This collection is mainly correspondence about the Academy’s 1928-1930 annual meetings. The letters and programs make a stack of papers about an inch thick.
This is one of the most fun collections I have processed. Members are so excited to tell each other what is new in science. At their 1928 banquet, they saw a demonstration of television.
Archives and Special Collections also has 3 publications: Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science; Science in the service of the state: a centennial history of the South Dakota Academy of Science; and Articles of incorporation and by-laws of the South Dakota Academy of Science.
South Dakota Oral History Center has an interview with Charles Estee where he discusses the South Dakota Academy of Science and other topics.
Occasionally when processing a collection, you will find things that are intriguing but completely off-topic. I found a 1928 letter written on Sioux Falls South Dakota Chamber of Commerce stationary which shows what they want you to notice about their city.
He represented South Dakota in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate from 1971 through 1979.
Image of the humorous Fake Shaikh incident from the James G. Abourezk papers at the University of South Dakota which are located in the Archives and Special Collections. Abourezk is on the right.
If you haven’t stopped over to the John A. Day Gallery in the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts to see the 37th Annual Stilwell Student Awards Exhibition, you have a few more days to do so.
Banners featuring Wilber Stilwell, the exhibition’s namesake, are on display on the main gallery doors. The banners were created by Veronica Knippling as part of a summer U.Discover research project in the Archives and Special Collections. These panels will be used for years to come and feature Stilwell as artist, educator, advocate, and inventor.
Are you interested in the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of February 18, 1929? Peter Norbeck, while he was an U.S. senator from South Dakota, sponsored this bill, and his efforts are detailed in the Peter Norbeck papers located in the Archives and Special Collections.
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.
Although both the W. H. Over Museum and the National Music Museum (NMM) have distinctly different items they collect and the NMM is part of the University of South Dakota (USD), whereas the W. H. Over Museum resides on the USD campus, but is not part of USD, at one time both called the Carnegie Library building home.
The USD Carnegie Library construction was finished and occupied in 1911 when USD enrollment was 425 students according to Cummins’ book (Cummins, Cedric C. The University of South Dakota, 1862-1966. Vermillion, SD: Dakota Press, 1975). By the later part of the 1930’s USD student enrollment doubled, and President I. D. Weeks promoted the enlargement of the building. On Thursday, October 10, 1940, dedication exercises for the expanded library were held. The major addition, constructed of Indiana Bedford limestone, doubled the capacity of the building.
Twenty years later, enrollment doubled yet again necessitating the construction of a new library on campus. This would become the I. D. Weeks Library. In 1967 President Weeks suggested that the W. H. Over Museum, founded in 1883 by the Board of Regents known as the University Museum, occupy the old Carnegie Library building. The Over Museum had occupied several sites on campus including University Hall, the Science building, and the basement of Slagle Hall.
In 1967, not only did Over call the Carnegie building the Over Museum’s home, but space was given to a newly hired music professor, Arne B. Larson who brought with him over 2,000 instruments. Most instruments were initially stored in Old Main. In addition, prominent Yanktonai Dakota artist and professor Oscar Howe had his studio and a gallery in the Carnegie building. He was also assistant director of the W. H. Over Museum.
In 1973, Andre’ Larson, Arne Larson’s son, founded and became director of the Shrine to Music Museum and the Center for the Study of the History of Musical Instruments which included his father’s collection donated to the University of South Dakota. Andre’ Larson was a consummate collector of rare and important musical instruments, books, documents, and other ephemera.
By the early 1980’s the Shrine to Music Museum was expanding and President Joseph McFadden did not renew the Over Museum’s lease for the occupancy of the Carnegie building in 1984. In addition, in 1980 Oscar Howe retired from the University and in 1983 passed away. The consequences were that the Shrine to Music Museum acquired the entire Carnegie building (AMIS newsletter Vol. xv, No.2, June 1986, Dedication of the renovated Shrine to Music Museum). By contrast, Friends of the W. H. Over Museum, raised funds to build a new museum located east of the DakotaDome. The Chair of the fundraising committee for nine years (1984-1993) was General Lloyd Moses. In 2001, the Shrine to Music Museum changed its name to the National Music Museum and in 2018 major renovations to the Carnegie building commenced including construction of a new wing. In 2022, a ribbon cutting signaled the completion of the construction project, although developing the exhibits in the Carnegie building is ongoing.
In 2023, the W. H. Over Museum will celebrate its 140th year and the NMM its 50th year. Stay tuned for their celebrations.
Photograph thanks to Dr. Margaret Banks illustrating the enlarged Carnegie Library building in 1983 when it served as home for the Shrine to Music Museum, the W. H. Over Museum, and Oscar Howe’s Gallery. Note the lighter limestone addition to the rear of the original building.
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.
The Nancy Carlsen Research Papers show her passion for local history, maps, and the Missouri River. The collection is mostly about Clay County cemeteries and the Clay County sites on the National Register of Historic Places. It also includes material about Clay County Preservation Commission, Spirit Mound Trust, Spirit Mound Cemetery Restoration, and River Honoring.
Her papers contain many maps that Nancy created. Enjoy these portions of two of the Clay County SD maps. The first is a shaded relief map emphasizing the Missouri River Valley and the Vermillion River Valley. The second is a color topographic map highlighting Clay County cemeteries.
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