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This recipe is from Good Things to Eat and How to Prepare Them. Buffalo NY: Larkin Co., 1906. This book is in the Chilson Collection in the Archives and Special Collections.

If ghost towns do not need to have standing structures, then Clay County has at least one – Lodi. Bloomingdale may turn out to be another one, but further research is needed to determine if Bloomingdale was a town. Both are now private land and used for farming. Peterson’s atlas can be viewed in the […]

Her photograph collection “chronicles life in Veblen, South Dakota and includes photographs taken by Vivian Steen as well as others. ” They date from circa 1900 to 1930s. The photographs range “from scenes of the downtown, scenes of store interiors, storekeepers, harvesters, ranch work, farm animals, road trips in both horse drawn vehicles and motor […]

April is National Poetry Month and March 21st is International Poetry Day. Browse the shelves in the library and have fun putting titles together to form a poem that pleases you.

She was active and influential in politics and public education in the early 20th century at the local (Vermillion SD) level and the state level. She also wrote for a local newspaper, the Vermillion Plain Talk, and taught school. 1866 – birth. Circa 1888 – graduation from USD and started teaching at Vermillion. 1901 – […]

Information from “U.S.D. Endowment Association.” The Alumni Quarterly 18 no. 1 (April 1922); 36-37. This publication can be found in the Archives and Special Collections.

“Since 1972, EROS has worked to map, monitor, and analyze land change across our nation and around the world” (EROS website). This USGS facility is located by Sioux Falls, SD, and is a treasure-trove of satellite images and aerial photographs.” Documents and photographs concerning the early history of EROS and ERTS (Earth Resources Technology Satellite) […]

We wish we had more. Please, please donate your USD student group’s publications to the archives. They will tell future researchers so much about USD. Below are listed the publications we currently have in the Archives and Special Collections. Student Publications: The Blast, magazine, 1954 to 1968 Blue Print, magazine, 1917 to 1927 The Coyote, […]

Even his wife Eleanor did not know what was in it. In her cookbook, she described the dressing as having a tangy flavor all its own. George McGovern was an US senator from South Dakota and the Democratic Party presidential nominee 50 years ago in the 1972 presidential election. This cookbook is in the Chilson […]

Darrow, A. N., et al. Map of the Missouri River : from Its Mouth to Three Forks, Montana. Missouri River Commission, 1892-1895. Archives and Special Collections doesn’t have all the maps in this set, but we do have the indexes and maps for South Dakota under call number 1472 M5 1895 U545. This map shows […]

This vintage photograph postcard is in the Works Progress Administration Records in the Archives and Special Collections. It was copyrighted in 1912 by L. E. Stair of Mitchell, SD. The WPA Records also contain a short story about this photograph as told by Mr. L. E. Stair.

The mound appears on this 1856 map as Little Spirits Hill. Spirit Mound was described by local Indigenous people to the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804. Twenty years ago in 2001, it was replanted with native grasses and joined the South Dakota state park system as Spirit Mound Historic Prairie. In 2010, a geologic […]

The WPA papers at the University of South Dakota Archives and Special Collections have recipe cards for 50 different ways you can prepare a pheasant. The South Dakota WPA Writers Project selected 12 of the 50 for their booklet “Fifty Million Pheasants.” Below is not one of the twelve, but it sounds tasty. To see […]

Eastern part of SD was in Iowa Territory 1838–1846. Eastern part of SD was in Minnesota Territory 1849–1858. Western part of SD was in Nebraska Territory 1854–1861. SD was entirely in Dakota Territory 1861-1889. The original boundaries of Dakota Territory are shown on the first map below. The final boundaries are shown in the second […]

This comprehensive music-related collection is mainly books, largely centered around stringed instruments, was created by John Mahoney, and is housed in the Archives and Special Collection at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD. Library of Congress sponsors #ArchivesHashtagParty once a month. November’s topic is #ArchivesBookLove.

The following summary is from the guide to his papers at the Archives and Special Collections: Frank L. Farrar was born April 2, 1929, in Britton, South Dakota. Farrar was the only Governor of South Dakota who was also elected governor at South Dakota Boys State. He attended and graduated from the University of South […]

While doing research in an archival collection, have you ever come across intriguing, but completely off-topic items that have nothing to do with your research? Working with the George Prescott Scott papers in the Archives and Special Collections, I found a presentation he gave in 1982 on “Split Brains and Spooky Vibes.” Title aside, the […]

While doing research in an archival collection, have you ever come across intriguing, but completely off-topic items that have nothing to do with your research? For example, while working with the Edward Perry Churchill collection I found a research paper he wrote in 1916 on “The Learning of a Maze by Goldfish.” What do you […]

It was south and west of Yankton, Dakota Territory. This 1872 map can be viewed in the Archives and Special Collections. Map of Military Department of the Platte, Nebraska. Washington, D.C.: Engineer Dept., U.S. Army (Washington D.C. : N. Peters, Photo-lithographer), 1872. CHILSON COLLECTION MAP 4190 W728 1872

What do you think of this great graphic expression of the University of South Dakota’s academic programs in 1982? The poster also lists the year each program starts. It was created by Wayne Knutson and is in the College of Arts and Sciences collection.