Happy National Poetry Month: The oldest book in the Archives and Special Collections is a poetry book in Latin.

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.

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Wouldn’t this make a great Charter Day cake?

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.

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A Chance Interaction of Ole Anderson and Oscar Howe at the W. H. Over Museum

In the summer of 1959, the W. H. Over Museum, founded in 1883, was situated in the basement of Slagle Hall., Dr. Wesley Hurt, director of the museum was also an associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Dakota. In 1957, according to the newsletter: Museum News (Vol 18 #7, part of the Chilson Collection), the famous Native American artist Oscar Howe became a University of South Dakota faculty member and assistant director the Over Museum. He remained as assistant director until 1959 when he took up residence in the Creative Arts Laboratory in the College of Fine Arts (Museum News, vol 20 #5).

Following his nine-month-long trip to South America, Dr. Hurt returned to the university and developed new exhibits at the Over Museum. One new exhibit was devoted to South Dakota history. In the summer of 1959 Dr. Hurt asked a Vermillion citizen, master mason, and amateur wood carver, Ole Anderson, to make small statues depicting different occupations of settlers. Inspirations for Ole Anderson’s carvings came from images he found. According to his grandson, Jerome Anderson, Ole Anderson took the idea of carving a coon-hatted pioneer from paintings that Oscar Howe made. Jerome Anderson owns two works of art. One is shown below courtesy of Jerome Anderson. Today the pioneer carving sits in a display at the Over Museum along with a dozen statuettes depicting the work of settlers. 

Ole Anderson carving figures in the Over Museum. Image number 6415, Series 10, Box 43, University of South Dakota Archives and Special Collections.

Oscar Howe’s drawing of the pioneer.

Carvings of the pioneer and some settlers engaged in various activities in a display at the W. H. Over Museum.

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Archives and Special Collections recently processed the William H. Thomas papers, who was a US soldier in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.

Fred Thomas

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.

William H. Thomas

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Do you like the bird bookplates from our Herman P. Chilson Collection? They reflect Chilson’s love for birds and ornithology. #ArchivesForTheBirds

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The railroad reached Vermillion 150 years ago.

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.

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Politicians for Dakota Territory and 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.

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The University of South Dakota was on the South Dakota ballot in 1922.

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.

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The mystery of the handwritten recipe

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.

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In South Dakota Magazine

Read about the Archives and Special Collections new digitization project in the latest issue of South Dakota Magazine (September/October 2022).

We have added three items to the Digital Library pertaining to early Dakota Territorial history:

1st Dakota Cavalry, Company A, descriptive book, Captain Nelson Miner

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.

Scrapbook of newspaper clippings, 1863-1864, John Blair Smith Todd

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.

Ledger, Dakota Territory, 1869-1872, Cuthbert DuCharme

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.

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