Incipit laus Sancti Bernardi Abatis; Laus de Virgine Maria: Ave mater misericordie may be the oldest book in the Archives and Special Collections.
Image is a page from Bernard, and Innocentius III. Incipit laus Sancti Bernardi Abatis; Laus de Virgine Maria: Ave mater misericordie. s.n., 1450. (CHILSON COLLECTION / 3RD FLOOR ; BX890.B43 L3x).
I found this description of the book on a sheet of letterhead paper tucked into the book:
“Manuscript on paper, written in a fine formal book hand. 28 lines. 12 leaves (the last 4 blank). Initials in red. Rubricated. 4to. Boards. …Italy, middle XVth cent.
A beautifully written manuscript of the Laus de Virgine Maria, one of a number of poems attributed to St. Bernard, is on leaves 1-8r. The balance of 8r and 8v, contains the poem Ave Mondi (sic) spes Maria, attributed to Pope Innocent III.”
The Archives and Special Collections has a number of books and manuscripts written in Latin. These are great for those who want to practice reading or translating Latin. Also, many of these will be of interest to researchers of the history of religions or book-making.
The wacipi was and continues to be hosted by the Native American student group the Tiospaye Student Council, originally founded in 1957. First known as the Wapaha Club, and under the initial guidance of Oscar Howe, the Tiospaye Student Council is known for not only their support of the annual student wacipi, but many other companion events held in collaboration.
The photographs presented here range in date from 1958 to 1995 and feature members of the Wapaha Club, the Tiospaye Student Council, USD Native alumni, wacipi participants, and more.
Locating, identifying and imaging this collection of negatives was achieved through the partnership of USD Native Services (NSS), the USD Archives and Special Collections (A&SC), and the Digital Imaging Lab, Digital Library and Photographs (DIL/DL/P).
Dr. John Little, Director of Native Recruitment and Alumni Engagement, provided the vision and many of the image descriptions.
Adam Sitting Crow announcing at the Institute of Indian Studies monthly wacipi, December 1970. Dancers and spectators at the Institute of Indian Studies monthly wacipi, December 1970.Children with drum group at the Institute of Indian Studies monthly wacipi, February 1971. Dancer at the 15th Annual USD Wacipi hosted by the Tiospaye Student Council, 1987. Dancer at the 19th Annual USD Wacipi hosted by the Tiospaye Student Council, 1991. 20th Annual USD Wacipi hosted by the Tiospaye Student Council, 1992.
Celebrating 50 Years of Tiospaye is a pop up installation which grew out of several initiatives.
USD Native Services (NSS), USD Archives and Special Collections (A&SC), and Digital Imaging Lab, Digital Library and Photographs (DIL/DL/P) partnered together to locate, identify, and digitize images related to the Annual Wacipi held in the A&SC. The wacipi was and continues to be hosted by the Tiospaye Student Council, the Native American student group on campus, founded in 1957. The photographs range in date from 1966 to 1999 and also feature members of the Tiospaye Student Council, USD Native alumni, and various events held in collaboration with the Annual Wacipi.
Over the past year, this unique partnership included the identification of more than 700 negatives by Dr. John Little, Director of Native Recruitment & Alumni Engagement. Sarah Hanson-Pareek, head of the DIL/DL/P, and Library Technology Librarian Anne Hinseth imaged the negatives and efforts are now underway to have them entered in the Digital Library of South Dakota for the 50th Anniversary Wacipi on April 6 and April 7 at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. Amy Fill, director of the University Art Galleries, selected four images from the collection to place on view in the Day Gallery.
The wacipi project is part of a larger project by NSS focused on finding all photographs featuring Native content throughout USD’s history held in the A&SC. Research includes other formats and materials held both in the A&SC and the South Dakota Oral History Center. Of particular importance is an early wacipi recording at USD from 1971, AIRP 625, in which “participants describe costumes, music, and giveaways.” The recording is included in this exhibition.
Tiospaye Student Council Drum at the 20th Annual USD Wacipi, Hosted and Organized by the Tiospaye Student Council, DakotaDome, 1992
Negative number: 13681.1.2, Series 10, Box 122
Drum Group at the 21st Annual USD Wacipi, Hosted and Organized by the Tiospaye Student Council, DakotaDome, 1993
Negative number: 6370.31, Series 11
19th Annual USD Wacipi, Hosted and Organized by the Tiospaye Student Council, DakotaDome, 1991
Negative number: 6034.19, Series 11
Institute of Indian Studies Monthly Wacipi, Hosted by Germaine and Adam Sitting Crow, Armory, March 1971
Starting in the 1970-1971 academic year, the Institute of Indian Studies in collaboration with the W. H. Over Museum started hosting monthly wacipis.
