I research small fossil teeth; VERY small fossil teeth. At times these fossil teeth can be submillimeter in size. While a benefit of this is that they do not take up much storage space, one downside is that they can be somewhat difficult to see and study. As I discussed in a previous blog post sometimes it is difficult to even find them in the first place. An obvious solution to the problem of studying these tiny teeth is the microscope. However, there are still problems with viewing teeth of this micro size. Often when looking at these teeth through the microscope, not all of the tooth will be in focus at once due to the narrow focal point. This makes studying these small teeth difficult, as a researcher can only view a small portion of the tooth’s surface at a time. Thankfully, there is a solution to this problem.

By taking a series of photos at different “elevations” along the surface of the tooth, it is possible to create an in-focus image. This is accomplished with a computer program that seamlessly blends or “stacks” these photos together. What you wind up with is an in-focus image that is the result of combining all the focused points of each photo together. In general, the more images you take of the tooth and stack together, the better your final photo. For demonstration purposes please see figures 1-4.

Figure 1: Level “A” is the lowest in-focus slice. Note that only the metal pin (lower left) and the bubbled glue and pin head (upper right) are in focus.

Figure 2: Level “B” is the middle in-focus slice. Note that only the in color sections of the tooth are in focus.

Figure 3: Level “C” is the top in-focus slice. Note that only the in color sections of the tooth are in focus.

Figure 4: This is the final “stacked” image and is the result of putting all the other images together. Essentially, A + B + C = D. Note that now the entire tooth is in focus.

It was a morning of total frustration. I couldn’t read the caption beneath the photo in a seventh-grade geography book.

In hindsight, the reason is clear. I was six years old, a first grader at Hiddenwood School #2, and l hadn't yet learned to read. The photograph I was puzzling over was of South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore. The “big kids” were reading the geography text; I was stuck with Fun with Dick and Jane.

Teacher and students in a one-room country school (SHSND 0032-BK-05-07)

I was reminded of this experience during a recent visit to the Inspiration Gallery: Yesterday and Today in the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum. Next to the Nancy Hendrickson house is a photograph of a teacher and her nine students in a one-room country school. A date on the blackboard reads “October 20, 1910.”

One-room country schools were still prevalent in North Dakota in the mid-1950s. It is estimated 3,795 of these school buildings existed in 1955; 2,355 of those were actually in session.¹ I attended the one-room Hiddenwood School #2. Hiddenwood #1 was three miles north; #3 was three miles south.

Even though I attended a one-room school decades later, my memories of Hiddenwood #2 are exactly as pictured in the 1910 photograph: the chalkboard (ours was green); the wooden desks; the stern, no-nonsense teacher; the self-conscious students; and the stack of books.

Even the number of students is the same: two of us in first grade, two in seventh grade, and one each in the grades between. The ratio of boys to girls was different, though; we only had one girl, Sylvia, who was in fifth grade. The rest were boys from farms as far as 2.5 miles away.

Washington, Sir Galahad, and "Regulator" clock

Nine wooden desks faced the front of the room. On the wall over the chalkboard was the wooden Regulator clock that our teacher wound every morning. On either side of the clock were two pictures: Gilbert Stuart’s George Washington on the right, George Frederick Watts’ Sir Galahad on the left. The meaning of the Stuart picture was evident. We weren’t so sure about the Sir Galahad picture.

Recent research in the State Archives revealed the reason for Sir Galahad’s placement next to the clock:

In any event the teacher should decree that nothing but beautiful things shall be hung upon the walls. Better bare walls than debased or debasing art; better nothing in the way of decoration than decoration which is worse than nothing. The following list may prove useful to the country teacher who wishes to be able to name one desirable work of art…²

The list included Watts’ Sir Galahad.

As I wrote in my last blog post, I grew up in a slower, simpler time. I described my boyhood as one that could have taken place in the mythical community of Andy Griffith’s Mayberry. This simple country school was a big part of the mystique, and there was no “debasing” art in it.

I remember the smell of the green sweeping compound scattered and then swept up before leaving for the weekend, the long walk to school every day (460 feet, door to door), and the house flies we imprisoned in the ink wells on our desks.

