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Doris Peterson
Dec 9, 20240 min read
The Tiospaye House
By 1970, at the University of South Dakota (USD), Upward Bound and Special Services helped promising high school Native students prepare for college, and once in college, lent them cultural and academical support. In addition, student led clubs, such as the Wapaha Club, started in 1957, and later the Tiospaye Student Council, became advocates for […]
Evelyn Schlenker
Nov 21, 20242 min read
University of South Dakota campus view in 1910.
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 […]
Doris Peterson
Nov 20, 20241 min read
Early satellite image mosaic showing the state of South Dakota.
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 […]
Doris Peterson
Nov 8, 20241 min read
Andrew Frank Fools Crow & Upward Bound
In the summer of 1970 revered and highly respected traditional Oglala Sioux Teton chief, civic leader, and healer, Andrew Frank Fools Crow (circa 1890-1989) visited the University of South Dakota (USD) and met with students in the Upward Bound program. The purpose of the Upward Bound Program, started in 1966 at USD under the Institute […]
Evelyn Schlenker
Oct 29, 20242 min read
Five themes to research for the 250th anniversary of the United States
Unfinished Revolutions Power of Place We the People American Experiment Doing History These themes are suggested by the American Association for State and Local History in their pamphlet “The Field Guide for the Semiquincentennial Making History at 250”. Happy Archives Month
Doris Peterson
Oct 18, 20241 min read
Before the mid-1920s, #ArchivesOnTheRoad could have cruised the Sunshine Highway in South Dakota in a Fawick Flyer.
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 […]
Doris Peterson
Oct 4, 20241 min read
A Musical Meeting
At the end of 1969 Usher Abell stepped down as Chair of the Department of Music at the University of South Dakota (USD), a position he held since 1952. Abell was a well-respected, talented violinist, director of the USD orchestra, and teacher of string instruments promoting music education locally and nationally. Usher Abell, Agnes Ringley, […]
Evelyn Schlenker
Sep 26, 20241 min read
100th South Dakota Legislative Session is in 2025.
We couldn’t find a photograph from the first South Dakota Legislative Session, but the Archives and Special Collections does have a picture from the fifteenth (1917) Session with the legislators’ names written right on the photograph. This photograph is from the William Lyon collection. Can you find him in this mosaic?
Doris Peterson
Sep 17, 20241 min read
What is that pattern?
#ArchivesHashtagParty asked archives across the USA to share their favorite repetitive designs and patterns for #ArchivesPatterns. We love the piano keyboard pattern on one of the local National Music Museum buildings.
Doris Peterson
Sep 6, 20241 min read
Do you know where the time capsule is in the library walls?
Information about this time capsule was discovered in the Volante (student newspaper). The April 27, 1994, issue has a photograph of two women standing before a wall under construction and holding a 3 feet x 1 foot plywood box. The picture caption tells us that the capsule was sponsored by the USD Student Association and […]
Doris Peterson
Aug 23, 20241 min read
President Dwight Eisenhower’s Letter to Dean Lewis Akeley
President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote a letter to University of South Dakota (USD) Dean Lewis E. Akeley dated May 26, 1958. At that time Dean Akeley was 97 years old. He arrived at the University of Dakota in 1887 (South Dakota became as state in 1889) and was a faculty member for 74 years. Akeley […]
Evelyn Schlenker
Aug 20, 20242 min read
The 1967 move of the W. H. Over Museum to the Carnegie Building: Arne Larson and Bobby Penn
In 1967 the University of South Dakota (USD) library moved out of the Carnegie Building it occupied since 1911. An addition to the building doubled its capacity in 1940, but 25 years later it was too small to accommodate the increased needs of the students and faculty. The building became home to a museum. That […]
Evelyn Schlenker
Aug 6, 20242 min read
What connects Vermillion, SD and Palisades State Park?
William Lyon was born and grew up in Vermillion, SD. His widow Winona Lyon donated the land containing the beautiful palisades to the state of South Dakota. Additional land will be added to the park during the summer of 2024, doubling the size of the park. Palisades State Park is one of the most unique […]
Doris Peterson
May 20, 20241 min read
Was there a place in Vermillion SD in the 1940s that had audio recording equipment?
We found a self-recorded 78 phonograph dated 1949 in our USD Phonograph collection. It was in Modern Electric Co.’s. bag. Did Modern Electric or the University of South Dakota have the equipment needed to record onto a blank phonograph?
Doris Peterson
May 6, 20241 min read
University of South Dakota Commencement of June 6, 1966: A Tribute to President I. D. Weeks
The June 6, 1966, 84th annual spring commencement, marked the last time that President I. D. Weeks presided over a university graduation ceremony. The importance of this ceremony is clear from its gold program cover and the dignitaries present asked to comment on President Weeks’ many accomplishments for the university, the state, and nation. As […]
Evelyn Schlenker
Apr 30, 20242 min read
Happy National Poetry Month: The oldest book in the Archives and Special Collections is a poetry book in Latin.
Incipit laus Sancti Bernardi Abatis; Laus de Virgine Maria: Ave mater misericordie may be the oldest book in the Archives and Special Collections. I found this description of the book on a sheet of letterhead paper tucked into the book: “Manuscript on paper, written in a fine formal book hand. 28 lines. 12 leaves (the […]
Doris Peterson
Apr 19, 20241 min read
Open house for Archives & Special Collections, Digital Humanities, Digital Imaging Lab, and South Dakota Oral History Center
Thursday, April 18, 20244:00-6:00pm IDW 3rd Floor 321Join us for refreshments, guided tours, interactive stations and guest speakers.
Doris Peterson
Apr 8, 20241 min read
In the Mahoney Music Collection are two competing music histories.
Charles Burney’s and John Hawkins’s multi-volume histories were both published in London in the late 1700s (around 1776.) How are they different, and how are they similar? Why did the authors say negative comments about the other’s history?
Doris Peterson
Mar 18, 20241 min read
Louella Cable was an aquatic biologist, the first female scientist hired by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, a prolific researcher, a great scientific illustrator, and an USD Alumna.
Dr. Cable received B.A. (1926) and M.A. (1927) degrees from the University of South Dakota. She worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, later called the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, from 1927 to 1970.
Doris Peterson
Mar 1, 20241 min read
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