“So what is your favorite artifact?”

It’s something I almost always get asked on tours. I am terrible at making up my mind. And I feel slightly guilty having favorites. (Sarah in Archives knows this, too—see her blog about her favorite things). But I must confess…there are objects that I think are especially cool. Here are a few of them.

I like groundstone artifacts. Groundstone objects or tools are made by grinding or pecking away at the stone material until you achieve the desired shape. It takes time and skill to make something this way. I find grooved axes to be amazing. This axe comes from Barnes County, ND.

Grooved axe from Barnes County (2015.56, Koch Collection)

Another stunning axe is from a site in Emmons County (32EM104). This axe is made from a light-colored quartzite material. If you visit the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum, this axe is on display in the case next to the cyclorama in the Innovation Gallery: Early Peoples.

Quartzite grooved axe from site 32EM104 (80.59.1)

This groundstone bird effigy was a surprise to me when I pulled it out of a box I was inventorying. It wasn’t listed on the old box label—but to me it was definitely worth mentioning! I haven’t seen any other bird effigies made of groundstone in the ND archaeology collections. It reminds me of a grouse. What kind of bird do you think it is? It was found in Stutsman County in the 1930s. I wish I could tell you more about it, but very little information was recorded about where it was found, otherwise known as its context.

Groundstone bird effigy from Stuttsman County (5050)
Maybe the stone bird is a grouse? What do you think?

Now for something that isn’t groundstone. This clay pipe bowl clutched in the talons of an eagle is also among my top favorite artifacts. It is from the 19th century site of Fort Rice (32MO102), south of Mandan.

Bird talon pipe bowl from Fort Rice (32MO102) (14657)

Sometimes I like an object because of the small details, like the lily pad motif on this spoon handle. The back of the handle is marked “Sterling Triple” and was most likely originally silver-plated. It is from the former town of Winona, ND (32EM211).

Detail of the decoration on a spoon handle from Winona, ND (32EM211) (2010.106.767)

The next artifact is astonishing simply because it has survived. And it has survived a lot over the last 400 years or so: surviving the outdoor elements, being excavated, transported, and stored for years in less-than-ideal materials. In 2015 and 2016, excavation projects were undertaken by the Paleo Cultural Research Group (PCRG) at Chief Looking’s Village/Ward (32BL3) in Bismarck. During the project, Mark Mitchell, Ph.D., the project lead, mentioned basketry that had been found at the site in the 1930s when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) excavated there. Curious, I browsed through the CCC artifacts in our collection when I returned to the lab. Sure enough--there were basketry fragments!

Basketry from Chief Looking’s Village (32BL3) (Unaccessioned, no artifact number)

We know people in North Dakota used basketry in the past, but it is rare to find basketry that survives in an archaeological context in North Dakota—the climate and soils here do not usually preserve the plant materials from which baskets are made. Chief Looking’s Village/Ward was occupied during 16th century, making these basket fragments very old. (If you are interested in the recent excavation projects at Chief Looking’s Village, Thunder Revolution Studios and the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation have released a video about the 2016 excavation).

The last item is the paddlefish skull in the faunal comparative collection. We use the faunal collection to compare known animals (in this case, a paddlefish) to bone artifacts. Being able to identify what kind of animal a bone came from tells us about what animals people were hunting, eating, using, or living with and what the environment was like in the past. The paddlefish has a stunning snout (called a rostrum). I think it is a total work of art! It is an intricate lacey mesh of bone. Before I saw this skull I just thought of paddlefish as a funny looking type of fish. But now I can’t help but look at them a little differently. If you ever tour the archaeology lab at the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum -- be sure to ask to see the amazing paddlefish skull—we will be happy to show it to you!

Paddlefish skull from the archaeological faunal comparative collection

A close-up view of the paddlefish rostrum

The amazing paddlefish!

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.