This month, the State Archives marks American Archives Month by highlighting the memory keepers at work behind the scenes collecting, preserving, and sharing North Dakota’s documentary history. I asked some of our hardworking memory keepers—the amazing State Archives staff—what their favorite thing about being an archivist is and about the special moments that make this job worth doing. Check out their answers below!

Matt Ely, photo archivist

My favorite part of my job is working with obsolete photographic formats such as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes.

Daguerreotypes were the first commercially viable and publicly available style of photography and capture an image directly on a piece of metal, which is then housed in a case. Wet collodion direct positives, such as tintypes and ambrotypes, came next. These types of photography use the same process as daguerreotypes but capture images on a thin sheet of metal or a piece of glass respectively.

It’s very interesting to see how much photography has changed over the years, both in the process and the product. I think it’s great to work with historical photographs so closely, and it’s also neat that examples of these processes in our collections range from over 150 years ago to just a couple months old!

From left: An 1875 tintype of Ellen Malloy and Mollie Taggert next to one of Millie and Madeleine Hyatt at the Former Governors’ Mansion State Historic Site in Bismarck, created just this year by Kary Janousek from Fargo. SHSND SA 2010-P-025-00002, 2024-P-016-00013

Daniel Sauerwein, reference specialist

Working in reference allows me to use my research skills to assist people find records and answers to their questions. Helping them solve historical mysteries and leaving patrons better informed than when they entered is a great feeling. I especially enjoy aiding genealogy researchers and kids learn more about themselves and the history of North Dakota and its people. Working with the collections is also a wonderful part of being at the State Archives.

Megan Steele, local government records archivist

My favorite thing about being an archivist is browsing through the past. Seeing snapshots in time from someone else’s life can be an almost surreal realization. Second to that feeling is the joy and excitement I see when a volunteer or patron makes a connection or finds an interesting tidbit that they cannot wait to tell others about. I always encounter something fun or interesting when processing collections that makes me laugh or smile.

Sarah Walker, head of reference services

We take the term “memory keepers” quite seriously. The items held in our collections are direct collections and recollections of individuals who lived here, worked here, and loved here. We are keeping their memories alive for their family and friends and for future generations. How can you not get goosebumps thinking about that? What an honor to work in this field, at this agency, and help preserve the history of this state.

The author and coworker Lindsay Meidinger excited to capture oral histories for the State Archives’ collections while at the Stutsman County Courthouse State Historic Site in Jamestown, spring 2024.

Kylie Ward, newspaper archivist

As an archivist, my favorite part of the job is touching history. Our newspaper collection is extensive and having the opportunity to handle old papers from the late 1800s or early 1900s is always exciting. The pages are worn with age and detail the lives of countless North Dakotans who made an impact on their communities. From marriage announcements to crop harvests to the prices of products advertised—nearly every aspect of these historical newspapers is interesting to look through. One of my favorite finds is this cute dispatch from a dog show that ran in a 1950 edition of the Bowbells Tribune below.

Bowbells Tribune, March 9, 1950, p. 7

Ashley Thronson, reference specialist

As for me, my favorite thing about being an archivist is helping researchers access the State Archives' collections. So much history can be found within our collections, but it can be a confusing experience if you don’t know where to start looking or what topics/events we have information on. Talking to people about their research and helping them search our website and the resources we have available to navigate our collections is my favorite part of the job. Not only am I answering their questions, I am also helping patrons learn about the State Archives’ resources and teaching them skills they can take with them on their research journey.

One day while I was working at the State Archives, a patron approached the reference desk and asked me why Little Egypt Park, located in Williams County, was called Little Egypt? The person was interested in finding out why and how the park ended up with that name. I was intrigued myself, as I couldn’t think of any historical or geographical reasoning behind the name and set to work searching through various resources at the State Archives. This is what I found.

