Oops! We have found a few errors in North Dakota: People Living on the Land (ndstudies.gov/gr8) since it was published in October 2014. However, because it is an online curriculum, we can make changes quickly. Though there are good reasons to provide students with paper textbooks (there is nothing like the feel of a book in your hands), one of the great advantages of a web-based curriculum is the ease of correcting errors (typographical or factual) that nearly every textbook contains.

During our first introduction of this 8^th grade curriculum to teachers, one of the participants noted that a sentence about the U.S. Constitution stated that it was written in 1889 (instead of 1789, as we all know). Well, that was embarrassing. After teaching U.S. History for 17 years, I should have seen that typo immediately. However, the error was quickly and easily corrected.

One day while thinking about nothing of importance, it struck me that in writing the introduction to the role of North Dakotans in World War II, I had failed to mention the outcome of the war. Adults of my age generally know that the Allies defeated Germany, Italy, and Japan in 1945. For eighth graders, that event is far in the distant past and the conclusion of the war needed to be clarified. And, it was – just one day later.

Differences of opinion are harder to resolve. Take for instance the photo of the Bakken oil region at night that was published by NASA a few years ago. The photo illustrated a section about how oil development had changed western North Dakota. (You can find the photo in Unit IV, Lesson 1, Topic 5, Section 3, Image 18.)

This NASA satellite photograph has state lines superimposed. The bright lights in the Bakken are caused by gas flares, drilling rig lights, and other night-time activity.

In the photo, the lights of the Bakken make it appear to be a city as large as Chicago. Recently, the Energy and Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota published a similar satellite image, but the lights (whether from flares, drilling rigs, or other activity) appear individually and do not make the Bakken look like a great new urban center.

This satellite photograph of North Dakota shows the lights of the Bakken on the left side and the lights of Chicago in the lower right side. Minneapolis-St. Paul is the bright area just right of center. This photo was provided by the University of North Dakota-EERC. Technicians at the EERC adjusted the photo for atmospheric conditions that caused the Bakken lights to glare in the NASA photo. Photo courtesy EERC.

The problem is that NASA is a darn good resource and that image has strength. Nevertheless, driving through the Bakken at night is not like driving through Chicago. How to present the concept of major changes in western North Dakota without distortion? By presenting the problem to students.

If we publish both images along with some material about how the photos conflict, students can discuss whether to trust or to challenge resources. Through guided discussions with their teachers they can learn an important life skill of analyzing information before they decide to accept or reject what they read or hear. Part of what we learn in school is about “stuff.” The other part is about how to become a learning person. North Dakota: People Living on the Land is part of both processes.

If you remember my previous posts about the SEND program (http://blog.statemuseum.nd.gov/blog/please-dont-eat-artifacts), then you know we have educational trunks that provide history-related objects and information to classrooms throughout the state. Students can touch real things that represent and interpret the history they are learning about. Of the trunk topics we have available, the Fur Trade trunk is always one of the most popular. It is packed with interesting objects that reveal what the world was like when Europeans and Native Americans first engaged in commercial activity together. Just one object can be used to teach a multitude of concepts. For example, this is a leg-hold trap from the trunk:

Leg-hold, spring trap from the Fur Trade SEND trunk

The jaws are welded shut so people of all ages can safely handle the object. It is made of steel and is about 27.5” long, including the chain. The long spring on each side of the jaws (as opposed to coil springs) makes it a double, long-spring trap. There is also a round pan with a maker’s mark on it.

