Here’s to 75 Years, Mount Rushmore!

Growing up just a half hour away from Mt. Rushmore, I can tell you that the beauty and grandeur is as great as the hype about it is. Though as a Rapid City native I have not visited the monument as often as one would guess, really I can count on my hands and feet the number of times I have been there (that I can really remember). To me, it is one of those places in which, less is more. I have a greater respect for the monument now that I am older and not living within its shadow.

To think that 75 years ago, the Mt. Rushmore the world knows today, was but an idea a large group was working to cultivate. That Gutzon Borglum and his team of carvers began work on the face of Washington. The project was in the works from 1927 when carving began to 1941, when what is now the finished project was unveiled, after the death of Borglum. Throughout the years of carving, many made journeys to see the monuments work in progress, including two US presidents Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Today the monument attracts visitors from all over the globe. They are amazed by the monumental size of the sculptures, and by the beauty of the visitor’s center which gives an abundance of information on the monument. One of the prominent reasons for visiting Mt. Rushmore would be the lighting ceremony held at the end of every night. This is a major part of the monument and during the ceremony, park rangers leading the ceremony ask that any and all former and active duty service men and women take center stage. This part of the ceremony is the most moving point and as each member of the military explains who they are and which war they were a part of, there is little to no noise as this is a moment of thanks to those in service. Another great reason to visit Mt. Rushmore is the ice cream, or so I’ve been told.

The biggest lore surrounding the monument is the famed Hall of Records that is located behind the head of Lincoln. The room does exist though it is not found behind the head of Lincoln but off to the side of the monument.

Within the University of South Dakota’s Archives and Special Collections, there are 19 collections that contain information regarding Mt. Rushmore, and the process in which it took for the monument to be built, including papers between those who helped fund, sculpt, and shape the monument and visitors center in the modern beauty that it is today.

If you would like to know more about those involved and the process that they went through to create the monument, come visit the Archives and Special Collections to see the display for Mt. Rushmore or ask about the collections that discuss Mt. Rushmore. The display will be up and ready for viewing by November 1, 2016.

And as a friendly reminder, if visiting the monument, take a moment to stop and smell the pine trees, you never know if one will smell like vanilla, chocolate, butterscotch or strawberry.

Read Full Post »

Facsimile Editions of Early English Children’s Books from the Osborne Collection

The Osborne Collection of Early English Children’s books, were donated by Edgar Osborne, to the Toronto Public Library after he visited the library in 1934. He was so impressed with their children’s program that he donated 2,000 books to the library. Since then the collection has grown into a large collection of over 80,000 children’s books. The Osborne collection is just one of three collections in the libraries children program. Those books that are a part of the Osborne Collection have parameters that require them to have been printed before 1910.

The facsimile collection of Osborne books is made up of 35 books published in 1981. The University of South Dakota houses all 35 books with in its Special Collection, in the Archives and Special Collections. An interesting fact about the books is that they were printed in the same manner as the originals. So if pages are printed blank, like they are in A Book of Nonsense then that is the way they were meant to be printed.

Many of the books within the collection are interactive. The Mansion of Bliss is in fact not a book but a spiral board game that was meant to improve one’s moral values. The game was one of chance, in which 2-4 players were racing one another to see who could make it to the mansion of bliss first. Along with the game is a rule book that explains each space and whether the player who landed there will be punished or rewarded.

Come and enjoy viewing the Facsimile Osborne Collection of Early English Children’s Books, now on display up in the USD Archives.

Bibliography

Toronto Public Library. “Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books.” Copyright 2016. http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/osborne/ [accessed October 19, 2016].

Dunedin Public Libraries. “Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books.” Julian Smith, August 13, 2015. Copyright 2016. https://hail.to/dunedin-public-libraries/article/D1lQo6S [accessed October 19, 2016].

Read Full Post »

Happy Archives Month

To me every trip to a library or archive is like a small detective story. There are always little moments on such trips when the past flares to life, like a match in the darkness.

Larson, Erik. The devil in the white city: murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America. New York: Crown Publishers, 2003, 395-396.

Read Full Post »

Happy Archives Month

Here are a few helpful tips for the lucky ones visiting an archives.

• Give yourself enough time. Looking through archival collections is time-consuming, and you will need more time than you expect. Believe me.
• Check with the archival staff beforehand and ask them a lot of questions. Will they be open the days you want to visit? Are there other collections you should look at? Read through the sources at the end of this blog for more questions.
• Learn as much as possible before you get to the archives about the collections you want to access. Are there finding aids and how do you can get copies of these finding aids? Are there restrictions on the collections you want to use for research?
• If you want to see a book in the archives, bring more with you than the call number. Often the person pulling the book from the closed stacks needs to know information from the entire catalog record, such as book size and number of pages, before they know where a book is stored.
• Keep track of what you have looked at and keep track of information that you will need for citations. Write it down.
• Bonus tip: If visiting us, ask to see our copy of Reading early American handwriting by Kip Sperry. It can help decipher handwritten documents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See also:

 

 

Introduction to Archival Research, http://libguides.usd.edu/cotent.php?pid=691519 (accessed August 24, 2016).

 

Using Archives: a guide to effective research, Society of American Archivist, http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives (accessed August 19, 2016).

Read Full Post »

Dakota Day’s Parade Countdown – Day 1

Tomorrow is the official 2016 Dakota Day’s Parade on Main Street @ 9 a.m. Go Yotes!

–USD Photograph Collection, Series 11

Read Full Post »

Dakota Day’s Parade Countdown – Day 2

–USD Photograph Collection, Series 11

Read Full Post »

Dakota Day’s Parade Countdown – Day 3

This photo was taken in 1959 of Miss South Dakota at the Dakota Day’s Parade.

–USD Photograph Collection, Series 13

Read Full Post »

Dakota Day’s Parade Countdown – Day 4

–USD Photograph Collection, Series 3 Box 40

Read Full Post »

Dakota Day’s Parade Countdown – Day 5

This photo was taken in 1961.

–USD Photograph Collection, Series 13

Read Full Post »