Little Egypt Park, located 30 miles south of Ray on Lake Sakakawea, features picnic areas, camping, and direct access to the lake so visitors can boat, fish, and swim at the park as well. In the late 1980s, plans were made to improve the park by creating a swimming area and bathhouse as well as upgraded picnic shelters and camping areas. And that’s all I was able to find. I looked through the State Archives resources I knew of, including “The Wonders of Williams: A History of Williams County, North Dakota,” local newspapers, and collections relating to parks and the creation of the parks, with no luck. This was odd, since it is common to find information about a park’s origins or name significance in our collections. Feeling stumped and not sure where else to search, I asked other State Archives staff members if they had any ideas, perhaps they had researched Little Egypt Park in the past. Shane Molander, the state archivist, reached out to State Historical Board member Richard Stenberg, an associate professor in the Arts and Human Sciences Department at Williston State College, with my question and provided me with the first lead I had so far: The old-timers in Williams County would say that the land had good soil or dirt. But what was the connection?

The sprawling Little Egypt Park on the shores of Lake Sakakawea. Courtesy Williams County

This research got me thinking about how and why place names were chosen during European immigration and settlement in the Midwest and Western states. The capital city of Bismarck is famously named in honor of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. A settlement in Traill County was given the name Little Chicago, and later in Dunseith, Little Chicago of the West was formed in the hopes that it would soon rival the city in Illinois. Towns across the Midwest were named Little Norway or Little Sweden by Norwegian or Swedish immigrants. So what inspired the people of Williams County to choose Little Egypt as their new park’s name? Continuing my search, I started looking for places named Little Egypt outside of North Dakota to see if any other information could be gathered about this interesting place name.

I came across this advertisement during my search for Little Egypt place names. The Devils Lake World, October 4, 1922, p. 15

Southern Illinois is nicknamed “Little Egypt,” with several towns in the southern half of the state named after Egyptian cities. This nickname was inspired by comparisons of the geographic features of the Mississippi River and flood plains of southern Illinois to the fertile Nile Valley in Egypt. Poor harvests in the northern regions of the state also contributed to this nickname, as the land in southern Illinois provided food relief to the struggling north during the winter of 1830-31.

Suddenly the dots began to connect. The “good dirt” that the old timers in Williams County thought the name came from could have been an allusion to the fertile soil found in that region of the county or to the fertile soil they hoped the region would have. The name also evokes the feeling of a prosperous community, like the settlers in Little Chicago would have wanted. Or perhaps people from southern Illinois settled in Williams County and chose to name the park after their home in Illinois. One single answer may not exist with multiple inspirations possible. But as it doesn’t appear the reason for the name was recorded, my quest continues.

October is American Archives month. To celebrate, we are sharing all things related to the State Archives! Our staff works very closely with our collections, which allows us to gain unique insights into these documents and materials. In this post, we highlight some of our favorite resources that we think have great value for personal history and should be utilized more by the public for genealogical research. Check out the list below, and if you have any questions along the way or are interested in accessing these treasures, don’t hesitate to reach out to our reference staff at archives@nd.gov or 701.328.2091.

Emily Kubischta, Manuscript Archivist

Yeehaw! In 1957, the 50 Years in the Saddle Club was organized in New Town by 22 cattlemen who had been ranching and working with cattle for at least 50 years. The group aimed to keep memories and tradition alive by annually gathering to reminisce, and their efforts resulted in the four-volume series “50 Years in the Saddle: Looking Back Down the Trail,” as well as a variety of biographies and stories of ranchers and other residents of western North Dakota. Although the biographies vary in terms of length and content, they are wonderful resources for genealogists and western enthusiasts alike. There is bound to be a person or topic of interest to anyone researching the Old West in North Dakota in the 50 Years in the Saddle Club Collection (MSS 11366).

Daniel Sauerwein, Reference Specialist

A great genealogy resource in the State Archives is our collection of yearbooks from various schools, colleges, and universities across North Dakota. While they require a little more background knowledge of your ancestors, such as knowing what school they attended, yearbooks are an exciting way to uncover photographs of ancestors from their younger days and learn what they did in school. Whether your ancestor was a star athlete or outstanding scholar, yearbooks also show familial and community ties, since by glancing at surnames you can trace your family’s trajectory through the years. We are always looking for more yearbooks to grow this resource so please consider donating your yearbooks to help preserve this history.

A selection of Bismarck High School yearbooks in the State Archives.