Close up photograph of the trap pan displaying the manufacturer’s logo

The pan gives us a lot more information to think about. It is stamped: Oneida Victor 1, Made in U.S., Reg. U.S. Pat of Animal Trap Co. Lititz, PA. There is also a large, noticeable “V” cut into the steel pan. An internet search for the term “Oneida Victor” reveals that the Oneida silverware company traces its roots back to a religious commune in New York that owned several enterprises over the years, including a company that was once the leading manufacturer of game traps.¹

What other discussions can this object spark? If we are working with a group of students in a classroom, I would expect a lot of students to have questions about what trapping is. Some students might have first-hand experience with trapping, especially if they live on a farm or their family hunts and fishes. This object might generate a conversation about the ethics of hunting, fishing, and trapping, especially with an adult audience. It would be good for the person leading the discussion to have an understanding of the history of trapping and changes in best practices and standards that the trapping community has developed in response to changing viewpoints on hunting and trapping ethics.

This also opens up a lot of opportunities to talk about and study science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics in relation to land and resource management. Students could be presented with a real life problem: develop a beaver management plan in an urban area. They would need to figure out the range of modern beaver habitat (they can be found in forty-nine states). Students would need to figure out how many beavers the local ecosystem can support, how many are estimated to be living there, and what the best options are for population control. This will also raise some interesting issues for the students including how to coordinate their efforts and how to educate the public about an often controversial issue. What a great example of project-based learning connecting current events to real history—bringing history to the classroom in a relevant way!

---

Minnesota History. “MHS Collections: Society Collects Animal Traps.” Winter (1972): 146-148, accessed September 2, 2015. http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/43/v43i04p146-148.pdf.

Documenting, conserving, preserving, and protecting peoples’ stories are at the heart of historic preservation. Some ways to do this are through written and photographic documentation, recording oral histories, and saving historic buildings/structures and archaeological sites. Oftentimes, you will hear us refer to these things as “cultural resources.”

My job as an archaeologist exists because of a law passed by Congress in 1966 called the National Historic Preservation Act (16 USC 470).  In part it reads, “The preservation of our irreplaceable heritage is in the public interest so that its vital legacy of cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational, economic, and energy benefits will be maintained and enriched for future generations of Americans.” It created the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, State Historic Preservation Offices, the National Register of Historic Places, and the National Historic Landmark Program.

Each state has a State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). The North Dakota SHPO is located in the lower level of the Heritage Center in Bismarck. Our office serves a variety of functions, including developing and maintaining a statewide program—based on state and local needs—that supports and promotes historic preservation. This involves planning to meet challenges unique to our state; advocating for historic preservation policy at state and local levels; and empowering communities, organizations and citizens to action.

Some activities of the North Dakota SHPO:

We are the repository for the documentation of recorded historical and archaeological sites in North Dakota. Part of my job is processing the paper and digital records of these sites. Currently, there are nearly 70,000 site forms on file. The SHPO staff, federal agencies, state agencies, tribal governments, and specialists utilize these records daily.

Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act requires federal agencies to consider the impact that federally funded or permitted projects will have on cultural resources. At the SHPO, we advise and assist federal agencies in this process, review project design plans, identify cultural resources, and assess and resolve determinations of adverse effect. This process gives a local voice to the federal planning and decision-making process.

The Certified Local Government (CLG) program provides for a voluntary, formal partnership between the local, state and federal governments which establishes a commitment to historic preservation. North Dakota has seven CLGs: Buffalo, Devils Lake, Dickinson, Fargo, Grand Forks, Pembina County, and Walsh County.

Income tax credits encourage private sector investment in the rehabilitation and reuse of historic buildings. The program allows the owner of a certified historic structure to receive 20% of the amount spent on qualified rehabilitation costs as a direct, federal income-tax credit. We review program applications to ensure the work complies with the Secretary of Interior’s Standards.

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) recognizes cultural resources that are considered important in the past and worthy of preservation. We write and solicit nominations to the NRHP. Listing in the NRHP puts no restriction upon a private property owner, who may alter or dispose of their property in any way they wish without any prior approvals. Listing in the NRHP does help protect cultural resources from potentially harmful federal actions.

Alan & Gail Lynch at the Lynch Knife River Flint Quarry National Historic Landmark dedication.
Photo courtesy of the North Dakota SHPO

Awareness and application of historic preservation programs enhance our community identity, increase economic development, and provide a local voice in federal undertakings. We are planning events in 2016 to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act. We hope you will join us.

