The image is from the William Lyon Papers, Archives and Special Collections.

Archives and Special Collections recently received a list of interviews with Clay County WWII military veterans done by Donna Schafer and published in the Vermillion Plain Talk newspaper. Aakre, Elmer “Sandy”. Vermillion Plain Talk. March 25, 2011, page 5. Anderson, Richard. Vermillion Plain Talk website says January 27, 2011, but we could not find it in the paper version of the newspaper. Armstrong, Francis. Vermillion Plain Talk. October 29, 2010, page 3. Backhaus, LeRoy. Vermillion Plain Talk. September 24, 2010, page 5. Barta, William “Bill” R. Vermillion Plain Talk. October 21, 2011, page 3. Bliss, Gary G. Vermillion Plain Talk. February 3, 2012, page 2. Brunick, Sidney. Vermillion Plain Talk. June 17, 2011, page 2. Carlson, Carl. Vermillion Plain Talk. January 21, 2011, page 3. Christensen, Vernon Calvin. Vermillion Plain Talk. December 31, 2010, page 3. Clark, Alfred. Vermillion Plain Talk. December 24, 2010, page 3. Dwyer, James H. Vermillion Plain Talk. May 6, 2011, page 2. Edwards, Larry. Vermillion Plain Talk. April 8, 2011, page 5. Engman, Sid. Vermillion Plain Talk. September 17, 2010, page 6A. Hanson, Clayton. Vermillion Plain Talk. February 11, 2011, page 3. Hanson, Marvin. Vermillion Plain Talk. February 25, 2011, page 5. Howe, Andrew. Vermillion Plain Talk. November 11, 2011, page 6. Knutson, Earl M. Vermillion Plain Talk. September 3, 2010, page 5. Kronaizl, James. Vermillion Plain Talk. October 8, 2010, page 7. Kugler. Roger K. Vermillion Plain Talk. March 4, 2011, page 5. Lyman, Samuel Kenneth. Vermillion Plain Talk. September 23, 2011, page 2. Marshall, Frank “Bud”. Vermillion Plain Talk. January 28, 2011, page 3. Morse, Leora Marcotte. Vermillion Plain Talk. August 19, 2010, page 3. Nygaard, Eldon. Vermillion Plain Talk. March 16, 2012, page 3. Powell, Leo F. Vermillion Plain Talk. October 14, 2011, page 3. Randall, Harriet Johnson. Vermillion Plain Talk. August 27, 2010, page 3. Richardson, James R. Vermillion Plain Talk. October 28, 2011, page 7. Schafer, Paul. Vermillion Plain Talk. December 9, 2011, page 8. Schafer, Henry “Jerry”. Vermillion Plain Talk. January 14, 2011, page 3. Sealey, Michael David. Vermillion Plain Talk. October 7, 2011, page 2. Tiahrt, Wilbur. Vermillion Plain Talk. October 22, 2010, page 5A. Ticknor, Dean. Vermillion Plain Talk. May 20, 2011, page 3. You can read these interviews in the Vermillion Plain Talk newspapers at the Archives and Special Collections or on the Plain Talk website.

