In February 2015, the North Dakota Studies program of the State Historical Society assumed ownership of the North Star Dakotan (NSD) as well as the plan for publication of a new edition. This newspaper for grade school students was the brainchild of the late Ev Albers, former director of the North Dakota Humanities Council and Jerry Tweton, professor emeritus of History, UND. The North Dakota Humanities Council published five editions of the NSD beginning in 1993.

At a time when there were few curricular materials available for the study of North Dakota history, the Humanities Council filled the gap with the North Star Dakotan. Each edition covered a period of time from the time of the dinosaurs to 1972. Teachers used the North Star Dakotan in their classrooms with a good response from the students. Today, the previous five editions can be found online at ndstudies.gov.

Planning is underway now for the North Dakota Studies program to write and publish the sixth edition in September 2016. The articles will be written by experienced writers with expertise in the subject matter. The articles will run from 100 to 1000 words in length. The sixth edition of NSD will cover the time period from 1972 to the present.

Neil Howe, Coordinator of the North Dakota Studies program, reads North Star Dakotan Issue #3.

In addition to the usual newspaper-style articles that the first five editions presented, there will be editorials, political cartoons, and a cartoon strip. The sixth edition will include, as did the first five editions, a three-part timeline of world, United States, and North Dakota events.

The NSD will include articles on politics, agriculture, sports, social, and cultural events. For instance, the sport pages will cover North Dakota State’s and University of North Dakota’s transition to Division 1 of the NCAA. One article will cover how Title IX of the United States Education Amendments of 1972 impacted high school girls’ sports. Of course, the oil business will be a major article with headlines on the “front page.” 

The North Star Dakotan will be published online saving the cost of paper and postage. An online publication corresponds to the use of electronically-delivered materials in most North Dakota classrooms. Of course, that means that the NSD will be available to all readers, everywhere, at any time. Will wonders ever cease?

As a historian, I was very comfortable researching and writing topics for eighth grade North Dakota Studies curriculum North Dakota: People Living on the Land (ndstudies.gov/gr8). That is, I was comfortable until I faced Unit 1, which runs from the Paleozoic Era to A.D. 1200 I had much to learn about paleontology.

I turned to now-retired State Paleontologist John Hoganson. Hoganson’s articles and books are written for non-paleontologists. I interviewed John and read his publications. With his help, I developed a plan to bring paleontology into the eighth-grade curriculum.

While I was working on Unit 1, the Heritage Center expansion was underway. Another paleontologist, Becky Barnes, temporarily occupied a desk just a few feet from mine. I was fortunate to be within “hollering” distance of a paleontologist. I could have inquired in a loud voice, “Becky, how is Xiphactinus pronounced?”

The Xiphactinus was a predatory fish, 18 feet long, with immense fangs. Fossilized remains of a Xiphactinus that lived 85 to 65 million years ago were found in Cavalier County. 10.12.13.

But, I found that a trip to Becky’s desk offered other opportunities I had not imagined.

Becky is a paleontologist and an artist. She paints many images for the State Museum and paleontology publications. One day, I strolled over to her desk and found her working on an illustration of how sediment was laid down and how geological shifts and erosion had left the earth’s surface looking like what we see today. That illustration, “A Piece of Cake,” was modified and included in People Living on the Land.

I worked with people in all divisions of the State Historical Society to develop a well-rounded curriculum. I turned to the Archaeology and Historic Preservation Division (AHP) for help with prehistory. I took an archaeology course once, so I wasn’t completely ignorant, but I depended on the division staff to direct me to pertinent research reports and photographs, guide me in the right direction, and answer my endless questions. State Archaeologist Fern Swenson encouraged me to use archaeological evidence to determine the ending date of Unit 1. Historians commonly use 1492 and the arrival of Columbus to divide prehistory from history. But Fern convinced me that A.D. 1200 is a better date for North Dakota Studies because that is when Menoken Village was occupied.

Menoken Village, located a few miles east of Bismarck on Apple Creek, was occupied around 1200 A.D. The palisade wall and the remains of earthlodges indicate that it was a permanent village.

The village is the earliest known permanent village site in North Dakota.

We wanted to include museum objects that could tell a story or illustrate a point. Jenny Yearous, Museum curator, helped me out one day when she brought out a bundle of ration tickets that had been used on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The ration tickets seemed a curiosity and a good illustration for reservation history. Further research indicated that the tickets told a profound story about the transition from a pre-reservation life of hunting and gardening to a life of poverty and dependence by 1900. Research in the federal Indian census produced more information and brought to life the families listed on the ration tickets.

With friendly advice from all divisions of the State Historical Society, the curriculum creditably covers 500 million years of history. By the way, Xiphactinus is pronounced zy FACT in us.

While writing the new curriculum for 8^th grade North Dakota Studies (ndstudies.gov/gr8), I browsed the archives for “good stuff.” “Browse the archives” should also be in quotation marks because one does NOT browse the archives as one browses the shelves in the public library. Archival materials are carefully stored in locked rooms where the controlled environment prevents the documents from being harmed by mold and other threats. The locked doors also prevent interested bystanders from acquiring important documents for their own libraries.

The “good stuff” I was looking for was, ideally, brief explanatory documents and photographs that could explain how life unfolded for those who lived in North Dakota in the past. The documents had to be interesting enough to hold the attention of eighth-graders. I wanted students to view the past through events that were fun or had a youthful perspective.

To find documents, I searched the online catalog (ODIN). Since I often started my search with only a vague idea of my goal, it actually was a little like browsing. I kept my fingers crossed that my search terms were appropriate to my wish list. When luck was with me, I was rewarded with some lovely gems from the archival collections.

One of my favorites is a collection of papers and photographs documenting the tree claim of Nels Wold of Traill County (A. N. Wold Papers, Mss 20375). Tree claims were made under the Timber Culture Act (1872). Planting several acres of trees and keeping them alive for several years entitled the claimant to 160 acres in addition to other claims such as a Homestead Act (1862) claim.

The collection includes the official forms Wold filled out to establish and prove his claim, a map of Traill County, and a hand-drawn map of the Wold farmstead showing where the trees had been planted. Bringing these documents to life are several photographs showing the trees on the date of his proof in 1891 and in 1898. In the twenty years since they were planted, the trees had grown to shelter the house and barns from the winds.

The Wold farm in 1891. The trees behind the house were planted under the Timber Culture Act in 1878. SHSND 20375-B375-A

Another photograph brings a stronger historical view to the Wold Papers. In this photo, Nels Wold’s son, A. N. Wold, stands with his two children next to a 50-year-old tree. The cottonwood tree appears to hold in a fond embrace the descendants of the man who planted it.

Nels Wold’s son, A. N. Wold and his two sons stand in front of a 50-year-old cottonwood tree on the Wold farm. SHSND-B375-F

These documents and photographs will help students understand how the federal government distributed land in the 19^th century and the challenges the claimants faced in keeping those trees alive. Reading these documents, along with other lessons on rainfall and drought, the students will understand why tree claims were successful only in the eastern part of North Dakota. Perhaps students will also gain an appreciation for North Dakota’s great variety of climates and soils, the hard work of settlement farmers, and the beauty of a tree.