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This blog cites information about Carl Cornell who was interviewed as part of the South Dakota Oral History Project.

For a time prospects for a park and artificial lake under a W.P.A. grant generated much interest in the southern part of the county. The idea first emerged in 1933 as a modest project involving a grant of $8,000 for work-relief purposes. During the following year the concept grew in proportion to culminate in a […]

I found this great birds-eye view the of the USD campus in the Bulletin of the University of South Dakota, Announcement of the College of Medicine 1910-1911 (July 1910), Health Science Archives W 19.5 AS8 U58c. Notice how the main buildings make a u-shape. University catalogs (which were sometimes published as part of the Bulletin […]

This mosaic was compiled by the Remote Sensing Institute at SDSU in Brookings, SD, in 1973 using satellite images from the first human-made Earth-observing satellite designed to study and monitor our planet’s landmasses. The satellite carried a camera and a scanner sensitive to four spectral bands (green, red, and two infrared bands). This map is […]

These are some of the named automobile routes in South Dakota in 1920: Yellowstone Trail – Ortonville, MN to Hettinger, ND – marked on map with orange. Black and Yellow Trail – Tracy, MN to Sundance, WY – marked on map with yellow. Custer Battlefield Hiway – Sioux City, IA to Sundance, WY – marked […]

In 2026, the United States of America will observe its 250th anniversary. We will be searching our Archives and Special Collections for material to highlight the creation of the USA. So far, we have found material related to the Bicentennial. Contact us if you have suggestions. Follow this link for more information about Buell’s map.

If you have wondered what it is like to work in an archive, here is an opportunity to do one of our common tasks, which is researching for dates of undated material. Help us research when the attached maps were made. One way to assign dates to the maps would be to read an USD […]

One of DP’s favorite items in the Archives and Special Collections is this oblique map of South Dakota. It is a favorite because geographical information expressed in this slanted or skewed method is less common than a vertical overhead view, especially before computer mapping software. The map title is Physical Features State of South Dakota. […]

Southern Dakota was one of the first railroads in Dakota Territory, and the first to successfully operate in the area that would become the state of South Dakota. The tracks began in Sioux City in 1872 and reached Vermillion, Dakota Territory at the end of that year. In 1873, the tracks were completed to Yankton, Dakota […]

Enjoy finding the changes in the University of South Dakota campus from 1960 to 2016. Campus maps are in the USD Catalogs. Almost all the graduate and undergraduate USD catalogs can be viewed at the Archives and Special Collections. The maps in this post are as close to 10 years apart as possible. USD campus maps […]

The Nancy Carlsen Research Papers show her passion for local history, maps, and the Missouri River. The collection is mostly about Clay County cemeteries and the Clay County sites on the National Register of Historic Places. It also includes material about Clay County Preservation Commission, Spirit Mound Trust, Spirit Mound Cemetery Restoration, and River Honoring. […]

Historian Everett Sterling wrote in Vermillion Story (1959) that there was “a 1910 map preserved in the City Building, on which every residence is shown and identified …” Does anyone know where the map is now? Sterling’s Vermillion Story is in the Chilson Collection. Other histories about Vermillion and Clay County SD are listed on […]

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 […]

“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) […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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

Map of the Ceded Part of Dakota Territory: Showing Also Portions of Minnesota, Iowa & Nebraska, Smith, B. M., et al, 1861. Archives and Special Collection has this map in the Chilson Collection with the call number 4130 S64 1861. The inset map in the upper left corner shows the entire Dakota Territory and its boundaries.

At 33 inches by 25 inches and weighing more than 50 pounds, this lunar atlas is the largest book in the Archives and Special Collection at USD. The moon was photographed through the Observatory of Paris’ telescope in the late 1890s, and the photographs used to produce photogravure plates for the atlas. Library of Congress […]