William H. Thomas was born on August 1, 1877 at Dodgeville, WI. He enlisted in the 1st South Dakota Volunteer Infantry Company C on May 14, 1898 at Yankton, SD as a private, and he mustered out on October 5, 1899 at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA. His military papers state that he lived in Sioux City, IA subsequent to his discharge and worked as a druggist.
This collection consists of personal correspondence, photographs, writings, and ephemera from William H. Thomas who served with the 1st South Dakota Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish-American War.
Southern Dakota was one of the first railroads in Dakota Territory, and the first to successfully operate in the area that would become the state of South Dakota. The tracks began in Sioux City in 1872 and reached Vermillion, Dakota Territory at the end of that year. In 1873, the tracks were completed to Yankton, Dakota Territory.
Map showing Dakota Southern Railroad from Sioux City to Yankton.
Students arriving in Vermillion by train.
Six men standing for their picture at the train station in Vermillion, South Dakota.
All sources for this post are in the Archives and Special Collections.
Information from South Dakota’s Railraods [sic]: an Historic Context, by Hufstetler, Mark, and Michael Bedeau. South. Dakota State Historical Society, 1998. The book is the the South Dakota State Documents Collection. Map shown is a small portion of Territory of Dakota, by S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr., 1879. The map is in the Chilson Collection. Photographs are from the USD Photograph Collection and are also in the Digital Library of South Dakota.
On this election day, Archives and Special Collections has added a list of Dakota Territory’s governors and delegates and a list of South Dakota’s governors, U.S. senators, and U.S. representatives to its online site.
If you notice any misspellings or other errors, please let us know.
The link will take you to:
The location of South Dakota politicians’ archives can be found in The Plains Political Tradition: Essays on South Dakota Political Culture, Volume 3. This book is in the Chilson Collection.
On November 7, 1922, South Dakotans were asked to vote whether to move the University from Vermillion to Sioux Falls. This initiated law lost, and it had the lowest yes vote of any initiated law in the years analyzed by Alan Clem, i.e., 1889-1960 (page 35).
Shown in the image are the constitutional amendments (CA) and initiated laws (IL) on the South Dakota ballot in 1922. These were extracted from Table 10 in Clem’s publication (page 37-38).
Information and table from Clem, Alan L. South Dakota Political Almanac: a Presentation and Analysis of Election Statistics, 1889-1960. Vermillion, S.D: Governmental Research Bureau, State University of South Dakota, 1962. This book is in the Chilson Collection and in the Governmental Research Bureau Collection at the Archives and Special Collections.
Discussions about this vote can be found in the 1922 Alumni Quarterlies and Volante student newspapers. These publications are also in the Archives and Special Collections.
I found this handwritten recipe in a cookbook in the Archives and Special Collections. What does it make? Who put it there? Does cathup equal ketchup? Is there still shredded wheat in the breakfast food aisle?
I have to use it soon and find out what it makes. Meatloaf? Meatloaf Appreciation Day is October 18th.
The recipe was found between the pages of Good Things to Eat and How to Prepare Them. Buffalo NY: Larkin Co., 1906, which is in the Chilson Collection. Many cookbooks on a wide variety of topics can be found there.
Descriptive book of Company A of the 1st Dakota Calvary (U.S. Army) containing soldiers’ names, physical traits, places of birth, and dates of enlistment. The descriptive book dates from the Civil War era and serves as a roster of the men who enlisted to serve in the Dakota Territory between 1862 and 1865. Organized in 1862 during conflicts between Indigenous peoples and settlers, Company A mustered out in 1865.
A scrapbook of newspaper clippings, 1863-1864, reflecting the history of the Dakota Territory, especially the military and political events of the territory. John Blair Smith Todd, a delegate to the U.S. Congress from the Dakota Territory, created the scrapbook from articles published in the Sioux City Register, the Dakotian, the Omaha Daily Nebraskian, the Congressional Globe and the Dakota Union.
A bound manuscript ledger reflecting the sales of goods, including alcohol, at a trading post maintained by Cuthbert DuCharme on the Missouri River near Fort Randall in Dakota Territory, or present-day Charles Mix County, South Dakota. The ledger contains daily entries between 1869 and 1872. Also contains a list of DuCharme’s property as of 1857.
Image is an undated postcard from: South Dakota postal cards. A collection of cards of early South Dakota, CHILSON COLLECTION. F656 .S63x.
Do you see the park’s baseball field and the swimming pool on the postcard above?
Vermillion is collecting stories about the park for the celebration. We will happily forward any stories you send to us to the committee collecting the stories.
Help us assign a date to this postcard. We know it is after 1936 and before late 1950s because the caretaker’s house in the park is present but the water tower is not. Please also contact us if you know who took the picture or made the postcard.
Undated postcard from: South Dakota postal cards. A collection of cards of early South Dakota, CHILSON COLLECTION. F656 .S63x.
This year, make a trip to Mitchell to see the Corn Palace and/or visit our Archives and Special Collections to read about the once common Corn Palaces:
1976. Schutt, Robert. The Corn Palace Story: with a Description of Early South Dakota and Mitchell, and a Map Indicating South Dakota Indian Reservations. Dakota News. CHILSON COLLECTION. F659.M5 S39x.
2005. Nygard, Travis E. Oscar Howe and the Metaphorical Monarchy on Maize: Indigenism and Power in the Mitchell Corn Palace Panels, 1948-1971. Thesis (M.A., Art History). University of Pittsburgh. SPECIAL BOOKS. NA6750.A2 U62 2005.
2010. Nygard, Travis E., and Pamela H. Simpson. “Indians at the Corn Palaces : Race and Reception at Two Midwestern Festival Buildings.” Buildings & Landscapes. SPECIAL BOOKS. NA6750.A2 U63 2010.
2012. Simpson, Pamela H. (Pamela Hemenway). Corn Palaces and Butter Queens: a History of Crop Art and Dairy Sculpture. University of Minnesota Press. SPECIAL BOOKS. NA6750.A2 U6 2012.
Check out this online story about Oscar Howe, the painter, and the Corn Palace:
Historian Everett Sterling wrote in Vermillion Story (1959) that there was “a 1910 map preserved in the City Building, on which every residence is shown and identified …” Does anyone know where the map is now?
Sterling’s Vermillion Story is in the Chilson Collection. Other histories about Vermillion and Clay County SD are listed on the Archives and Special Collections web site.
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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