My most vivid memory is of the McLean County bookmobile that stopped at our school once a month. We were each limited to borrowing 10 books per visit. We had read and reread the books in our country school library, many of them missing covers and pages. The traveling bookmobile opened up a world that satisfied my curiosity about Mount Rushmore and introduced me to many other wonders.

Hiddenwood #2

I was frustrated to read the 2014 news story of the burning of the old schoolhouse. The building was beyond repair and was becoming an eyesore. I was content, though, to be able to read the story of its end, an ability I owe to my five formative years at Hiddenwood #2. While we can’t go back in time, I’m delighted to be able to use the State Archives to research information, find photos, and learn more about my childhood school.

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¹ Warren A. Henke and Everett C. Albers, The Legacy of North Dakota’s Country Schools (North Dakota Humanities Council, 1998), v.
² O.J. Kern, Among Country Schools (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1906), 102.

Sometimes amazing things come in old boxes. Unfortunately, those old boxes are not usually archival to best preserve the items inside. As I have been re-housing some of our older collections, I have come across so many amazing things and want to share them with you!

This summer our volunteers in the archaeology lab helped the staff process artifacts owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This involved repackaging artifacts in archival materials, cataloging and labeling artifacts, and archiving paper records and photos. These collections are from sites in North Dakota located on federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife lands.

Some of the pottery sherds in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife collection from Sargent County are net impressed. This means that the potter used a net to finish the outer surface of the vessel. If you look closely, you can see impressions of the knots and diamond-shape pattern made by cords on the sherds. This is not something we see every day, so it was very exciting when Fern Swenson, our division director (and a ceramicist) confirmed that these were indeed impressed with a net!

Net impressed sherds from site 32SA211 (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Collection, 2015A.30.1370, 2015A.30.1210, 2015A.30.1207, 2015A.30.1206, 2015A.30.1191)

We also cataloged two barbed fishing spears from the Irvin Nelson site (32BE208) near Devils Lake in Benson County. These are likely made out of bison bone and are the first that I have seen. But as I would find out a few weeks later, these aren’t the only fishing spear tips in North Dakota’s archaeology collections.

While going through a box that was part of an older, privately donated collection, I was excited to find another bone fishing spear tip! This tip is from a site in Burleigh County.

Bone barbed fishing spear tips from 32BE208--left and center (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Collection, 2015A.19.21, 2015A.30.20) and 32BL4--far right (SHSND A&HP, 1739)

Another item in the same box worth mentioning is a tchung-kee stone made out of a rock that has been pecked and ground into a smooth doughnut shape. It was broken in half at some point in the past, but the pieces still refit together.

Tchung-kee stone (SHSND A&HP 1736)

These stones were used to play a competitive game of skill. You can see artist George Catlin’s 1832 painting of Mandan people playing tchung-kee at americanart.si.edu/artwork/tchung-kee-mandan-game-played-ring-and-pole-4407. The next time you visit the North Dakota Heritage Center & Museum, take a look at a scene based on Catlin’s painting in the cyclorama of Double Ditch village in the Innovation: Early Peoples Gallery.

Illustration of people playing tchung-kee at Double Ditch Village (SHSND, original art by Rob Evans)

Speaking of Double Ditch, I also came across two unique artifacts from that site. This projectile point with notched edges is very thin and skillfully made.

Projectile point with notched edges from Double Ditch Village (32BL8) (SHSND A&HP, 4607)

Another artifact is this ceramic effigy node—an animal-shaped piece of clay that was part of a pottery rim. The rim sherd is also cord-impressed--a cord or thin rope was pressed into the wet clay to make a pattern or design.

Two views of the animal effigy node on a pottery sherd from Double Ditch Indian Village State Historic Site (32BL8) (SHSND A&HP, 4488)

The last old box that I inventoried contained a shell pendant. North Dakota’s Chief Archaeologist Paul Picha identified it as a “money cowrie” shell (Monetaria moneta), which likely came from Africa. These were used as trade goods during the 18th century fur trade.

