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This is an image of Dr. Karl Wegner and Dean John Day flanking a bronze bust of Governor Peter Norbeck. The bust was part of the USD Art Collection and is located in Old Main, room 118.

Help us transcribe our collections! https://fromthepage.com/usdarchives FromThePage is a software designed for transcribing documents. The platform enables users to view an image of a page and transcribe the corresponding text. More information https://libguides.usd.edu/fromthepage Questions? Email us at library@usd.edu Recently our work in FromThePage was featured on KTIV news. https://www.ktiv.com/2026/01/13/becoming-digital-archivist-vermillion-libraries-seek-volunteers-h

First started by fur traders, Dakota Territory trading posts provided places for patrons to meet, have a drink of whiskey or two, purchase items needed for everyday living or work, obtain jobs, get a room for the night, or obtain a ride to another town. Cuthbert DuCharme (“Old Pap”), a French-Canadian fur trader, arrived in […]

Digital Images of “Indians of North America, Prisoners of War Series”, Chilson Collection (https://explore.digitalsd.org/digital/collection/chilson/search/searchterm/Bailey%2C%20Dix%20%26%20Mead/field/contra/mode/exact/conn/and/page/1 William Richard (W. R.) Cross was born in Vermont in 1839. He learned photography from his brother Daniel Cross who was a Union Civil War photographer. In 1867, W. R. Cross moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and married Jennie Church. Subsequently, they

The Chilson Collection started with Herman Chilson’s donation to the I. D. Weeks Library. Since then, it has more than tripled in size. Its contents contain a treasure of books, maps, and images associate with Western America material.

The I. D. Weeks Library hosts its digital collections in the Digital Library of South Dakota. Highlighted here is Andreas’ Historical Atlas of Dakota, published by A. T. Andreas in Chicago in 1884, and is part of the Herman P. Chilson Collection of Western Americana. The term “atlas” refers to a collection of maps. This […]

In the summer of 1959, the W. H. Over Museum, founded in 1883, was situated in the basement of Slagle Hall., Dr. Wesley Hurt, director of the museum was also an associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Dakota. In 1957, according to the newsletter: Museum News (Vol 18 #7, part of the Chilson […]

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 […]

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 […]

A Postcard Collection from the University of South Dakota’s Archives The USD Archives and Special Collections is home to many unique holdings from South Dakota’s past. This on-line exhibit, Greetings from South Dakota, is a compilation of 27 postcards rendering images from throughout the state. As a part of our Chilson Collection, this group of […]

Bill Nye. There’s a name that automatically brings back memories. No, not Bill Nye the Science Guy, but don’t worry… I was fooled too! I stumbled across this story while rambling through the Chilson Collection. The voice and history of the Western enthusiast, Edgar Wilson Nye, more commonly known by his pseudonym Bill Nye, comes […]

Within the Chilson collection, there is a great wealth of information on the Battle of Little Bighorn. Within these books, there are a delightful little bunch of narratives regarding the animals of Little Bighorn, most of them focusing on Keogh’s horse Comanche. One book, Marching with Custer by Elwood L. Nye, outlines the hardships the […]

While wandering through the labyrinth of books in the Archives and Special Collections, I came across a title that caught my eye. Taking it off the shelf, the tale of Ellen McGowan Biddle was unveiled in her memoir Reminiscences of a Soldier’s Wife. The story mainly focuses on experiences that occurred after the Civil War […]

While the Chilson Collection focuses on Midwestern history and culture, it also has many other interesting gems. One in particular that caught my eye was Water Birds of North America by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, a two-volume set containing hundreds of illustrations of heads and portraits of birds. In the set that can be found […]

Lately I have been assigned to the exciting task of carefully vacuuming books and wiping the shelves clean in the Chilson collection. It is a task that would be boring if there weren’t so many interesting books on every shelf. I’ve been working my way through beautifully illustrated Native American children’s books, histories of Wounded […]

From Cleata B. Thorpe’s Education in South Dakota 1861-1961: Teachers will fill lamps, clean chimneys and trim wicks each day. Each teacher will bring a scuttle of coal and a bucket of water for the day’s use. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs for the individual tastes of children. Men teachers may take […]

The Black Hills flood of June 9, 1972 is of particular interest to the author of this post, being a native of Rapid City. The unusually heavy rainfall that caused the flood and the death and destruction it left behind make it one of the state’s worst-ever natural disasters. While exploring the Black Hills books that are […]