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Freshmen Initiation Friday, September 19, 1913, otherwise known as Black Friday, the newly acquired graduating class of 1917, gathered outside of Main Hall (today one could assume they meant Old Main) promptly at 7:30 pm to begin their journey through the time honored tradition of hazing the incoming freshmen. Though this practice has gone by the […]

You’ll want to read Civil Defense In-Shelter Guide for University of South Dakota (November 18, 1963) to find out what learning to love crackers has to do with bomb shelters. It is in the USD Archives collection General Publications. Do you know what movie title I am misquoting for my title? Hint, it came out in […]

During the 1980s and 1990s, University of South Dakota commencement program covers often presented brief descriptions of USD buildings. In 2004, this building was remodeled and renamed the Dean Belbas Center. It houses Undergraduate Admissions, Financial Aid and the Office of the Registrar.

During the 1980s and 1990s, University of South Dakota commencement program covers often presented brief descriptions of USD buildings.

I recently found this interesting article “The University and the War Call”, by Robert W. Jones, Dept. of Journalism, USD Bulletin Series XVIII, No. 3, April 1918 in a collection called USD Publications. The article tells us that hanging in the chapel was a flag with 200 stars, one for “every man now in […]

Did your grandparents or great-grandparents attend the University of South Dakota? The Archives and Special Collections has the following sources to help you find out. Sources listing graduates and those who attended but did not graduate: University Catalogs, 1883-1884 school year to the current school year. Early catalogs often list enrollees. Coyote Yearbooks, 1903 through 1986. Student, […]

The Student Activities Council, Program Council poster collection is now open to researchers. It consists mainly of posters advertising events at the University of South Dakota sponsored by the Program Council. The events include concerts, movies, lectures, speakers, Dakota Days, the opening of the Muenster University Center (MUC), Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Wacipi. […]

Have you seen the concrete USD letters? They can be found by going to lower Vermillion and turning east on Burbank Road. The letters are in the vicinity of the golf course. This project “ … was a successful effort by the Vermillion Association of Women’s Clubs (Civic Council) to construct large white USD letters on the hillside […]

The Archives and Special Collections is acquiring digital copies of the 16mm films in the Educational Media Film Collection. We have just received this year’s DVDs from the company contracted to do the conversion. They are: The Great Lakes of South Dakota Happiest Gold Rush Ever Have You Really Seen South Dakota? Health Care: Crisis […]

The following collections in the Archives and Special Collections have content about the U.S. Military. Army Specialized Training Programs – WWII Austin, Horace – Civil War Beede Family – 1st Dakota Cavalry Bellamy, Paul E. – Spanish-American War Burton, Frederick – WWII Civil War Diary, Union Soldier, 1861-1863 Civilian Aeronautics Administration, USD Training Program, 1939-1945 […]

Women’s History The following collections in the Archives and Special Collections are by or about women: American Association of University Women Anderberg, Ina Anderson, Rebecca Collection on Whiteclay, Nebraska Beede Family Breeden, Jane Rooker Broughall, V.V.H. [textiles] Cooper-Foote, Dorothy (Wright) Cramer, Petrea Diaries Dillion, Charles H. and Frances J. Scrapbook Dimmick, Lauretta Edelen, Mary B. […]

The Faculty Woman’s Club collection has been processed and is available for research. The Faculty Woman’s Club was a group at USD that was formed for female faculty members and wives of professors. On a program cover letter from September 21, 1954, program chairwoman Edith M. Eyres states that the Faculty Woman’s Club’s “purpose is […]

In the Archives and Special Collections are watercolor reproductions of three University of South Dakota buildings: Slagle Auditorium (now called Aalfs Auditorium), the Carnegie Library (now houses the National Music Museum) and the Coyote Student Center (demolished in 2007, current location of the Muenster University Center). These images were created by Gray’s Watercolors. The Archives and Special Collections copies […]

Recently the Archives and Special Collections initiated a project to convert the 16mm movie films in the Educational Media Film Collection to digital formats. We hope to digitally copy 5-10 films per year. These movie films were originally part of the Educational Media Center on the USD campus. Some of Ed Media’s 16mm films were […]

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 […]

Herbert S. Schell was appointed the first University Archivist in 1968. He was largely responsible for organizing The University of South Dakota’s historical records into the USD Archives. Between 1968 and 1971, his extensive letter-writing campaign added the professional and personal papers of many prominent South Dakotans to the Richardson Collection. Schell joined the USD History Department in 1925. From 1936-1964, he served as the director and dean of the Graduate School.