Negative number: 10624.9.2, Series 10, Box 89
Photographs from the USD Photograph Collection, USD Archives and Special Collections, University Libraries, University of South Dakota
AIRP 625 (recorded in 1970): Sound recording of a pow wow at the University of South Dakota. Participants describe costumes, the music, giveaways, and the reasons for holding pow wows.
Sound recording from the American Indian Research Project (AIRP), South Dakota Oral History Center, University Libraries, University of South Dakota
Charles Burney’s and John Hawkins’s multi-volume histories were both published in London in the late 1700s (around 1776.) How are they different, and how are they similar? Why did the authors say negative comments about the other’s history?
John Andrews from South Dakota Magazine wrote a feature on Captain Miner’s 1st Dakota Cavalry ledger held in the USD Archives and Special Collections for the Magazine’s September/October 2022 issue. Read an excerpt of A Historical Treasure Hunt and learn about the ledger’s imaging for the Digital Library of South Dakota.
Drawing by Cable from Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries Volume XLVIII.
Dr. Cable received B.A. (1926) and M.A. (1927) degrees from the University of South Dakota. She worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, later called the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, from 1927 to 1970.
Louella Cable, photograph from the Coyote yearbook.
In 1964, the University of South Dakota (USD) student newspaper, the Volante and the Vermillion Plain Talk mentioned USD Rodeo Club activities several times. That March the club signed a contract for livestock for the upcoming fourth annual intercollegiate rodeo held in Vermillion on May 2nd and 3rd. Events those two days included a parade, a rodeo competition, and a dance. Colleges from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas participated. Highlighting the event was Charley James, a trick rider, roper, singer, and actor. Club member Debbie Beaty from Vermillion was crowned the rodeo queen. The USD Rodeo team placed second.
Another 1964 Volante article stated that the USD Rodeo Club had such a good reputation that Jerry Olmstead, a standout rodeo performer from the University of North Dakota transferred to USD. Olmstead went on to successfully compete in several USD Rodeo Club events over the next two years. Later that summer USD rodeo teams competed in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Finals in Douglas, Wyoming. According to the 1965 Coyote yearbook, the USD participants “placed well”. The paragraph went on to state “There is no doubt that the club’s aim of promoting South Dakota’s western tradition on the USD campus has been achieved.”
From June 30-July 2,1966, the USD Rodeo Club hosted the World Championship Intercollegiate Rodeo with hundreds of participants competing from colleges throughout the country. To get in the spirit even the Vermillion police were dressed as cowboys! The USD Rodeo club was a prominent student organization from 1960 until 1976. The club members’ excellent performances brought USD, local, state, and national recognition.
Some 1964 USD Rodeo Club members. Jerry Olmstead is holding the second-place trophy. (USD Archives and Special Collections, 1965 Coyote yearbook)
These are in the Archives and Special Collections.
Governor Archie Gubbrud
In the I.D. Weeks Library are the reports of the South Dakota Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. The earliest one in the library is dated March 1963 and is about discrimination against Black airmen (especially with housing, restaurants, and bars) in Rapid City, South Dakota, call number F659.R2 U5.
I would eat a cake decorated to look like concrete letters surrounded by green bushes. How about you? Click here for the location and history of the University of South Dakota hillside letters,
This year marks the 162st anniversary of the establishment of the University by the first Dakota Territory Legislature in 1862, 141th anniversary of the signing of the charter in 1883, and 102 years since the letters were presented to the University of South Dakota in 1922.
Charter Day at the University is February 3rd. It commemorates the day that the governor signed “an act to provide for the organization and government of the University of the Territory of Dakota.”
You can view pictures of Charter Day celebrations in early Coyote yearbooks (LD5078 .C6). These books are in the Archives and Special Collections and in the library’s main collection.
You can read the text of the charter in Laws passed at the fifteen session of the legislative assembly of the Territory of Dakota, 1883 (KFS3025 .A3). This book is in the Archives and Special Collections and in the library’s main collection.
The views and opinions expressed in these pages are strictly those of the Archives and Special Collections staff. The University of South Dakota disclaims all liability for any data, information or opinions contained in this blog.
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