Archives and Special Collections

Financial struggles between state and federal government are nothing new as both groups try to shift economic burdens onto the other but these struggles often left citizens in a bind, especially regarding payments. In the 19th Century, militias were often formed in response to periods of heightened tensions (perceived or real) between American settlers and their American Indian neighbors. Governments or individuals formed these militias with promises of payment at the end of

History: The Young Citizens League chapters were established in grade schools to teach democratic principles and provide children opportunities for self-determination. The first chapter was established in 1910 in Brown County, South Dakota. By 1941, YCL had 7,500 chapters in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado. The first South Dakota State Convention was held in Pierre on April 25, 1927. In March 1971, the South Dakota State Steering Committee decided to disco

These handwritten diaries document Blair’s senior year (1890-1891) at the University of South Dakota and are set mainly in Vermillion and Elk Point, South Dakota. The collection also includes one copy of the Volante from June 15, 1891. This Volante issue covers a tumultuous time at the University and has one article by Blair.

For the 250th birthday celebration of the United States of America, we are resharing this wonderful 2014 blog post by Archives and Special Collections' employee Abigail Proehl about our music book collection: American History in the Mahoney Music Collection This week we celebrate the birth of our nation, with this Friday marking the 238th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Throughout those two centuries, music has played a key role in shaping our American culture

The Archives and Special Collections has a 1937 atlas by the Clay County Planning Board. It depicts the county after the stock market crash of 1929 and during the Great Depression. The maps show parcels of land owned by private individuals, the Federal Land Bank, other banks, insurance companies, land associations, etc. "The Clay County Farm Ownership Atlas was sponsored by the Clay County Planning Board. The work of securing the data, drafting, blue printing, and all clerica

The Archives and Special Collections has a compilation (i.e. bill book) of South Dakota Legislature House Bills from 1890. D. M. Inman’s signature is on the first page. South Dakota became a state in 1889, and the state's first session of the legislative assembly met in 1890. Darwin M. Inman (1838-1913) was a businessman, politician and educator from Vermillion. He served as a representative from Clay County to Dakota Territory and South Dakota Legislature in 1877-1878, 1881-

I find my joy browsing the library stacks. This month, I looked for books with fore-edge printing and fore-edge painting. These are methods of applying images to the edges of book pages. Sometimes the image is visible when the book is closed, and sometimes the image is only visible when the pages are fanned. Fore-edge is the edge of a book opposite the spine or the bound edge. I found fore-edge printing on a few art books and science fiction books in the I.D. Weeks Library, b

A library book that is 50+ years overdue is a common trope in books and movies. Though it is not common here, the library recently (and happily) received an overdue book that was checked out for 56 years. This image of the check-out slip for the overdue book shows that it was checked out in 1970. Guinness world record for the most years that a returned library book had been overdue is 288 years.