The agenda for the day was finding campus employment, and the building in mind was the library. I started on the first floor, went to the IT department and accessibility office asking whether they have job openings available or upcoming. Then to the second floor, where the quite zones begin. You can enjoy the parking lot view if you sit on the far-left side of the second floor. When I first walked into the South Dakota Oral History Center (SDOHC), I did not know that would be the place I would spend 16 hours every week working on audio files, trying to get the names right on transcripts, and above all, enjoying listening to various informative and interesting interviews. My name is Abigail Torome, and I am the graduate assistant at the South Dakota Oral History Center at the University of South Dakota for the 2026/2027 academic year. I am from Kenya and pursuing a master's in business analytics. In my professional field, I am committed to changing raw data into actionable insights and while working at the SDOHC, I aim at ensuring more transcripts are accessible. This blog introduces me as the new GA, gives a reflection of what I do, and hints at the fun things going on at the SDOHC. On the first day of work, I took a tour around the library’s archives. During the tour, I got to hold one of the oldest books at USD. It was published in 1604 and is written in Latin, can you imagine? The archives contain an extensive collection of materials, photos, books, letters, maps, journals, and materials on South Dakota’s cultural, political, and economic history. You will also find rare books, regional collections, historical primary sources and manuscripts, and photographs. Every aisle has something worth reading or looking at, and I guarantee you will find something interesting and surprising on various topics such as farming, healthcare, Native American history, among others. Every piece in the archives is one of its kind and needs to be protected. So, the sign “NO FOOD OR DRINK” outside the archives reading room makes sense. After the tour, I settled at my desk at the Oral History Center just across from the reading room from the archives. On the right side of my desk, there are boxes that contain information and material of interviews such as copies of transcripts, consent forms, and other material provided from the interview. When I first heard of the Oral History Center, I thought it was a place where I would find audio files of various historical events as one would find books in a library. I wasn’t far from getting it right; oral history entails gathering first-hand historical information, memories, and personal perspectives of people who participated in or witnessed past events. The interviews enable the narrator to present their experience and perspective of the event as they remembered it. Listening to the narrators' voices is different from reading since I learn how they talk, how they pronounce words, and their tone, which may not be fully captured when reading the transcripts. In this collection, there are interviews from as early as the 1960s, and we continue to add more interviews to the collection through various projects. That’s amazing! Some of the narrators agree to have their interviews available to the public, which enables the community to better understand past events from various angles. Almost 700 of the oral histories in this collection are available to the public for listening on the Digital Library of South Dakota. To ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and to make each interview accessible to researchers, interviews need to be transcribed. Also, having interviews online helps with efficiency since one does not have to come to the SDOHC to access the files; they can do so from wherever they are. Transcribing these oral histories defines my main role at the Center. Volunteers are much appreciated to come and help with the transcription so we can make more copies accessible. I promise it will be fun and you will practice several skills such as active listening, understanding various names and terms used during a particular time and place, and learning more about important historical events. You can reach out to sdohc@usd.edu if you have any questions regarding volunteering or anything else. When transcribing, I listen to the audio files at least thrice and that makes me the person with the most knowledge about the audio and transcript. That’s cool, right? And that’s what makes the transcription special and exciting. I have heard various interesting stories such as the migration of German Russians and households speaking German, a county sheriff not carrying or using a gun despite being in the line of duty, and a season where farms were attacked by grasshoppers and there was no harvest. I have learned a lot from transcription. Patience, attention to details, active listening, history, and more about South Dakota. I am looking forward to learning more during my time here. Abigail Torome

#ArchivesHashtagParty asked archives across the USA to share their favorite repetitive designs and patterns for #ArchivesPatterns. We love the piano keyboard pattern on one of the local National Music Museum buildings.

Fred Thomas William H. Thomas was born on August 1, 1877, in Dodgeville, WI. He enlisted in the 1st South Dakota Volunteer Infantry Company C on May 14, 1898, at Yankton, SD as a private, and he mustered out on October 5, 1899, at the Presidio, San Francisco, CA. His military papers state that he lived in Sioux City, IA after his discharge and worked as a druggist. This collection consists of personal correspondence, photographs, writings, and ephemera from William H. Thomas who served with the 1st South Dakota Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War in the Philippines. William H. Thomas

Image is from the cover of the Institute of Indian Studies News Report, August 1988. For #ArchivesGiftExchange, we are happy to share a Robert Penn illustration with @AugieCWS and @SDSUArchives. Bobby Penn graduated with a BFA from the University of South Dakota in 1974. While at USD and after his graduation, Penn worked as an art instructor and illustrator. Beginning in 1986, he pursued his painting career full-time. Penn lived and worked in Vermillion, South Dakota until his death in 1999. Penn’s work is in several public collections, including those of the Smithsonian Institute and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and he was featured in more than a dozen solo exhibitions. Also, he created four commissioned murals. In 1992, Robert Penn received the South Dakota Governor’s Award for Distinction in Creative Achievement in the Arts. In 1998, he was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame. More Robert Penn illustrations can be found on the covers of newsletters in the Archives and Special Collections, the Digital Library of South Dakota, or the South Dakota State Government Publications. I have not been successful in finding any of the illustrations he did for the USD Medical School. The National Archives sponsors #ArchivesHashtagParty once a month, and December’s topic is #ArchivesGiftExchange. They invite archives to “gift” each other with the most intriguing, captivating documents and artifacts from our treasure troves. Penn biographical information from Robert Penn : Retrospective. University Art Galleries, University of South Dakota, 1993 and The University of South Dakota Directory of Living Alumni, 1982. Alumni Association of the University of South Dakota, 1982.