See preservation50.org for events across the United States.

---

Guest Blogger: Amy Bleier

Amy Bleier is a Research Archaeologist in the Archaeology and Historic Preservation Division. One of Amy’s tasks is to assist with the production of the North Dakota Archaeology Awareness poster.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: we get a lot of historical and genealogical research requests, working in the Archives. They range from simple (“Can you make a copy of this page from The Wonder of Williams: The History of Williams County?”) to the complicated (“I was in here once ten years ago and looked through five different collections, where I found a letter from a woman homesteader. I should have made a copy of it then…can you help me find it now?”).

Warning: This post is interactive, with few pictures and lots of color.

Knowing where and how to look, and what your sources and available options are, will help you to get started in any quest. We do have a lot to draw from, as you may recall from my mini tour of the Archives in my first post—newspapers, manuscript collections of all sorts of topics, state records, pictures, film, audio, posters, scrapbooks, etc. So, where do you start?

The answer is…it depends. Not every path works for every type of research. The key is to get as much information as possible, and then start looking wherever you can, in whatever might apply.

Doing research often kind of reminds me of reading a Choose Your Own Adventure Book. When I was younger, these books were kind of a big deal. You start off with a basic story line, typically written with second person narration. Something occurs (something cataclysmic, of course). Then you get a choice. Like:

You’ve fallen into a well. Your dog is nearby. You…

Call his name, in hopes that he will come to you! Turn to page 5.
Ignore him, and decide to try and climb up the rope you notice hanging down. Turn to page 59.

You can always change your mind, and you can always try something else, so every time you read the book, you get something different. Unless, of course, you read all of the endings first so you could avoid the pitfalls for the character ending in horrible death, and then pick your favorite ending, like I always did. Not quite what you were *supposed* to do, but it worked for me!

Let’s try it. Here’s an example, similar to requests we’ve received (but made up for these purposes):

I want to find out what happened to my grandfather’s sister, who came somewhere around North Dakota sometime after 1870 and may have died or left before 1920. Her name was Ida Hanson, but I don’t know what her name was after she got married (if she got married). Her brother’s name was Ole Hanson. He settled in Wisconsin. Can you help me?

Step 1: Gather Information
Proceeding with this request can be tough on many different levels.

1. We do not know how accurate this information is. There is a line that is walked when individuals rely on a family story. This requestor already has admitted they do not know if Ida married. So we do not know how accurate the requestor’s knowledge is.
2. The information requested is for a woman in the territorial and early statehood days. We have some written records from this time period, but not too many. Also, many records of the time mainly documented a male presence, referring to husbands and fathers over wives and daughters.
3. We may not be able to answer this question simply because it is so broad. If we don’t find something like, say, an obituary or biography, we may not have “what happened” in our collections.
4. Any name Hanson is sort of like John or Jane Smith up here. And might be spelled Hansen, instead

So, what do you do?
Option #1
You assume the requestor is unsure and needs to recheck sources. Contact them by going to the green box.
Option #2
You have already checked with the requestor, or assume the requestor is correct in part or all of the information they have. Go to Step 2.

Step 2: Apply Sources
Now that we are assuming the request is possible, we have to start checking. What can we check? Perhaps we can take a look at a cemetery index to see if there is a death date. But we are not sure where she settled, other than (possibly) North Dakota, and our cemetery indices are by county only. And if she married, when she passed away, she would have been buried under her married name, not her maiden name. The state death index we have access to is 1900 on, and not before. We have some marriage records pre-1925, but not all, and they are separated by county, so we’d need to know some idea of location if we check those sources. So maybe we can take a look at a census record. Through sites like Ancestry.com (which we have a free library subscription access to), we can do keyword searches by name and state and hope for the best.

What do you do?

