Works - CW
  • Toys - TOYS

Japan Teaching Collection - JTC

  • Book - B
  • Miscellaneous - M

Oral Histories - OH

  • Relative - R
  • Parent - P
  • Mentee - M
  • Colleague - C
  • Student - S
  • Friend - F