Ashley Thronson, Reference Specialist

A lesser-used resource at the State Archives for genealogy research is the local government collections. County court case files, including probate, civil, and criminal case files, property assessment records, and some township records are found in these collections. These records can be a little difficult to use as they are not digitized, the records are not all in one place, and the records we have for each county may vary. If you are interested in seeing what local government records we might have on your ancestor, check out the local government records pages on our website.

Virginia Bjorness, Head of Technical Services

The State Archives has nearly 1,400 family history books, many containing a treasure trove of research, stories, and pictures! Written and published by current and former North Dakotans (or relatives with ties to the state), these works can be an unexpected gem for genealogists. Some also contain valuable information about the settlement and development of places across North Dakota. Search for your family’s name here.

Lindsay Meidinger, Head of Archival Collections and Information Management

Although probably a bit of an unconventional genealogical resource, the North Dakota news film collections offer a unique glimpse at the past through a visual of the people, places, and activities that our relatives encountered during their lives. Covering nearly every corner of North Dakota and spanning the 1950s to the 2000s, the news film collections contain raw segments, complete stories, and a plethora of sports clips and games. I personally was able to find out more about my own genealogy through the WDAY-TV collection. One day while digitizing some film, I stumbled upon a segment titled “Postman Arrested and Taken to Banquet in His Honor.” My dad once told me about my great-grandfather, Thomas Cullen, who was a mailman in Fargo for 39 years and never once involved in an accident. Sure enough, the news film segment I had just digitized was footage of my great-grandfather! Through this archival news film, I learned that Fargo city officials and police officers decided to surprise him by “arresting” him and taking him to a party honoring his astounding driving record and service to the city.

Postman Thomas Cullen is "arrested" for his exemplary driving record. SHSND SA 10351-2146-00005

Sarah Walker, Head of Reference Services

We have a multitude of collections that provide solid genealogical documentation. However, our oral history collections are some of my favorite sources to use for family history research. Sometimes these oral history interviews are more focused on history than family history, and sometimes they are essentially biographies of the person or people being interviewed. No matter the focus, both history and personal history intertwine and shine through. Even if your family did not contribute an oral history themselves, their contemporaries may have. For example, I discovered in our collections an oral history of the wife of a doctor who took care of my mother’s family when she was young. That was a cool find!

Box of cassettes from the Bicentennial Oral History Collection (MSS 10157).

Here at the State Historical Society, we want to be sure your personal family collections are kept safe for future generations. With that in mind, we’ve prepared some guidance on caring for your collections in the event of potential flood events and water damage. We will look at preventative care tips and suggestions to follow or keep in mind as you work to protect and preserve your family treasures and history before a disaster strikes.

General advice for storing personal collections

Storage of your items should be in a space that has a stable and consistent temperature. The best storage space for home collections is a cool, clean, and relatively dry area with no direct light. We do not recommend storing items in attics or in most basements as these spaces can be humid, and the temperature may fluctuate drastically due to seasonal weather changes.

You should avoid placing items near heaters, radiators, chimneys, vents, electrical sources, and open windows. Take note whether your chosen storage area is at risk of water damage, such as being near plumbing pipes, sprinklers, open windows, vents, or sinks.

1) Housing your personal collection

VHS tapes should be stored upright in cases to prevent damage.

Housing options (basically the containers your collection is placed in) will vary depending on the items. The main consideration is whether these guard against insects and pests, block bright or direct light, and help keep objects clean and free of dust, which can scratch delicate surfaces like those of photographs.

We know people often default to basic plastic bins for storage, but plastic is not a good storage option because it will leach plasticizers that can affect the material within. We recommend acid-free boxes instead. That said, plastic is still better than nothing.

2) Buffered versus unbuffered?

When looking for housing materials online, you may come across both buffered and unbuffered options. If something has been buffered, calcium carbonate (better known as chalk) has been added to the cellulose material and acts as a buffering agent raising the pH level of the paper to be more alkaline. If the item being housed is paper or made of cellulose (like film, photographs, and cotton products) go for the buffered option. But for items that come from animals (e.g., leather, silk, wool, feathers, horsehair, and pearls) use unbuffered. This rule applies to file folders, tissue paper you wrap around objects, and boxes.

