This recipe is from Good Things to Eat and How to Prepare Them. Buffalo NY: Larkin Co., 1906. This book is in the Chilson Collection in the Archives and Special Collections.

Historian Everett Sterling wrote in Vermillion Story (1959) that there was “a 1910 map preserved in the City Building, on which every residence is shown and identified …” Does anyone know where the map is now? Sterling’s Vermillion Story is in the Chilson Collection. Contact the Archives and Special Collections for a list of other histories about Vermillion and Clay County SD.

"On April 23, 1884, Arbor Day, students at the University [of South Dakota] planted a silver maple tree. One hundred years later on April 26, 1984, students and USD alumni celebrated the centennial birthday of South Dakota’s largest silver maple tree by planting 125 trees around campus. In an unfortunate storm on October 24, 1997, the Grand Old Maple suffered severe limb damage, and University officials deemed it necessary to cut down the South Dakota landmark. Students, faculty, staff, and community members said farewell to the Grand Old Maple at 9:00 a.m. on November 25, 1997." The photograph and quote from the Digital Library of South Dakota, ID P006056. Library of Congress sponsors #ArchivesHashtagParty once a month. May’s topic is branching out and and celebrating trees.

The Nancy Carlsen Research Papers show Nancy's passion for local history, maps, and the Missouri River. The collection is mostly about Clay County cemeteries and the Clay County sites on the National Register of Historic Places. It also includes material about Clay County Preservation Commission, Spirit Mound Trust, Spirit Mound Cemetery Restoration, and River Honoring. Her papers contain many maps that Nancy created. Enjoy these portions of two of the Clay County SD maps. The first is a shaded relief map emphasizing the Missouri River Valley and the Vermillion River Valley. The second is a color topographic map highlighting Clay County cemeteries.

I found this handwritten recipe in a cookbook in the Archives and Special Collections. What does it make? Who put it there? Does cathup equal ketchup? Is there still shredded wheat in the breakfast food aisle? I must use it soon and find out what it makes. Meatloaf? Meatloaf Appreciation Day is October 18th. The recipe was found between the pages of Good Things to Eat and How to Prepare Them. Buffalo NY: Larkin Co., 1906, which is in the Chilson Collection. Many cookbooks on a wide variety of topics can be found there.

On November 7, 1922, South Dakotans were asked to vote whether to move the University from Vermillion to Sioux Falls. This initiated law lost, and it had the lowest yes vote of any initiated law in the years analyzed by Alan Clem, i.e., 1889-1960 (page 35). Shown in the image are the constitutional amendments (CA) and initiated laws (IL) on the South Dakota ballot in 1922. These were extracted from Table 10 in Clem’s publication (page 37-38). Information and table from Clem, Alan L. South Dakota Political Almanac: a Presentation and Analysis of Election Statistics, 1889-1960. Vermillion, S.D: Governmental Research Bureau, State University of South Dakota, 1962. This book is in the Chilson Collection and in the Governmental Research Bureau Collection at the Archives and Special Collections. Discussions about this vote can be found in the 1922 Alumni Quarterlies and Volante student newspapers. These publications are also in the Archives and Special Collections.

Archives and Special Collections recently received 4 photographs of this observance.

Our book must have been striking when it was new in 1892 with its bright red velvet covers and shiny metal filigree corner embellishments. Title is Perlen aus der Instrumenten-Sammlung von Paul de Wit, Leipzig, published in 1892 and is in our Mahoney Music Collection. The English title is Pearls from the instrument collection of Paul de Wit, Leipzig (Saxony). The National Archives sponsors #ArchivesHashtagParty once a month, and December’s topic is #ArchivesSparkle. NARA invites archives to submit tweets about anything that glitters in their archives.

Southern Dakota was one of the first railroads in Dakota Territory, and the first to successfully operate in the area that would become the state of South Dakota. The tracks began in Sioux City in 1872 and reached Vermillion, Dakota Territory at the end of that year. In 1873, the tracks were completed to Yankton, Dakota Territory. Map showing Dakota Southern Railroad from Sioux City to Yankton. Students arriving in Vermillion by train. Six men standing for their picture at the train station in Vermillion, South Dakota. Information from South Dakota’s Railraods [sic]: an Historic Context, by Hufstetler, Mark, and Michael Bedeau. South. Dakota State Historical Society, 1998. The book is the the South Dakota State Documents Collection. The map shown is a small portion of Territory of Dakota, by S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr., 1879. The map is in the Chilson Collection. Photographs are from the USD Photograph Collection and are also in the Digital Library of South Dakota.

Are you interested in the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of February 18, 1929? Peter Norbeck, while he was an U.S. senator from South Dakota, sponsored this bill, and his efforts are detailed in the Peter Norbeck papers located in the Archives and Special Collections. Map from the Peter Norbeck papers.