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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 […]

Kent Scribner Collection (MS 270) is now open to researchers. This newly processed collection consists of the campus events from Scribner’s time as a University of South Dakota undergraduate student from 1956-1960. The other part of the collection consists of Scribner’s work at the USD Foundation mostly with the capital campaign named Campaign South Dakota. […]

These dancing witches and other supernatural beings are from The Celebrated Witches’ Dance, composed by Paganini, and transcribed for the piano forte by Wm. Vincent Wallace, 1852. Lithograph created by Sarony & Major, New York. This music score is located in the Mahoney Music Collection at the Archives and Special Collections, University of South Dakota. #Halloween, […]

Midwifery, a profession in the branch of obstetrics, has been around for centuries. While the techniques used in midwifery has changed, the core of the profession has not. Midwives are there to help with pregnancy, childbirth, and the post-partum period. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the contributions midwives have had to health, and, along […]

Check out this Library of Congress blog post containing great advice for people organizing their own family papers. “Your own personal archiving project: where do you start?” by Mike Ashenfelder, May 11, 2016. On the Library of Congress blog The Signal. https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2016/05/how-to-begin-a-personal-archiving-project/ (accessed 10/09/2019). It tells you to start simply, evaluate material for broad categories […]

E.O. Lawrence won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1939 for his work on the cyclotron, which uses an electric field to accelerate charge particles. Most cyclotrons are utilized in medicine and physics research. He also has an element on the periodic table named after him, Lawrencium. The Archives and Special Collections at the University […]

Please use #AskAnArchivist and @USD_AandSC when asking questions on Twitter so we don’t miss any of your questions.

In September 1952, fans at an USD football game and some residents of southeast South Dakota saw an amazing light show in the sky. It was described in the Vermillion Plain Talk: FIREBALL IN SKY FLOODS AREA WITH LIGHT ON SATURDAY NIGHT. Alert residents in the Vermillion area got an opportunity to see one of […]

Thirty years ago this month, the World Archaeological Congress gathered at the University of South Dakota and crafted the Vermillion Accord on Human Remains. All six principles of the accord emphasize respect. See https://worldarchaeologicalcongress.com/code-of-ethics/. 1. Respect for the mortal remains of the dead shall be accorded to all, irrespective of origin, race, religion, nationality, custom […]

maps from: Illustrated Historical Atlas of Clay County, South Dakota : Including a Brief History of Clay County by E. Frank Peterson, 1901. Standard Atlas of Clay County, South Dakota : Including a Plat Book of the Villages, Cities and Townships of the County, Map of the State United States and World, Patrons Directory, Reference […]

Dakota Hall was built in 1919. This image and description of the Dakota Hall appeared on the cover of a 1992 commencement program. During the 1980s and 1990s, USD commencement programs often highlighted USD buildings. The Archives and Specials has an almost complete set of commencement programs from 1889 to 2019.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, I present an University of South Dakota / outer space connection: USD alumnus Carl Q. Christol (1913-2012) was a pioneer in space law. He wrote The International Law of Outer Space (1966) and helped negotiate the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in […]

The Herman P. Chilson Collection of Western Americana is the largest book collection in the Archives and Special Collections and is frequently used by researchers interested in regional Native and European-American history. Other strengths of the collections, as stated in a January 1977 The South Dakotan article, are first editions, special editions, pre-Columbian explorations in […]

I am hunting for a book titled In The World War 1917 1918 1919, Clay County, South Dakota or An Honor Roll Containing a Pictorial Record of the gallant and courageous men from Clay County South Dakota, U.S.A. who served in the Great War 1917-1918-1919. I have seen similar books for a number of other […]

April is National Poetry Month, and the Archives and Special Collections is celebrating with two exhibits on the 3rd floor of ID Weeks. At the top of the main staircase sits a small exhibit containing samples from Linda Hasselstrom, James Foley, and Kathleen Norris; with art by Ed Colker accompanying Norris’s work. Linda Hasselstrom’s works […]

In honor of National Library Week (April 7-13, 2019), I present Passion in the Library: An Apocalyptic Comedy in Flames and Shadows. The play “is a multimedia drama revealing a new emotional perspective on the human confrontation with human knowledge …” The script is in the George Prescott Scott papers in the Archives and Special […]

The Archives and Special Collections recently received the book Rediscovery the Barns of Clay County, South Dakota by the Clay County Historic Preservation Commission. Members of the community, under the leadership of Jim Stone, investigated and recorded approximately 350 barns in Clay County. Most of the book consist of Historic Sites Survey Structure forms, which […]

Betty Turner Asher was the first woman president of any public higher education system in South Dakota. She served at USD from 1989-1996, resigning after seven years of service. At the time, her tenure was tied with two other presidents for the fourth longest term of any president at USD. Asher was previously the Vice […]