Removal of hornet’s nest from Slagle Auditorium, October 1966

As curator of photographs in the Archives and Special Collections, I see a lot of images, and I’m often asked about my favorites. This rather rare photograph with Oscar Howe has always stayed with me since the moment I first saw it.

If one didn’t know the context of the image, we would none-the-less find it compelling and start to wonder. But we know about the lift, the danger, and the excitement of the event. The photograph is rare because Oscar is not in his studio, or classroom, or posing with others at one of his exhibitions as we expect to find him. Howe is candidly gathered with a group of students watching the removal of a hornet’s nest from Slagle Auditorium.

9283, USD Photograph Collection, Series 10

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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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Grand Old Maple, gone but not forgotten. #ArchivesTrees

On April 23, 1884, Arbor Day, students of the University [of South Dakota] planted a silver maple tree. One hundred years later on April 26, 1984, students and USD alumni celebrated the centennial birthday of South Dakota’s largest silver maple tree by planting 125 trees around campus. In an unfortunate storm on October 24, 1997, the Grand Old Maple suffered severe limb damage, and University officials deemed it necessary to cut down the South Dakota landmark. Students, faculty, staff, and community members said farewell to the Grand Old Maple at 9:00 a.m. on November 25, 1997.

Digital Library of South Dakota, ID P006056.

Library of Congress sponsors #ArchivesHashtagParty once a month. May’s topic is branching out and and celebrating trees.

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A basketball team with members from two South Dakota colleges broke barriers by going to post-revolution Cuba in 1977 to play a Cuban national basketball team. #ArchivesAthletes

Image is from the Digital Library of South Dakota.

Library of Congress sponsors #ArchivesHashtagParty once a month, and August’s topic is #ArchivesAthletes. LOC invites archives to submit tweets about athletes who broke records and barriers, famous sites for training and competition, patents for sport equipment, or historic moments that still give you goosebumps.

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Happy Valentine’s

From the Palmer Sigvald Gilbertson Collection

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New additions to the digital library

English-Dakota vocabulary; Waśicun iapi ieska wowapi, John Poage Williamson

Chilson Collection PM1023 .W6

Oscar Howe photographs, USD Photograph Collection

Oscar Howe: the Sioux painter, University of South Dakota

USD Archives ND 237.H79 O7 1983

William J. Janklow Gubernatorial Papers, Richardson Collection

• Selections from Canadian trade and hog embargo
• Selections from capital restoration
• Selections from Citibank documents

William J. Janklow Personal and Political Papers, Richardson Collection

• South Dakota budget briefs

Mamie Shields Pyle Papers, Richardson Collection

• Discerning voter
• Women’s work and war

Report to the members of the visiting Congressional Committee regarding the Standing Rock Indian Agency, Fort Yates, North Dakota, E.D. Mossman

Special Collections Books

Translation of the Sioux Indian language into English; Figures, money definitions, words, sentences, etc., O.H. Bonnell

Oscar Howe Papers

University of South Dakota, 1862-1966, Cedric Cummins

USD Archives LD5073 .C85x

Vermillion and vicinity , George T. Jordan

Vermillion, South Dakota, Richardson Collection

 

New materials coming this summer!

Bound and Unbound V: Altered Book Exhibition – August 26^th

Oscar Howe Photographic Materials, Oscar Howe Papers – selections from…

William J. Janklow Gubernatorial Papers – continued additions…

Mabel Townsley Papers

 

 

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History of Photography class visit to the Archives and Special Collections

It’s always so nice to have classes visit the Archives!

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Observatory at USD

University of South Dakota constructed an observatory one hundred years ago, in 1917.

Image from the Digital Library of South Dakota.

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1890-1891 USD faculty

 

Several University of South Dakota faculty from the 1890-1891 school year pose for their portraits.

 

Pictured left to right:

J. A. Ness, B.A., professor of the Greek language and literature

H. Schmidt-Wartenberg, M. A., Ph. D., professor of the modern languages

George S. Thomas, M. A., Ph. D., professor of Latin language and literature

Gerhardt C. Mars, M. A., professor of the English language and literature

Lorrain S. Hulburt, M. A., professor of mathematics and astronomy

Mary E. Allen, B. A., associate professor of Greek language and literature

Fred W. Speirs, B. S., acting professor of history and political economy

Garry E. Culver, M. A., professor of geology and mineralogy

Henry E. Kratz, Ph. M., Ph. D., professor of the science and art of teaching, and principal of the normal department

— USD Photograph Collection, “Catalogue of the University of South Dakota for the year 1890-91,” University of South Dakota.

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Science Hall demolition, 1960-1961

 

Science Hall under demolition (1960-1961) with a replica of the first log schoolhouse built in Dakota Territory in 1864 by the Dakota Calvary, Company A, under the direction of Captain Nelson Miner, on the left.

— USD Photograph Collection

 

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