A “money cowrie” shell pendant from 32MO29 (SHSND A&HP 13629.X)

This week has been the week of atlatl weights (and that is not something most archaeologists get to say). In the same collection as the shell pendant, I found an atlatl weight. These are beautifully made, but not very common– they usually trump anything else on our “Find of the Day” board in the lab. Yesterday, a volunteer who is helping re-house a privately donated collection found the second atlatl weight of that week.

The “Find of the Day” board in the archaeology lab is a fun way to find outwhat interesting things have been seen in the lab recently. If you ever are on a tour of the archaeology lab, be sure to notice what is listed on the board.I If the artifact is still in the lab, we will be happy to show it to you! (SHSND)

Atlatl weights, the bottom weight is from 32MO29 (SHSND A&HP 13629.Z), the top weight is from 32MO37 (SHSND A&HP 1986.226.7595)

Atlatls were used to launch darts in North Dakota before the bow and arrow--from Paleoindian times through the Woodland Period. Weights were attached to atlatls to provide additional stability and balance.

This hunter is preparing to throw his dart by fitting it to his atlatl. A stone weight is attached to this atlatl with a sinew cord (SHSND, illustration by Meagan Schoenfelder)

We have hundreds of boxes to re-house over the next few years, so I will share more with you from my expeditions to our collections storage rooms!

We all have things we hold onto for far too long. Clean-up projects hit the trifecta of misery.

Redesigning a website is a series of time-consuming chores that are psychologically, emotionally, and financially overwhelming. And it doesn’t help that most of us hardly know where to start-it’s much easier to convince yourself that technically, the site still functions, right? With our dedicated education team, we had the difficult conversation about our North Dakota Studies website and made the call to redesign it.

Website redesign is not a small task, but let’s face it. You probably need it. Why?

1. To create a better user experience.
User or customer experience (UX or CX) are industry jargon for what gets down to the question of who is your customer? When we began the revamp of the ndstudies.gov website, we took a hard look at our numbers. How many students does ND serve? How are our users finding us?

2. Your website isn’t working.
Think of how many screens you encounter in a day. Phones, smart tvs, tablets, smart watches, laptops or notebooks, desktops, smartboards if you’re in a classroom. If you haven’t looked at your website across multiple devices, you have work to do. There might also be places where you want to reorganize or change terms that make sense to your industry, but aren’t that common outside of the silo to better serve your users. And keep an eye on the horizon. Have you thought about how smart speakers might affect your site traffic?

Have you thought about it? Be honest.

3. Haul stuff away to make room for what’s important
When you’ve covered what you can handle (internal resources) and what the audience wants, it’s time for action.

We decided to prioritize our newest online educational content:
Grade 4
Grade 8
Energy

And we made sure we still had room for growth.

How do you decide what to keep on your site? Here is a quick cheat sheet of strategic questions to ask when dealing with content on your website that maybe doesn’t fit into the new structure-

Browser support
If a project is done in a program like flash, it’s no longer supported in browsers. End it.

Usage
There is a difference between a low use area and dying area. Low use might be worth keeping or redoing in the future. The dying track is just that. It is OK to remove content that is at the end of its lifespan.

Analysis and Audit
This will save your team from “But it’s so good” syndrome. What your team thinks is fantastic material isn’t always what the customer values. If material doesn’t help your users, it isn’t fantastic. Each area has to be reviewed and taken on its own merits.

Some decisions are easier than others.  At the end of the day, it all comes down to serving the  people of North Dakota. And with our new ndstudies.gov website we can do that better. Which comes with the side effect of increased web traffic. Win win!

That's an increase of 312%

When you visit ndstudies.gov, you probably don’t think about the people behind the screens in the museum producing all of the online learning options for North Dakota. You are probably thinking about the information you need to find to tackle the job you need to do. You want accurate information that you can find in a flash. Great websites mean continual improvement so that users have a great website experience.

Wow. You guys really like venn diagrams.

And great website experiences have people coming back for more. Thanks North Dakota!

Here's a venn diagram just for you.

