This undated North Dakota Council of Defense poster advertised “official war pictures of state troops at Ft. Lincoln and in France.” SHSND SA 10935-P0217

This April marks the 104th anniversary of the United States’ 1917 entry into World War I. While the commemoration of that conflict’s centenary is already part of history, it does not mean that interest in World War I has ceased, as researchers still request materials on the conflict or attempt to find out about ancestors who served in the war.

One of the State Archives’ unique collections features hundreds of WWI posters. This collection contains 921 posters, including some from overseas, which were collected during the final two years of the war by Melvin Gilmore, curator of the State Historical Society of North Dakota from 1916–1923. The posters fall into a number of distinct thematic categories, including recruiting efforts, Liberty Loan campaigns, wartime propaganda, supply drives, and patriotic appeals. The poster styles vary from simple textual or artistic designs to poignant illustrative works of art. Given that print media was the dominant form of information dissemination at that time, these posters represent an important link to the past. Many of these posters are digitized and viewable on our Photobook site.

Each branch of the U.S. armed forces during the war created posters to entice young men and women into service. While women’s opportunities to serve were limited compared to today, efforts were made to reach them as well. Nursing was one avenue by which women were recruited into the war effort. In addition, imagery of women was used in some recruiting posters, portraying them often in the role of helpless victim or appealing to the perceived protective impulses of young men.

A U.S. Army poster listing service opportunities and recruiting stations in North and South Dakota. SHSND SA 10935-P0064

This U.S. Army Air Service recruiting poster, left, drew on visceral imagery of an American bald eagle attacking a “German” eagle to promote enlistment. At right, a poster aimed at bolstering the U.S. presence in France. SHSND SA 10935-P0189, SHSND SA 10935-P0305

The heroic U.S. Marine was front and center in this poster designed by James Montgomery Flagg, creator of the iconic “I want YOU” recruiting poster. SHSND SA 10935-P0346

One of the most famous images from the era, this Navy recruiting poster played on traditional notions of masculinity, using an image of an attractive young woman in a sailor’s uniform to goad men to join up. SHSND SA 10935-P0277

It wasn’t just soldiers who were in demand—the nation also needed nurses to tend to the wounded as evidenced by this U.S. Student Nurse Reserve recruiting poster targeted at women. SHSND SA 10935-P0028

In addition to the armed forces, service organizations actively tried to acquire new members to aid in their war-related efforts. These groups included such organizations as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the U.S. Boys’ Working Reserve, which aimed to offset war-related labor shortages and provide farm labor to help increase agricultural production. Many of these organizations’ campaigns appealed to the patriotism of Americans, as evidenced in this pair of posters below.

Left: SHSND SA 10935-P0554
Right: SHSND SA 10935-P0071

Several posters in the collection also urged the purchase of Liberty Loans and Victory Loans. These programs were bond issues by the Treasury Department meant to encourage those Americans not off fighting in the war to invest in the country’s success by buying government bonds, which funded the war effort. Such posters featured explicit visual appeals to Americans’ sense of patriotism and justice, drawing on imagery of suffering women and children to pull at the heart strings. Most were quite artistic, though some were simple in style.

Left: SHSND SA 10935-P0001
Right: SHSND SA 10935-P0022

The visuals may have been simple but there was no missing the overarching message of this striking 1919 poster advertising Victory Liberty Loans, the final bond drive of the war. SHSND SA 10935-P0209

In addition to the loan drive posters, several in the collection speak to the prevalence of wartime propaganda intended to mobilize support for the Allied cause or stoke fear of the enemy. Germans were portrayed in starkly negative ways, with some posters warning of the dangers of loose lips. Our collection also comprises foreign language posters including some in Czech and French.

French and English versions of this poster played on stereotypes of German barbarism to discourage consumers from buying German-made products after the war. SHSND SA 10935-P0773

As the war neared its end, the world was gripped by the Spanish flu pandemic so some of the posters in the collection also relate to the global health crisis and government efforts to deal with it. This event exacerbated the suffering of many nations, which had already lost so much in people, property, and goods during the Great War.

