Pleasent Valley Schoolhouse, Deuel County, South Dakota, c. 1981
Earlier this Summer, I moved into the basement of a building that was once a schoolhouse. Although this building has been rennovated and moved from its original location, tell-tale signs of its history remain. A belltower balances precariously on the roof; chalkboards and cubbyholes line the walls of the main floor. Curious about the origins of the repurposed schoolhouse, I am currently perusing sources in the Richardson Collection in the hopes of finding documentation or a photograph that identitfies the name and original location of my schoolhouse. While I have not completed my search yet, I have found some interesting images. It is important to note that Phillip L. Brown took the the majority of the photographs below for the Country School House Legacy project. Funded by a National Endowment of the Humanities grant and sponsored by the Mountain Plains Library Association (MPLA), the Country School Legacy project sought to secure and preserve the historical significance of rural schools in eight states: Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. From 1980-1981, each state involved with the project put together a team to research, explore, and document country school houses. The end result was a series serminars, a traveling exhibit, research materials and archival collections. The Country School Legacy materials housed in the USD Archives and Special Collections include emphemra, oral histories, photographs, and maps as well as historic site guides.
School Interior, Leola, South Dakota, c. 1981
Students in schoolyard near Sulphur, South Dakota, c. 1912
Schoolhouse in Clay Country, South Dakota, c. 1900
Two room schoolhouse near Twin Brooks, South Dakota, c. 1981
-Information from the Country School Legacy Papers, Richardson Collection, photographs: the Country School Legacy Papers and Clay County, South Dakota Schools papers, Richardson Collection
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Can anyone tell me if it is possible to find a list of the teachers and/or students who attended a specific rural school in a SD county.
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Counties had a school census which listed all children in a given district as well as the parents, where their farm was located, children in school and not yet in school. The school they attended and teacher of that school . These were done yearly. Some courthouses still have their old records. They were kept in the office of the Country Supt. of Schools.
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Does the Country School Legacy project have the Miner County Country Schools (1881-1965) created by Leta Trusty? It’s an excellent researched book which I hope would be in the archives of any history of South Dakota. I believe the Miner County Historical Society would have a copy.
Mary Bertrand
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Do you know the name of the country school picture in Clay County and its location?
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