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I need to find a bowler hat and a dark suit. Should I dress up and sit outside of Old Main now while there are not many people on campus, or wait until fall when the leaves are off the trees, allowing us to photograph a clearer view of Old Main and East Hall? Image […]

The Alan H. Schell collection of campaign buttons, pins, and political ephemera contains nearly one thousand pins, buttons, and ribbons that date from 1884 to 2008. While working with the collection this summer, I found surprises. There is a pin for Charlene Mitchell, very likely the first woman to appear on the general ballot as […]

– are maps intended primarily to influence opinions and beliefs rather than to communicate objective geographic information. They are meant to convey a message. Persuasive maps can be divided into intentional and unintentional. The Archives and Special Collections has a few persuasive maps. Most are dated from the homesteading period and are from land companies, […]

An outdoor theatre begun at the close of [WWI] by Clarence Lyon was formally inaugurated in June, 1920, with a commencement play. Located in a former wasteland back of the Science Hall [and between the Pardee Estee Laboratory and the National Music Museum] it emerged throughout the next ten years as a moderately attractive facility. […]

It happened a little over 100 years ago. On October 15, 1918, through November 10, 1918, the University of South Dakota suspended classes and sent the students home in a effort to stop the spread of the Spanish flu. No regular students, staff, or faculty died. Seven soldiers on campus for SATC training were not […]

To inspire us, this “Library Work” poster from the American Library Association is hanging up in the Archives and Special Collections. ALA believes the poster is from 1926.

What is more embarrassing than a Belch in the library? In the library a Belch rumbles through the corridors. It booms in the shocked silence. It echoes extra loudly. It startles the people and everybody looks at you, some disapproving, over the tops of their glasses and some laughing, behind their books, at […]

Dr. Frances Kelsey. In 1960, while at the Food and Drug Administration, she refused to approve release of thalidomide in the United States due to inadequate testing. For a portrait of Dr. Kelsey at the University of South Dakota, see the Digital Library of South Dakota.

The first day of spring in 2020 is March 19th. Image from: Randolph Caledcott, Hey Diddle Diddle and Baby Bunting, London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1882?, uncataloged book in Mahoney Music Collection in the Archives and Special Collections. Mahoney Music Collection is a diverse collection of books centered around the violin located in the Archives […]

Lulu (Mrs. E.P.) Wanzer may have been the first. She was from Armour, SD and was active in public health and the State Board of Health. A state summer camp for children was named Camp Wanzer in her honor. She was appointed to the BOR in January 1931 and served until her death in August […]

From the Charles and Frances Dillon scrapbook. Mr. Dillon was a member of the US House of Representatives from South Dakota (1913-1919).

Salute to Oscar Micheaux, who homesteaded near Gregory (SD) before becoming a film maker and author. The Archives and Special Collections at USD has many books by and about him. Books by Micheaux in the Herman P. Chilson Collection of Americana: Micheaux, Oscar. The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer. Lincoln, Nebr.: Woodruff Press, […]

What bend of the Missouri River between Vermillion and Yankton, SD is named after a famed 19th century naturalist who stayed at Fort Vermillion in 1843? He was traveling on the Missouri River while researching his book on quadrupeds? Archives and Special Collections has his quadruped and bird books in the Chilson Collection. Image from […]

There is a new display outside of the Archives and Special Collections. It features a Black Hills map by Amos Bad Heart Bull and a Black Hills tourist map.

Look at the wonderful graphic that Tasha from our Technology Department created for us.

In January 1920, the University of South Dakota’s winter term began one week later than scheduled because of a coal shortage and the uncertainty of future coal supply. The shortage and uncertainty were due to a coal miners’ strike. Sources: Information from The Alumni Quarterly, January 1920, page 134. Image from the leather cover […]

The national woman suffrage story ultimately became a success because of the success of suffragists at the state and local levels. Next year, as we celebrate a century since the ratification of the 19th Amendment, it is important to remember the significance of the state and local stories as well. Simultaneously the most fun and […]

In recognition of Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday and her contributions to health, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife”. This post is a continuation of another post that focused on midwives. Nurses have gone from being regarded as a menial profession to a respected field of study. […]

Did you feel like a penguin this last week? Penguins are in my favorite research project logo. USD zoology professor Raymond Dillon and two grad students participated in an United States Antarctica research program for 10 weeks in 1969, collecting fresh water and soil protozoa samples. For more information on the research project, please see […]

List from Knutson, Wayne S. “A story of faith and endurance: The University of South Dakota.” In From idea to institution: higher education in South Dakota, edited by Herbert T. Hoover et al, page 32. Vermillion, SD: University of South Dakota Press, 1989, call number LA364.5 .F76 1989. name date of initial appointment academic areas […]