This U.S. Public Health Service poster urged Americans to take precautions in the fight against the Spanish flu pandemic. SHSND SA 10935-P0200

As you can see, the World War I poster collection is a fascinating set of print media from a bygone era, offering a glimpse into the artistry and messaging surrounding a historic world event. You can browse the digitized images of these items on our Photobook site from home, or when you are researching in the reading room during our open hours.

Winter is upon us, and the holidays are in full swing. At the State Archives, we have had to make some adjustments to the reading room because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers will notice several changes to procedures since the State Archives reopened to the public in late June. So far, folks seem to have adjusted well.

The biggest change is in access and hours. Before the pandemic, we were open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., and the second Saturday of each month from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., unless it was a holiday. Since reopening, our hours as well as those of the larger North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum have adjusted, with the State Archives open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month. We use our time at work before and after opening hours to prepare for the day and take care of email requests.

In addition to shortened hours, access to the reading room is by appointment only, with visitors capped at no more than six at any given time to maintain social distancing. Researchers are requested to contact us ahead of time via email at archives@nd.gov, or by phone at 701.328.2091, to schedule an appointment. This has worked well in most cases, and we have only hit maximum capacity a handful of times.

Visitors to the State Archives must now wait at the entrance for a member of the reference team to come and speak with them.

Social distancing has also necessitated some changes to the reading room beyond shortened hours and limited capacity. We have had to shift equipment and furniture to maintain spacing for the safety of our visitors. The result is reduced technology available for researchers. Prior to closing for the pandemic, we had six microfilm readers/printers and six computers available for research. In order to space everything out to maintain the recommended six feet of distance, two of our microfilm readers/printers are no longer accessible to the public. Meanwhile, four research computers along the windows are available for use. To date, it’s the microfilm readers most likely to be at capacity.

The number of available microfilm readers has been reduced due to social distancing measures.

While our research computers were much closer together before the COVID-19 closure last spring, we do like how the current spacing gives patrons a little more privacy, too.

Access to our materials has also changed since reopening. While our microfilm is still self-service, before the closure patrons would leave the film on top of the cabinets for staff to put up at the end of the day. Now we have patrons place used rolls into a white box. Used microfilm is held for 24 hours before we return it to the cabinets. In addition, our physical collections, such as manuscripts and state government records, require a 24-hour notice, so we can pull them down for quarantine. Researchers wanting to look at collections need to plan in advance because we are no longer able to pull materials the same day.

Tables in the reading room are spaced to ensure proper social distancing is maintained.

When they are finished, patrons must now leave books on the red cart so that staff can quarantine the materials.

In addition to these measures, we sanitize the equipment after each patron has used it to ensure a cleaner environment. We also have hand sanitizer placed around the reading room. As is the case in the rest of the Heritage Center, masks are required for visitors. Compliance with and understanding of the various changes has been positive, with folks happy to have us open again. As always, we continue to provide remote reference services via email and phone.

Olive, the other reindeer, unofficial holiday mascot of the State Archives, was the creation of retired State Archivist Ann Jenks.

Finally, with the holiday season upon us, our mascot, Olive, the other reindeer, has taken up residence in the reading room to guard it and ensure folks adhere to the new rules. While it has been an adjustment for us as well, we are making the best of a unique situation while continuing to provide the valuable services of the State Archives. Have a wonderful holiday season and a safe remainder of the year. Here’s hoping 2021 will see an end to this pandemic.

Summer is here, and there have been several changes of late. The biggest change has been the COVID-19 pandemic and adjusting to working from home for two months. As a reference specialist, I assist researchers in accessing the materials they need to answer their diverse questions. Being unable to access our physical materials because of the closure limited me in how quickly I could respond to requests, but our amazing patrons have been very understanding. That said, this situation presented me with opportunities as well. I entered data on a couple record groups when not handling the requests that could be answered with our online resources.

The first group of records I worked with were marriage records from Oliver County dating from 1896 to 1925. Marriage records are a popular request among our patrons, as genealogical research represents a sizable amount of our research requests. Most such requests revolve around naturalization records, marriage records, and obituaries.

You can learn much about an area from a group of marriage licenses. Seeing several licenses of the same last name for the groom or bride indicates a fairly large family lived in that area, and the children were settling down. Since these licenses spanned 1896-1925 with most being in the 1905-1920 time frame, which coincided with a sizable wave of immigration into North Dakota, several folks applying for licenses were possibly either new immigrants themselves, or the children of immigrants to the area. One interesting pattern appeared in that men with the same last name, who are assumed to be brothers, seemed to marry sisters of a family. This likely relates to immigration patterns, where several families from a community overseas will migrate to a specific location in the United States.