3) Considerations for general materials

Audiovisual and magnetic media: The ideal orientation for CDs, DVDs, audio, and video cassettes is to be stored upright like books, as stacking can cause stress and warping. The original containers work well for storage if they are clean and made of inert plastic. Video and audio cassettes should be wound to the beginning or the end, so that content on the tape is not exposed.

Photographs in the State Archives collections are sleeved due to high use by researchers and staff.

Flat/oversize items: For flat paper materials, a file folder is our go-to method, unless it is very weak, has tears, or is heavily creased. In that case, we would place the item in a polyester sleeve. The file folders can be stored flat or upright in a box. Speaking of tears, please do not use regular Scotch tape to fix them! There is special tape and other repair methods if you feel the items need conservation. We also recommend the removal of rubber bands, metal paper clips, and metal fasteners. If the item is oversize/poster size, then storing it may require a bit more creativity, but keep it flat with little to no pressure on top. If you must roll the item, do not roll it too tight, and remember to periodically unroll and roll it in the opposite direction.

Photographs: A common question is whether photos should always be sleeved? If you have many photographs and feel that putting them in sleeves is necessary, then we would recommend at least 3-millimeter-thick polyester, as it is the most chemically inert of the plastics used for archival storage products. But you only really need to sleeve photographs that are handled a lot, show signs of weakness or deterioration, or are of utmost importance to you. Otherwise, leaving photographs loose should not be an issue. Just store them flat or upright with some space in the box since you do not want to exert pressure on the photographs by shoving them tightly into the container.

Textiles, taxidermy, and natural materials: Textiles should be kept on padded hangers or placed flat in watertight buffered or unbuffered boxes (depending on the textile material). They should be stored away from leaky areas and sunlight, which can cause fading. Taxidermy should also be placed away from leaky areas and sunlight but on a high shelf. It’s important to use extreme caution when handling older taxidermy due to the risk of exposure to arsenic. Use coated watertight metal cases when storing wood, rocks, minerals, ceramic, and glass. Uncoated metal objects should be in a dry environment to reduce the risk of oxidation (rust).

Textile artifacts, like this circa 1880s blouse, should be stored in an acid-free box with tissue paper to support the garment. SHSND 1972.00169

While this certainly doesn’t cover every material type and situation you may encounter when caring for and housing your family’s historical items, it is a good place to start. If you have questions we haven’t addressed, our staff are happy to help. For questions related to paper, books, and photographs contact the State Archives at 701.328.2091 or archives@nd.gov. For artifact-related questions, contact our museum staff at history@nd.gov.

*This blog was co-authored with Local Government Archivist Megan Steele and two former museum interns, Zoe Harden and Emily Bruun.

Sometimes in the State Archives, we get phone calls or emails from individuals seeking advice who are trying to do genealogical research but are unable to come to Bismarck in person. Luckily due to the increased digitization of archival records, we can still help by suggesting the many digital resources available to anyone with a computer. The following are some Archives-recommended resources for the remote researcher.

Two websites that will get you a lot of bang for your search are Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. These websites provide access to census, naturalization, military, and vital records (e.g., birth, death, and marriage). A helpful aspect is their ability to filter the results to fit your search parameters. One can search for specific names, geographic locations, and dates, making large collections, such as the census, easier to navigate. That these sites contain records from the entire United States as well as foreign countries makes genealogy research so much more accessible, especially if your ancestor moved states or emigrated from elsewhere. While we use Ancestry.com for all our federal and state census searches at the State Archives, it’s also available free of charge through the many local libraries that have subscriptions to Ancestry.com.

Sites like Ancestry.com provide users with a wide range of search field options.

Another site that we recommend for people conducting personal research is Digital Horizons. Digital Horizons contains digitized materials from archives across North Dakota. You can find so much information in the site’s different collections, but for genealogy research we recommend the North Dakota Histories collection of digitized county and town centennial, jubilee, and other anniversary history books. There is also a selection of North Dakota atlases and plat maps that can be helpful when researching the land ownership of your ancestors. Additionally, Digital Horizons has a lot of digitized photographs from across the state, including from the State Historical Society of North Dakota, NDSU Institute for Regional Studies, and the Bismarck Public Library.