One of the joys of being an archivist is the opportunity to work with collections that relate to your professional historical passion. In my case, it is military history (specifically the American Civil War) that excites me. While North Dakota is on the fringe in relation to America’s bloodiest conflict, we do have a connection to the conflict and the State Archives has several collections containing materials about individuals’ experiences.

The Kenney Family Papers, a recent addition to our collections, highlights the service of two brothers, Joseph Edwin and George W. Kenney, who served in Company D, Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Joseph, 31, enlisted on Oct. 8, 1861, while George, 21, enlisted Oct. 10, 1861. Organized in St. Cloud, Company D mustered into service on Oct. 10, 1861, and proceeded to Fort Abercrombie, Dakota Territory for garrison duty.¹

From late December 1861 until February 1862, the brothers wrote at least five letters home to their family. In a letter from Fort Abercrombie written on Dec. 22, 1861, the brothers discussed the cold weather and snow, but noted that it was nice. Their big complaint was that they had written five letters home at that point and only received one letter in reply. In their other letters from Abercrombie, the brothers discussed the weather, their health, and news from home.²

What is fascinating is the difference in the writing styles between the two men. George’s handwriting and overall style are less refined than Joseph’s, as George’s portions of the letters are full of spelling and grammatical errors, shown in the images. This leads to speculation as to a difference in education levels between the two, especially as Joseph was promoted to corporal.

Notice the difference in the handwriting of George (left) and Joseph (right). Item # 11371-00001-1 (left) and 11371-0000-2 (right).

Some of the letters in the collection incorporate artistic letterhead, which was a feature of some letters home from Civil War soldiers. This artwork usually invokes patriotic imagery or images of home. One good example is the letter from Joseph to his parents and siblings on May 10, 1862 from Paris Landing in Tennessee. In the letter, he noted traveling from St. Louis, stopping at Fort Henry, and traveling down the Tennessee River. The letter ended abruptly, noting several sick men were being left at Benton Barracks in St. Louis.³ Note the eagle in the upper left of the image of that letter below.

Some letters from war were written on paper containing letterhead with patriotic images, like the eagle with its beak towards the American flag and away from the Confederate flag. Item #11371-00007-1.

In one letter home, Joseph shares the circumstances of his brother George’s death in Mississippi from disease in late May 1862. On Aug. 29, he wrote, “you want to know the particulars of the death of dear George he died in the morning and was burried [sic] in the evening he died easy I was in the same tent we had pretty good beds we have a good Chaplain I like the Captain, you spoke about his pay I cannot get any untill [sic] there is a final settlement and then we can get his bounty.”⁴

In addition to the letters home from the brothers, the collection includes a couple other letters from people who knew the two men and bring their stories to a sad conclusion. One letter, dated June 12, 1863, from Lavinia (Vinia) Lambert of Langola, Minnesota, to the brothers’ mother provided some details surrounding their fates. Vinia’s father served in Company D with them and wrote home about them. These letters tell us that Vinia’s father cared for George to the end of his illness. She noted that he experienced delirium as his mind wandered to thoughts of family and friends back home. She also wrote of her father being present when Joseph was killed at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the evening of May 22, 1863, being “shot through the head.”⁵

The final letter in the collection is from Edward Dowling to Joseph’s and George’s father. Dowling was in the same company as the brothers and discussed the circumstances surrounding Joseph’s death in battle. This was a common occurrence for soldiers to write the families of fallen comrades to explain circumstances of their loved ones’ deaths. He wrote, “I think that he was as Brave a Soldier as ever went into a Battle” and noted that he died in a charge and that a truce was called three days after to allow burial of his body. Dowling mentioned that Joseph’s grave was unknown, owing to another burial being close by and unmarked.

One item Dowling noted in his letter to Kenney’s father was the extent of his personal effects, especially his clothing. Joseph only had “two shirts and a pair of socks,” having thrown the rest away along his marches, including his knapsack, while losing his blanket in the charge that resulted in his death.⁶ It was quite common among Civil War soldiers to ditch cumbersome and uncomfortable equipment along the march, as they often shed their knapsacks and rolled personal belongings into blankets and slung them over their shoulders.