Marriage licenses from this time also note locations that are now memories in a county. Several unique locations were noted on the licenses for the place of marriage, with many being, according to Doug Wick’s book North Dakota Place Names, rural post offices in the various townships. In addition, they clue us into the differences in society at that time, especially the fragility of life, as there were a few licenses that have the same man marrying more than once. While divorce is a possibility for why the first marriage ended, life expectancy was much shorter at that time. With events like the Spanish Flu pandemic, other diseases, and the risks of death in childbirth, an untimely death for the spouse is also a possibility. Seeing these licenses made me wonder about the situation that caused the groom to remarry so soon after seeing an initial license bearing his name. Did he leave his wife, did she leave him, or did she die in an unfortunate situation? As the data entry was paramount on the group of licenses, this question could only be pondered for a moment.

One unique challenge to these licenses is those filling them out had handwriting that left much to be desired. This is one of the challenges when transcribing older documents and records for data entry, or to just understand the document better. Several times during the data entry for these licenses, consulting Census records via Ancestry was necessary to try to decipher a name, especially in circumstances where initials were used (usually the husband’s) instead of the full first name. This was a minor issue, but one that is worth noting. Overall, the addition of the data on these licenses will enhance ease of access to these records for our patrons in the future, as such records are quite popular.

The other group of records I am working with during this time away from the office is the facsimile files. These binders contain photocopies that allowed patrons to look at our photograph holdings before we began the digitization process. Information about the photo, including collection number, item number, a description of the photo, and, if known, the donor is noted. I am working with photos of schools arranged by county. Most are of rural schools and are roughly 100 years old.

There are some cool photos in these binders. The most unique was a photo from Valley City High School in 1905 described as “Boys Toilet Room.” Yes, someone took a photo of the interior of the boys restroom in Valley City High School in 1905. Fortunately, it appears it may be either related to the construction of the school or done at a time when nobody was in the building. It made me chuckle though and think of the popular rock song “Smokin’ in the Boys Room.”

While working from home has been an adjustment during these unique times, data entry on both the marriage records and facsimile files will provide greater access to our materials in the future. It will be nice to return to the North Dakota Heritage Center more often to catch up on requests and to help the public with their research questions. Someday, archivists will preserve and process material related to this time and helping researchers to answer questions about 2020, and there will be many. Have a safe and happy summer.

January conjures up images of cold, snowy days, hockey season, and the excitement of a new year. It is also the time our nation pauses to remember an icon of civil rights and racial equality, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Born on January 15, 1929, King’s birthday is observed as a federal holiday on the third Monday in January to recognize the contributions he made to American history. To honor the holiday, it seems fitting to examine State Archives collection items related to Dr. King.

The State Archives preserves the papers of North Dakota governors, and two former governors — George Sinner and Ed Schafer — have materials related to a commission appointed to coordinate MLK Day observances in the state. Sinner’s papers also hold correspondence and materials related to the first observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in North Dakota in 1986, when it became a federal holiday.

One letter from Sinner to Pastor Dan Rothwell of Fargo’s First Assembly of God Church commended the church for having gospel music artist Jessy Dixon appear at the church’s MLK Day event. Murcie Poplar, president of the Children’s Art Institute in Gary, Indiana, sent Gov. Sinner a gift of the Candle Prayer, a commemorative candle created for the holiday to be lit across the nation and world. The original gift was damaged in transport to North Dakota and a replacement was sent.¹

Our newspapers on microfilm provide insight into how local media covered King’s life and influence, including his assassination on April 4, 1968. For example, the April 5 edition of the Grand Forks Herald provided a bold banner headline and pictures. The Jamestown Sun also provided prominent coverage of King’s assassination. Interestingly, the Sun did not cover much of King’s Aug. 28, 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, though given that mining accidents in Utah and Montana occurred in late August 1963, and that King’s civil rights movement activities were largely focused in the eastern part of the United States, this event did not garner the same level of attention in North Dakota.²

The well-known magazine Ebony published a biography of King shortly after his death with many poignant pictures. Ebony has a connection to North Dakota through one-time editor Era Bell Thompson, who grew up in Driscoll, graduated from Bismarck High School, attended the University of North Dakota, and received the governor’s Rough Rider Award.³ Another book in our library stacks, House Divided: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King by Lionel Lokos (1968), represents an early analysis of King as a civil rights activist. Both titles are available in the reading room during our regular business hours.

