The Frank H. Blair diaries were recently processed and placed in the Richardson Collection (part of the Archives and Special Collections). A link to the finding aid and the Archives and Special Collections' terms of use and procedures can be found on our website. There are many different types of diaries. Some give an account of day-to-day life. Blair’s diaries are mainly about his thoughts, with occasional descriptions of his activities. Diaries in the Archives and Special Collections by Thomas Hunter, Austin Horace and an unnamed Civil War soldier from the Union Army are available for viewing on the Digital Library of South Dakota. When reading a diary for historical research, it is useful to ask yourself the following questions: What was the diary’s context? What was the writer’s intent? Was it promotional? If so, what was the goal? Was it written while the events were occurring or later? Are there phrases borrowed from other literature of the time? Clichés may indicate that the writer was repeating common knowledge rather than writing personal observations and emotions. The photograph of the Class of 1891 is from the Volante, volume V, number 1, September 1891, page 30. Copy of photograph is from the Digital Library of South Dakota, accessed 9/23/2025. Please contact us if you know which person in this picture is Frank H. Blair.

History: The Young Citizens League chapters were established in grade schools to teach democratic principles and provide children opportunities for self-determination. The first chapter was established in 1910 in Brown County, South Dakota. By 1941, YCL had 7,500 chapters in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado. The first South Dakota State Convention was held in Pierre on April 25, 1927. In March 1971, the South Dakota State Steering Committee decided to discontinue the League as a state organization. At that time, each school system had the option to continue citizen education, but under its own direction. Archival Material: The Young Citizens League papers in the Richardson Collections (part of the Archives and Special Collections) consists of YCL newsletters (1939-1970) and 2 scrapbooks (1941-1942). A link to YCL finding aid and the Archives and Special Collections' terms of use and procedures can be found on our website. Personal Memories: YCL was still active when I was in grade school. My sisters and I remember doing art, singing songs, and receiving awards during the annual county-wide meetings. Most of the themes were patriotic, but not all. One skit introduced us to the music of a brand-new rock and roll band called The Beatles. My sister's Young Citizens League pin

The first Dakota Day at the University of South Dakota took place on November 20, 1914. The parade theme was Frontier Life, and the Coyote football team triumphed over Yankton College, 33 to 3. Read about the origin of Dakota Day in Cedric Cummins' University of South Dakota, 1862-1966. University of South Dakota, 1975, pages 118-119. The book is available in the University Libraries, the USD Archives (part of the Archives and Special Collections), and the Digital Library of South Dakota. Articles about Dakota Day (later called Dakota Days) frequently appear in the Volante newspaper and alumni publications. These are in the Archives and Special Collections. The image is from the Digital Library of South Dakota. Identifier P006006.

The Year of Reconciliation (and the newly renamed holiday Native Americans' Day) was established in 1990 by South Dakota Governor George S. Mickelson and South Dakota Secretary of Indian Affairs Francis White Bird. Information about the Year of Reconciliation can be found in the Institute of American Indian Studies' The Bulletin, Winter 1990, page 17. Copies of the IAIS Bulletins and News Reports are in the Digital Library of South Dakota, USD Archives, and South Dakota Government Document collections.

During World War II, the War Department, in conjunction with the Army, created the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) to educate and train soldiers on college and university campuses in place of the usual basic training. The University of South Dakota established its Army Specialized Training Program in the fall of 1943. Arthur M. Pardee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, was the coordinator, and G.L. Abernethy was the assistant coordinator. Colonel Joseph Church, the head of the ROTC, was the military commander until he was replaced by Major Fred E. Sims in 1944. I.D. Weeks was the president of the university while ASTP was active. The curriculum was divided into the basic phase, which focused on general knowledge, and the advanced phase, which focused on engineering or medical training. Approximately 600 cadets participated. The program existed at the University of South Dakota for three terms and was discontinued on 4 March 1944. For more about the history of the Army Specialized Training Program, see: Cummins, Cedric, and University of South Dakota. Alumni and Faculty. The University of South Dakota, 1862-1966. Dakota Press, 1975. The Archives and Special Collections has 2 linear feet of Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) papers, dating from 1943 to 1945. These papers are in the USD Archives. The finding aid for the collection is online. This image is from the Army Specialized Training Program papers, box 2, folder Publication, Manuals.

While doing research in an archival collection, have you ever come across intriguing but completely off-topic items that have nothing to do with your research? For example, while working with the Herman P. Chilson Collection of Western Americana in the Archives and Special Collections, I found three contemporary fictional murder mysteries set in South Dakota with small-town themes.

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. Théophile Bruguiere was a trader in residence. (Jones) From June 1845 to the spring of 1846, Mormons rested at the fort while on their mission to find a permanent place for the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to settle. (Jones) The USD Archaeology Laboratory in the late 1990s searched for the location of Fort Vermillion. They could not just look for remnants of the fort along the current banks of the Missouri River because the Missouri River had dramatically changed its course since the establishment of the fort. The lab “conducted a remote sensing survey over a portion of farmland that was once a river channel, and while they found the channel, the old shoreline area contained no cultural materials.” (Molyneaux) I haven’t found the fort on any of the maps we have in the Archives and Special Collections, though I am still looking. I did find it on G.K. Warren’s maps in Callaway and Wood’s book, and that is the source of the image in this post. Sources Gerald E. Jones, An Early Mormon Settlement in South Dakota, South Dakota History, vol. 1 no. 2, Spring 1971. Brian Molyneaux, email to author 1/12/2016. Graham A. Callaway and W. Raymond Wood, Lieutenant G. K. Warren’s 1855 and 1856 Manuscript Maps of the Missouri River, Bismarck ND: State Historical Society of North Dakota, 2012. Originals of the maps are in the National Archives.

according to a book in Chilson Collection with this title. Hint – many of the letters that look like a “f” are actually a “s”.

What bend of the Missouri River between Vermillion and Yankton, SD is named after a famed 19th century naturalist who stayed at Fort Vermillion in 1843? He was traveling on the Missouri River while researching his book on quadrupeds? Archives and Special Collections has his quadruped and bird books in the Chilson Collection. Image from quadruped book in the Chilson Collection. The answer and the source of this information can be found in Herbert Schell’s History of Clay County, 1976, page 13.

The Archives and Special Collections has a small collection of General Land Office maps. The Black Hills maps are supplemental plats, extension surveys, and dependent resurveys with dates between 1927 and 1932. They show mineral surveys, mine names, homestead entry surveys, homesteader names, forest reserves, sections with subdivisions, surveyor names and sometimes relief. The Cheyenne River Reservation maps are dependent resurveys with dates between 1929 and 1931. They show allotments with serial numbers, and sections with subdivisions. Does anyone know the location of the surveyors’ notes connected with the resurveys? Does anyone know the meaning of the serial numbers on the allotments?