The Digital Horizons homepage offers numerous collections to explore.

In my opinion, the land patents from the Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office Records are a hidden gem among digitized records. These patents show the transfer of land ownership from the federal government to individuals, which is particularly helpful if your ancestor took advantage of the 1862 Homestead Act. Aside from the searchable database and digitized documents, this website has a lot of other cool features for researchers. There is an interactive map showing land descriptions on a contemporary map and also transcriptions of land patent contents. The information on this site as well as the State Archives’ collection of county plat maps can resolve many genealogical questions related to land and land ownership.

Land patent details from the Bureau of Land Management’s digital records.

As more records are digitized, it becomes easier to do genealogical research without having to travel to the individual state or country to access those records. The growing number of historical newspapers online at sites such as Chronicling America and Advantage Archives is another great resource. (Check out this blog post for inspiration as to how Chronicling America can assist with researching your family history.)

Genealogy and archival research are more approachable for every type of researcher than ever before, making roadblocks and frustrations less common. But if you are not sure where to start or have questions, State Archives staff are always available to help. We can be reached at 701.328.2091 or archives@nd.gov.

If you’ve ever had a conversation with our reference staff about using the State Archives’ collections for research, you probably heard about or even used microfilm. Most of our popular collections, such as our newspapers and naturalization records, are filmed and stored on microfilm for easy access in the reading room.

Microform is the reproductive process used to produce materials at an incredibly small size. There were originally four types of microform: microfilm, microfiche, super-fiche, and microprints. Microfilm and Microfiche are the only two still created today; here in the State Archives you will most likely find microfilm reels.

Microforms became popular for preserving and storing old newspapers and records in the 1930s and continued to be widely used in businesses, archives, and universities until the 1990s when the PDF became an easy and searchable format for all users. But microforms are still a well-used and well-loved resource for us in the State Archives. Indeed, there are a number of ways using microfilm and microfiche support our archival values of preservation, storage, and context within collections:

1) Preservation: Over time the chemicals used in mass-produced paper causes it to become yellow and brittle, and the paper starts to fall apart. Newsprint paper from the 18th and 19th centuries is especially vulnerable to this decay. By filming the State Archives’ newspaper collection and using the microfilm copies instead of the original for research and reference requests, we can prevent further damage to the material. Another great feature of microfilm is that it is a very stable medium, in that the material of the film does not start to deteriorate as fast as other formats such as paper, which can last about 50 years, or digital file formats, which are sometimes only compatible for 10 years or less. Experts say that microfilm can last for over 500 years if stored in the proper environment. Having a microfilmed copy for researchers and staff to use again and again helps us preserve the original copy for future generations.

An original copy of the July 14, 1864, edition of the Frontier Scout, the first newspaper published in what is now North Dakota.

A scan of the same edition of the Frontier Scout from the microfilm roll.

2) Storage: It may seem obvious, but microfilm is a simple storage form that can contain tons of document images while still being compact and lightweight. One roll of microfilm that is 35 mm in size can hold up to 800 newspaper pages, which means multiple years of a newspaper can often be found on one roll. This is also helpful for storing very large collections such as the U.S. census or marriage records. It is much easier for staff and researchers to move and use a small lightweight roll as opposed to boxes full of heavy paper.

Here a microfilm roll is juxtaposed with a physical box of newspapers. A single role of microfilm can contain multiple years of a given newspaper.

3) Context: Archival collections are organized and best researched as a whole so the creator’s original intention and the purpose of the information is as complete as can be. Digitized archival searches that only return individual documents may remove important context. Case in point: If you only look at the one document or article you searched for, you don’t get the information you did not search for. A microfilm machine does not have a search function and won’t allow you to skip the surrounding pages easily, thereby preserving the wider context and allowing facts and information to be studied in the whole rather than in a vacuum.

Finally, the goal of all archives work is to balance preserving and caring for original documents with providing the best and easiest access to the collection in question. Microfilm may appear to be a dated technology to some, but it still fulfills this objective well and is a valuable resource to the State Archives and researchers everywhere.