In addition, our film collection contains an interesting segment where WDAY in Fargo interviews the Rev. Charles Hughes, a priest in the Fargo Diocese, about the King assassination and the legacy of King’s work. Hughes marched with King in Washington in 1963 and noted that what King feared was “the spiritual death of America through racism,” and that King felt that if his death could prevent that spiritual death, it would be worth it.⁴ This represented a fine example of how one North Dakotan reflected upon the tragic event.

 

While the State Archives does not have as much on Dr. King compared with other institutions in the nation, we do have an assortment of materials that inform how North Dakota reflected upon King’s life and work, and how earlier generations commemorated his legacy. Despite being removed geographically from the major events of the civil rights movement, important figures like Era Bell Thompson and Judge Ronald Davies (who presided over the Little Rock Nine case) have strong connections to our state. If you visit the ND Heritage Center & State Museum, you can view additional struggles for civil rights, such as the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, in our exhibits.

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¹ Governor George A. Sinner to Pastor Dan Rothwell, January 20, 1986; Murcie L. Poplar to Governor George A. Sinner, December 2, 1985; Governor George A. Sinner to Murcie L. Poplar, December 11, 1985, in George A. Sinner Records, Collection #31602, Box 147, Folder 5, State Archives, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck.

² Grand Forks Herald, April 5, 1968; Jamestown Sun, April 5-6, 1968; Jamestown Sun, August 29, 1963.

³ Kathie Ryckman Anderson, “Era Bell Thompson: A North Dakota Daughter,” North Dakota History: Journal of the Northern Plains 49, no. 4 (fall 1982): 11–18.

⁴ Charles Hughes talks with WDAY, April 5, 1968, WDAY-TV, Collection #10351, Core #02446, Segment #00017, State Archives, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck.

Though summer is winding down, the State Archives is still buzzing with researchers on vacation, in addition to our regular local patronage who come in throughout the year. Students, scholars, and curious citizens come to examine our collections to answer their diverse questions. Genealogy remains an area of strong interest, and one question often asked is, “Where can I locate my ancestor’s military record?” While we do not have service records for individual veterans unless that person or their family donated them to us, we do have resources to help patrons in their search and places we can direct you to attempt to answer questions.

How can the Archives help someone research an ancestor’s military service? In our stacks, we have books related to military history, including unit histories, general works on wars and conflicts the US military has been involved in (with a focus toward those North Dakotans participated in), and published diaries, memoirs, and letter collections. These may be useful if a researcher knows the unit(s) their ancestor served with and wants to know where they may have been during a war.

A selection of State Archives books related to World War II.

We also have a surprising number of regimental histories for units raised during the Civil War, which provide the roster of the men who served in that unit, as well as detailed accountings for the places they passed through and battles they fought in during the war.

We also have a nice selection of books produced by North Dakota counties on residents who served in World War I. These books are helpful to a researcher, as they usually go beyond a simple listing of the men and women from the area, providing stories, photos, and news related to the county at that particular time.

Examples of our North Dakota county World War I holdings.

A valuable resource we have both in print and on microfilm is Roster of the Men and Women Who Served in the Army or Naval Service (including the Marine Corps) of the United States or Its Allies from the State of North Dakota in the World War, 1917–1918 (1931). This four-volume set lists the North Dakota veterans of World War I and provides a nice, paragraph-length entry on each person that can help a researcher understand a little of their ancestor’s service. A similar roster exists for World War II and Korean War veterans that is commonly called “the red book” because of its red cover. Its entries are not as detailed as its World War I counterpart. It is also available to access through both print and microfilm in our reading room.

Pages from Roster of the Men and Women Who Served in the Army or Naval Service (including the Marine Corps) of the United States or Its Allies from the State of North Dakota in the World War, 1917–1918.

