Family members and friends of the Former Governors’ Mansion’s past occupants still visit the site; these moments provide unique opportunities to hear behind-the-scenes stories. I’ll share a few of my favorites with you.

In September 2017, a gentleman and his two children from New York visited; he wanted to show his kids where their grandmother had once lived. His son looked me in the eye and said, “I also want to see the picture of my great grandfather.” The father then explained that his mother is one of Governor William Langer’s daughters. Langer was governor from 1932-34 and from 1937-1939.

As they walked around, the boy asked questions about historical events, some meant as a friendly quiz because he knew the answers. I enjoyed his spark and conversation style, which reminded me somewhat of a chess game. There was no doubt that he was the great grandson of Bill Langer. The girl, younger and not as captivated by talk of wallpaper from the 1930s, looked fondly at the piano. I welcomed her to play; the room filled with music from the same Steinway that Langer had acquired for the Mansion.

Governor and Mrs. John Davis and their children Richard, Kathleen, and John Jr., 1958. State Archives, A2528.

And then there’s the story of the secret identity. As part of our augmented reality project at the Mansion, I invited John Davis, Jr. , for an interview in September 2016, and he graciously accepted. John E. Davis was the state’s 25th governor from 1957-1961. In addition to showing me photos of his father, he told a few stories about living in the Mansion. Disliking the limelight when he was a teen, John Davis, Jr., didn’t want people to know that he was the governor’s son. While attending college in Montana, he carpooled home for holidays for two years without telling his travel companions about his father. He told them to drop him off at his grandmother's house down the road, so they wouldn’t know he lived in the Mansion!

Another favorite encounter was with Ruth Haugland in the summer of 2016. She introduced herself and said that she was in her eighties but did not describe—at first—her ties to North Dakota history. As we chatted, I mentioned my background in teaching. Haugland said, “My father was a teacher. In fact, that’s how he met Usher Burdick.” Usher Burdick served in the ND House of Representatives, was lieutenant governor from 1935 to 1945, and served in the US House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959. Long before Burdick’s political career, Haugland’s father, Torger Sinness, answered a call to teach a bunch of rowdy schoolboys (including Burdick). The school, on Graham’s Island on Devil’s Lake, had lost a number of teachers who had literally run from the classroom and never returned; boys had been known to toss teachers or students out the windows!

Haugland said her father walked into the classroom with a pistol in his pocket, which quickly settled the class. Although Burdick put much energy into trying to scare away Sinness (including sneaking into his bedroom one night and beating him up), the teacher stood firm and eventually became Usher’s friend, mentor, and campaign manager throughout Burdick’s political career.

Another story about Haugland’s father related to the boneshaker (a bicycle with one large wheel and a tall seat) displayed in the Mansion’s Carriage House museum gallery. As we looked at it, Haugland mentioned that her father was never afraid of a challenge. She shared, “A man once challenged him to a boneshaker race. It was to be held the next day — and for a cash prize.” She leaned in closer. “Although my father had never been on a boneshaker, he accepted the challenge,” she said. In bed early to be rested for the next day, he didn’t fret about it. “And the most amazing thing happened,” she continued. “He said that he had a dream that played like a movie, and he was shown everything he needed to know about climbing onto a boneshaker, pedaling, balancing — and winning a race.”

The next day, using the images from his dream, he climbed onto the bone shaker and left his competition far behind.

Although these are brief encounters, they are the moments that breathe life into a historic site, often playing out like the “movie” in Torger Sinness’s dream. I love to see visitors’ eyes brighten at the story of the boneshaker race or a governor’s son who went to great lengths to blend in with his peers. And the story collection is growing for this interpreter who, some days, is lucky enough to catch a trip through time with the unexpected visitors who walk through our door.

Since the Governors Gallery in the ND Heritage Center & State Museum opened in November 2014, we’ve hosted a variety of traveling exhibits from nationally-recognized institutions such as the Smithsonian, NASA, and the Field Museum. It’s been an amazing opportunity to bring world-class exhibits to North Dakota to share with visitors. Now it’s our turn to showcase uniquely North Dakota objects and stories in an exhibit produced by the State Historical Society of North Dakota – The Horse.

Planning began over a year ago, and although we’ve got lots still to do, I thought I’d share some of the work we’ve done so far.

Design

I like to think of an exhibit as a story that we tell to visitors. The objects and photos, the text visitors read, and the design all have to work together to communicate the narrative. An important component is what we call the graphic style. This includes assigning colors, choosing fonts, and selecting materials. Some choices are for practical reasons – is the font easily legible and are the materials safe for our artifacts? But we also consider subjective questions, such as what can we tell visitors about the exhibit before they read the first word of text?

Horses are often associated with stereotypes of the “wild west.” Although the era of cowboys and ranching is an important part of North Dakota’s horse story, our exhibit will start long before then – millions of years ago when early dog-sized horses roamed the forests of what would become North Dakota. Our design, therefore, had to speak to much more than rustic cowboy tropes.

We decided on a modern design that could be appropriate for all eras. The stylized horse shape can apply to the many species of horses and is also a nod to the horse drawings in Native American ledger art. The “swoops” in the font echo the horse’s mane and tail, and evoke the movement of a running horse. The bright colors will be used throughout the exhibit to indicate new themes and topics.

Objects

The Governors Gallery is almost 5,000 square feet, which gives us the opportunity to showcase some of the larger objects from our collection. In The Horse exhibit we’ll be bringing out a few of our horse-drawn vehicles. One is the Petersburg fire engine. Made around 1914 by the Waterous Engine Works Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, it was purchased by the fire department of Petersburg, North Dakota. It was gifted to the State Historical Society in 1954 and boasts the original paint job.

If you’ve ever wondered what a “one-horse open sleigh” is, we’ll have one of those on display, too. This velvet-upholstered, cutter-style sleigh was originally owned by the Marquis de Mores.

Stay tuned for my next post in May, which will have more behind-the-scenes details about developing The Horse exhibit. The Horse opens July 14.