Thus, the story of the Kenney brothers came to a sad conclusion, as they joined the ranks of the approximately 750,000 other Americans who died in the Civil War. Their service took them from Minnesota to the prairie of Dakota Territory, and finally the deep South. One brother died from disease, which was the most common cause of death in the war, while the other died in one of the more pivotal battles of the war. Their letters are a mere snapshot of lives cut short and only a small microcosm of the Civil War. But they are a treasure to have because they link North Dakota to one of our nation’s most pivotal events.

If you are interested in the Civil War, stop into the Archives and check out the Kenney Family Papers.

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¹ Board of Commissioners on Publication of History of Minnesota in Civil and Indian Wars, Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1861-1865 (St. Paul, MN: Pioneer Press Company, 1890), 199, 228, https://books.google.com/books?id=ZuoLAAAAIAAJ&pg=PP8#v=onepage&q&f=fal….
² Joseph and George Kenney to parents, December 22, 1861, Kenney Family Papers, Collection #11371, Box 1, Item 1, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck.
³ Joseph Kenney to parents, May 10, 1862, Kenney Family Papers, Collection #11371, Box 1, Item 7, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck.
⁴ Joseph Kenney to parents, December 22, 1861, Kenney Family Papers, Collection #11371, Box 1, Item 10, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck.
⁵ Lavinia Lambert to Mrs. Kenney, June 12, 1863, Kenney Family Papers, Collection #11371, Box 1, Item 15, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck.
⁶ Edward Dowling to Mr. Kenney, August 8, 1863, Kenney Family Papers, Collection #11371, Box 1, Item 17, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck.

On September 15, 2018, a team of AmeriCorps volunteers arrived at Fort Totten State Historic Site. The team, comprising eight volunteers aged 19 to 25, originated from all over the United States. Tasked with cleaning out the historic gymnasium in preparation for restoration, the team members got to work almost immediately.

AmeriCorps team members upon arrival, posing in the auditorium at Fort Totten State Historic Site.

Created in 1993, AmeriCorps is a federally funded volunteer program that sends teams all over America to complete their mission of “helping others and meeting critical needs in the community.” The process of acquiring an AmeriCorps grant and team began back in 2016 with several meetings between State Historical Society staff and AmeriCorps leaders. Upon acceptance, the staff of Fort Totten began preparations for the team’s arrival. The team would be staying at the Totten Trail Historic Inn, a Victorian-themed bed and breakfast operated by the Fort Totten State Historic Site Foundation and housed in the former Officer’s Quarters on the grounds of Fort Totten State Historic Site. Accustomed to sleeping outside and in church basements, the team rejoiced at having their own bedrooms and bathrooms for the duration of their visit.

Team members pose outside the gymnasium during clean-up.

Fort Totten staff slated 2-3 weeks for the gymnasium cleanup and were amazed when the project was completed in just five days. The team members then moved onto a lengthier project — the rehousing of the museum collections of the Lake Region Pioneer Daughters. You may remember from my previous blogs that the State Historical Society has made the restoration of the historic hospital/cafeteria a priority in the last few years. The historic hospital/cafeteria at Fort Totten has been home to the Lake Region Pioneer Daughters and their collections since 1960. Since the massive overhaul and restoration of the building, completed in 2017, the collections were housed in boxes throughout the basement of the building and accompanying buildings. AmeriCorps was tasked with combining the collections from multiple buildings, removing the objects from unsatisfactory boxes and housing, placing them in archival, acid-free boxes, and adding object tags with accession numbers to the items and boxes. Team members spent almost three weeks working on this project and were fascinated by the many treasures discovered in the vast collections.

Americorps team members rehouse the Lake Region Pioneer Daughters collection in the historic hospital/cafeteria at Fort Totten State Historic Site.

The experience of working with AmeriCorps was phenomenal and one we hope to have again. The young people involved were truly committed to public service and strengthening communities. We’re very excited to see what becomes of these young people and what they choose to do with their lives after AmeriCorps.