In addition to the holdings in our stacks, we have several collections of federal records related to military posts in the state during the 19th century available on microfilm. These include some muster rolls and medical histories. A full listing can be found here by scrolling down to War Department. The records are housed in the National Archives and don’t provide a detailed accounting of an individual soldier’s life, but more a snapshot of a unit at a particular point and time.

For persons who served in the North Dakota National Guard, while we do not have personnel records, we have a sizable collection that contains a variety of records related to several components of the Guard and can inform a researcher as to an ancestor’s service.

Local newspapers provided varying levels of coverage on local men and women serving in wartime, including publishing letters written to inform the folks back home. Finally, researchers have access to Ancestry Library Edition on our research computers that contain several great databases related to military research, including draft registrations, pension indexes, and service indexes.

Our reference staff can also help point you toward sources to consider when researching your ancestor’s military service. While the State Archives may not have records related to every individual veteran from North Dakota, we have ample resources to help you learn more about military service in your family. Stop in with your questions, and we will do our best to answer them.

April is an exciting time in the State Archives. The month includes two weeks that are relevant to archival collections. National Library Week (April 7–13), promoted by the American Library Association, raises awareness of the importance of libraries and their staff to our communities. National Library Preservation Week (April 22–28) raises awareness of preserving items held in library collections across the country.

This year’s theme for National Library Week is “Libraries = Strong Communities.” With this in mind, a couple of unique examples from our library collection stand out.

First, the oldest cataloged item in our library collection is a 1749 published report related to the Hudson’s Bay Company. This is a beautiful example of mid-18th century publishing. Entitled Report from the Committee Appointed to Enquire into the State and Condition of the Countries Adjoining to Hudson’s Bay and of the Trade Carried on There, the report deals with the land granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company, which included parts of present-day North Dakota that fell within the bay’s drainage basin. The trade in furs and skins is noted, as well as other aspects of trade with Native Americans in the region.

It is fascinating to consider that when the report was published, Great Britain and France still vied for control of North America. George Washington was a teenager, and many of our nation’s Founding Fathers were still children — some not even born yet.

Pages 216-217 of Report from the Committee Appointed to Enquire into the State and Condition of the Countries Adjoining to Hudson’s Bay and of the Trade Carried on There (1749). Photo by Daniel Sauerwein

Another unique book in our library holdings is The Kindergarten Book (1906). At first glance, one might think this book deals with educating youngsters, but its subject matter is not as innocent as the title implies. It was a publication of the Kindergarten Club, a group of powerful political figures in early North Dakota history. Signatures in the front of the book include Judson LaMoure, one of the first legislators in North Dakota. The Club also included North Dakota politicians Alexander McKenzie and Jerry Bacon, as well as Govs. Louis B. Hanna and Elmore Sarles.

The book is full of poetry and boisterous drinking songs set to popular melodies of the day. The contents of the book denote a group of men who engaged in raucous partying, drinking, and gambling, and perhaps some behind-the-scenes power politics.¹

Pages 28-29 of the The Kindergarten Book (1906). Photo by Daniel Sauerwein.

While we actively engage in preservation of items every day in the Archives, one special activity that some staff engage in is book repair. Sarah Walker, head of reference in the Archives, wrote an earlier blog post on what goes on when the repair group gets together. She noted that it is not a service provided to patrons, but is something the staff does to keep heavily used materials in our collections accessible for future generations as long as possible.

Repairs usually involve gluing loose pages back in place, or shoring up binding, but some are more involved and require the rebinding of the book with special tape. Books deemed too fragile for such repairs are instead housed in phase boxes to protect them from as much wear and tear as possible. The repair efforts do not restore the book completely, but are important to keeping the documented information around for future generations.

As you can see, the State Archives is more than individual pieces of paper or photographs. We also have books that illustrate the changing political history of North Dakota. When those books show signs of frequent use by researchers and need some love and attention, our staff does what it can to keep them around and available for years to come. Each spring, a season of growth and rebirth, we look forward to new additions to our State Archives collection and to repairing items in need.

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¹¹ “Kindergarten Club Records, 1906, 1971 Collection Overview,” Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, accessed April 1, 2019, https://apps.library.und.edu/archon/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=858&q=Kindergarten+Club.