The Archives and Special Collections recently received copies of pen and ink drawings of USD campus buildings done by Adrian W. Krier in 1931. The drawings show Old Main, East Hall, Law Building (currently the Arts & Sciences Building), Library (currently the National Music Museum), New Armory (currently the Al Neuharth Media Center), Old Armory (currently the Belbas Center), and Slagel Auditorium (currently the Aalfs Auditorium). Above is a drawing of the Old Armory. The call number for all these drawings is USD ARCHIVES LD5074.5 .K75.

The Archives and Special Collections has recently received a 1799 edition of the Farmer’s Almanack. This periodical, which changed its name to the Old Farmer’s Almanac in 1832, is the oldest continuously published periodical in the United States and “has captured America’s fancy with its homespun admixture of fact, fun and folklore.” The almanack is part of the Gilbert Courtland Fite papers. Source: Park, Edwards, and Susan Lapides. “Weathering every season with one canny compendium.” Smithsonian 23, no. 8: (November 1992): 90.

Ella Deloria (1888 or 1889 – 1971) was born on the Yankton Reservation. She was “a teacher, speaker, author, and researcher in linguistics and anthropology” (Murray 1974, viii). She was associated with the University of South Dakota from 1961 to 1964 (Murray 1974, 146-149). The Chilson Collection contains the following books that she authored, coauthored, or edited: Boas, Franz and Ella Deloria. Dakota grammar. Sioux Falls, SD: Dakota Press, 1979. Deloria, Ella Cara, comp. Dakota texts. New York: G. E. Stechert, agents, 1932. Deloria, Ella Cara, comp. Dakota texts. New York: AMS Press, 1974. Deloria, Ella Cara, comp. Dakota texts. Vermillion, SD: Dakota Press, 1978. Deloria, Ella Cara. Deer women and elk men: the Lakota narratives of Ella Deloria. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1992. Deloria, Ella Cara. Ella Deloria’s The buffalo people. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994. Deloria, Ella Cara. Ella Deloria’s Iron Hawk. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993. Deloria, Ella Cara. Speaking of Indians. New York: Friendship Press, [1944]. Deloria, Ella Cara. Speaking of Indians. Vermillion, SD: Dakota Press, 1979. Deloria, Ella Cara. Waterlily. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. She wrote several articles for the Museum News, which were published by the W.H. Over Museum at the University of South Dakota and are in the Chilson Collection: “The Origins of the courting flute,” 1961. “Easter Day at a Yankton Dakota church,” 1962. “Some notes on the Yankton,” 1967. “Some notes on the Santee,” 1967. She also did several oral history interviews with the South Dakota Oral History Center at the University of South Dakota: Loder, Richard, interviewer. “Oral history interview with Ella Deloria, Wallace Eagle Shield, and Sophie Many Deeds,” 1969. AIRP 383. Loder, Richard, interviewer. “Oral history interview with Ella Deloria and J. Jeston,” 1969. AIRP 443, 444, and 445. Some of her unpublished papers are at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Other unpublished papers were at the University of South Dakota, and then moved to the Ella Deloria Archives in Chamberlain, South Dakota. See http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/deloria_archive/index.php. Biographies: Medicine, Beatrice, and Sue-Ellen Jacobs. “Ella C. Deloria: the emic voice.” In Learning to be an anthropologist and remaining “Native“: selected writings. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. Murray, Janette K. “Ella Deloria: a biographical sketch and literary analysis. ” PhD diss., University of North Dakota, 1974.

“Methode de violon” Pierre Baillot The Archives and Special Collections has recently digitized Pierre Baillot’s Methode de violon from the Mahoney Music Collection. This French treatise was published in 1793 with contributions from Pierre Rode and Rodolphe Kreutzer. It can be viewed, with a number of other treatises from the collection, on the Digital Library of South Dakota.