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The first day of spring in 2020 is March 19th. Image from: Randolph Caledcott, Hey Diddle Diddle and Baby Bunting, London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1882?, uncataloged book in Mahoney Music Collection in the Archives and Special Collections. Mahoney Music Collection is a diverse collection of books centered around the violin located in the Archives and Special Collections at USD.

Dr. Frances Kelsey. In 1960, while at the Food and Drug Administration, she refused to approve release of thalidomide in the United States due to inadequate testing. For a portrait of Dr. Kelsey at the University of South Dakota, see the Digital Library of South Dakota.

What is more embarrassing than a Belch in the library? In the library a Belch rumbles through the corridors. It booms in the shocked silence. It echoes extra loudly. It startles the people and everybody looks at you, some disapproving, over the tops of their glasses and some laughing, behind their books, at your brick-red discomfort. For what is more embarrassing than a Belch in the library? A Belch, you know, is not exactly the mark of a Cultivated Person. In fact, a Belch is frowned on so sternly that most people would rather be cut in very small pieces, than let it be known that they Belched in the library. No one wants to be pointed out as The Person Who Belched in the Library. No one wants to be pointed out as a Person Who Belched at all. It is not a mark of Distinction to have Belched in the library. And changing the word to the less euphonious Burp is just silly. Oh! The ignominy of having Belched in the library. The shame, the disgrace, the feeling of failure, the realization the everyone Knows that it was you who Belched in the library. A graceful hand daintily covering your open mouth will not help. A blank, nonplussed look will do no good. A “who, me?” stare will not be effective at all. People will talk, But not to you. To you they will say, “You are no gentleman, sir, mainly because you Belch in libraries.” You are dishonored. Doomed to a lonely life, to sneaking furtively down streets and lurking in alleys. Afraid of having a little child point at you and scream, “There! There is the man who Belched in the library.” You are branded forever For, after all, what is more embarrassing than a Belch in the library? Published as “An Essay on the Belch” by R.N.W. in the Wet Hen, May 9 1941, page 5. The Wet Hen is a 1920s-1940s USD student produced humor magazine and can be viewed in the Archives and Special Collections. Happy Library Week, April 19-25, 2020.

To inspire us, this “Library Work” poster from the American Library Association is hanging up in the Archives and Special Collections. ALA believes the poster is from 1926. Used with permission from the American Library Association.

It happened a little over 100 years ago. On October 15, 1918, through November 10, 1918, the University of South Dakota suspended classes and sent the students home in a effort to stop the spread of the Spanish flu. No regular students, staff, or faculty died. Seven soldiers on campus for SATC training were not so lucky (Cummins, The University of South Dakota 1862-1966, 1975, page 138). There was no hospital in town to treat the sick. For a list of histories about USD, contact the Archives and Special Collections. USD students, staff, and faculty, please participate in USD’s COVID-19 Experiences Project, and stay safe.

An outdoor theatre begun at the close of [WWI] by Clarence Lyon was formally inaugurated in June, 1920, with a commencement play. Located in a former wasteland back of the Science Hall [and between the Pardee Estee Laboratory and the National Music Museum] it emerged throughout the next ten years as a moderately attractive facility. A sloping grass amphitheater faced westward toward an elevated leveled stage, both surrounded by linden trees and buckhorn hedges supplied by the Women’s Art Club and honeysuckle bushes donated by [USD President] Slagle. From Cedric Cummins, The University of South Dakota, 1862-1966, 1975, page 167. 1917-1918 USD campus map. The outdoor theater was located near the yellow star. Number 3 was the Science Building, and that building is now gone. Number 6 is now the National Music Museum. Number 8 is now the Pardee Estee Laboratory. The first commencement play in 1920 was Prunella. The principal parts were played by Professor Clarence Lyon and Mrs. Lyon. From the Alumni Quarterly, July 1920, page 59. Prunella The second commencement play in 1921 was Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night or What You Will performed by the Shakespearean Playhouse Players of New York City. From the Alumni Quarterly, July 1921, page 68.

– are maps intended primarily to influence opinions and beliefs rather than to communicate objective geographic information. They are meant to convey a message. Persuasive maps can be divided into intentional and unintentional. The Archives and Special Collections has a few persuasive maps. Most are dated from the homesteading period and are from land companies, railroad companies, and immigration bureaus trying to convince people to obtain land in a particular area. I did find one persuasive map on a subject other than land sales. It is a 1916 map on South Dakota water conservation projects produced by a group called Call-to-Action. I will keep looking. Please let me know if you see a persuasive map in our collections. Sources: PJ Mode Collection. Cornell University Library | Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections. Tyner, Judith Ann. Persuasive cartography: an examination of the map as a subjective tool of communication. University of California, Los Angeles Ph.D. Geography Dissertation, 1974. Reformers & visionaries, scoundrels & incendiaries: 250 years of persuasive mapping. Catalog 3. Boston: Boston Rare Maps. 2019.

William Jennings Bryan and Adlai Stevenson The Alan H. Schell collection of campaign buttons, pins, and political ephemera contains nearly one thousand pins, buttons, and ribbons that date from 1884 to 2008. While working with the collection this summer, I found surprises. There is a pin for Charlene Mitchell, very likely the first woman to appear on the general ballot as a candidate for the US president, and a pin for Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to seek the nomination of the Democratic Party for the US President. Contact the Archives and Special Collections if you have US presidential or South Dakota campaign buttons (or the stickers that many candidates are using instead of buttons) that you would like to donate. We also welcome those from primaries and caucuses. Consider starting your own collection of political memorabilia this campaign season.

I need to find a bowler hat and a dark suit. Should I dress up and sit outside of Old Main now while there are not many people on campus, or wait until fall when the leaves are off the trees, allowing us to photograph a clearer view of Old Main and East Hall? The image is from Catalogue of the University of South Dakota for the year 1892-3. Catalogs for USD are in the USD Archives.

Autobiographies by Lewis Akeley and Edward Churchill have vivid descriptions and fun stories centered around their teaching experiences at the University of South Dakota. Akeley’s book covers approximately 1887 to 1933. Churchill’s book covers approximately 1920 to 1961. My favorite stories are Churchill’s description of the campus in 1920 and how it felt to teach evolution after the Scope’s trial of 1925. The map is from 1920-1921 USD Catalog. Campus boundaries are Cherry Street to the north, Pine Street to the east, Clark Street to the south, and Dakota Street to the west. For a more general second-hand account of USD in the 1920s, see Cedric Cummins’ book University of South Dakota, 1862-1966. He has an entire chapter on the 1920s and covers a breadth of topics. I particularly like his descriptions of student life and sports activities. All three books listed below are in the USD Archives and in I.D. Weeks Library. Also, the Archives and Special Collections has the papers of Akeley, Churchill, and Cummins. Akeley, Lewis E. This is what we had in mind: early memories of The University of South Dakota. Vermillion, SD: The University of South Dakota, 1959. Call number LD5073 .A6. Churchill, Edward P. Three thousand coyotes and I: memoirs of a zoology professor. State University of South Dakota. Vermillion, SD: State University of South Dakota, 1962. Call number QL31 .C54 A3. Cummins, Cedric. The University of South Dakota, 1862-1966. Vermillion, SD: Dakota Press, 1975. LD5073 .C85x. If you are curious about a later period of USD history, check out the oral histories by Chuck Estee.