All Posts

In the Archives and Special Collections, we have examples of schoolwork that were part of the South Dakota education exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. USD president, Joseph Mauck, was the head South Dakota education exhibit for the fair (Cummins, The University of South Dakota 1862-1966, p. 51).

I have been waiting. Image from Catalogue of the University of South Dakota for the year 1892-3.

The Archives and Special Collections has this book in the Oscar Howe Papers: O. H. Bonnell, Translation of the Sioux Indian Language into English: figures, money, definitions, words, sentences, &c. Chamberlain, Dakota Territory: Democrat Print. 1880. 8 pages. 19 cm. [Update: Translation of the Sioux Indian language into English; Figures, money definitions, words, sentences, etc. […]

Beginning to work at the Archives and Special Collections department at USD’s I.D. Weeks Library seemed to be a little mysterious at first. What would I find in that special back room? Will I be putting books back on shelves all day? Will I be able to listen to music?! These concerns were alive and […]

This year, one of my personal projects is to find out more about Fort Vermillion. When did it exist and where? Here is what I know so far: Fort Vermillion was a trading post established by Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and Company along the Missouri River in the vicinity of what is now Vermillion, South Dakota. […]

The Archives and Special Collections has acquired Cuthbert DuCharme’s (also known as Old Papineau) trading post ledger. The post was located along the Missouri River and the military road near present-day Geddes, South Dakota. The ledger covers the years 1869 to 1872. For information on DuCharme see John Andrews et al, South Dakota Outlaws and […]

Image from the Albert Sidney Frost papers. He was a colonel in the 1st Regiment, South Dakota Volunteers while they were in the Philippines for the Spanish American War.

John Phillip Sousa is widely known in the world of music as the “March King.” Yet, his prolific compositional career included operettas, songs, and suites in addition to the more famous 135 individual marches: Stars and Stripes Forever, The Washington Post, Semper Fidelis, The Liberty Bell, Minnesota March, et al. Sousa was more than an […]

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 […]

Atlas photographique de la lune by Loewy and Puiseux, a French atlas of the moon, is the largest book in the Archives and Special Collections. It is 83 cm by 63 cm (33 in. by 25 in.). This is a big book. The images of the moon were photographed through the Observatory of Paris’ telescope […]

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 […]

This article, published in Volume 7 of The Volante (Issue 3, December 1893, pp. 41-42), poetically describes the personal and philosophical significance of photography. The author E. Frank Peterson explains that as “we gaze upon that faded picture we forget our present environments, we live again in the blissful past, and again we pluck the […]

Short poem printed in the May 1892 issue of The Volante.