Option #1
You take a look at the census, and find a match! A few thousand, in fact, and not all match the facts you have. You assume that the first unmarried Ida Hanson (within reason) is a good possibility, and check to see if there is a listing in the death index for a woman who died and has a birth date around the same time. Skip to the orange box, you lucky duck!
Option #2
You check marriage record indices in hopes that you will find an Ida Hanson marrying some bloke that looks right. Of course, you can only do this if you have a county of marriage, so if you don’t, start over! If you do, jump to the purple box.
Option #3
You take a look at some of the other indices available online, like the biography index we use through the Institute of Regional Studies on a whim. Go to the yellow box.
Option #4
You bang your head against a wall a few times, and wish one of your coworkers had taken this request instead. Take something for the headache, and go to the green box.

Step 3: The Solution
So, did you make it to the end? Or did you read all the boxes through, to find the answer quickly? Sometimes, it would be nice to have that option—to jump through to the end of a search—but the journey of research is also part of the joy of the resolution. (I think that’s part of the appeal of these books.) You have earned your answers!

Research can be difficult, and can take many different paths, but using as much information as you have and knowing the different, available avenues can make it easier and fun. Are you ready to start on your own adventure?

 

[accordion collapsed]

[/accordion]

Below is an interview I did with Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site (RRMMSHS) tour guide Jeni Croy. In case you missed her last post (http://blog.statemuseum.nd.gov/blog/pizza-maker-tour-guide), Jeni gives tours of a preserved Cold War-era intercontinental missile launch site in Cooperstown…

What is your job?
My job as a site interpreter is to guide guests from all over the country and the world around our site. I educate and inform them about the Cold War and the strategic importance of our site. I take guests around the topside support building and also down fifty feet below ground into the Launch Control Center where missile crews stayed on alert and were ready and willing to launch missiles. I also take them into the Launch Control Equipment Building (LCEB) and show them the “life support” of the Launch Control Center.

What are our visitors like? Who are they?
Our visitors are awesome. People come from all over to take our guided tours. We have a lot of visitors from the local area; people from Cooperstown often bring their families and friends to visit us. Former missileer and topside personnel also visit us on a regular basis to reminisce and show their families what they did when they worked here. We also get people from all 50 states and from all over the world. This summer season alone I have given tours to people visiting from France, India, New Zealand, England, and Germany. There is no specific age range that comes through our site either. We have a kids program to inform and entertain kids and we also give tours that engage all age groups at the same time.

How do you learn to give a good tour?
Practice, practice, practice, and shadowing other people. When I first started working out here I had taken a speech course, so public speaking wasn’t really an issue. It was getting all the history into my head and somehow making it come out as a fun, upbeat tour that was the hard part. I also learned how to ‘read’ my tours. If I saw they were bored at the start I made sure to put at least one smile on their face and make them laugh; or if they were already excited I just keep the fun going. I have traveled all over the world and taken many different tours. I didn’t want to be a boring “tour guide.”

What are some of the challenges of giving tours?
Making sure that younger generations understand why this site was important is challenging. I try to make sure that they see what their parents went through and understand how far we have come in terms of technology today. For example, we have a piece of equipment down below called Teletype. A teletype is a piece of equipment that linked to a communication network connecting to Strategic Air Command and other Launch Control Centers. I first ask the kids if they text, the answer is almost always yes, and then I introduce them to “the great-great-great-grandfather of texting.”

The Teletype at Oscar Zero

Is talking about nuclear weapons sometimes difficult?
Yes. Sometimes when I talk about the ranks of the people who worked down below (Captain, 1^st and 2^nd Lieutenant) they are kind of shocked. The ranks were not very high and the people who worked down there were usually young and not paid extremely well. When I explain that our missiles were about 27 times more powerful than the atom bomb, people are shocked. Another fact that is hard to talk about is how expendable the people who worked here were. The people who worked topside were not allowed to go below. Since the site was a direct target for a missile they would not survive a hit. The people below ground were young, had relatively low ranks and were not highly paid so if the thick concrete walls and blast doors did not work, they were also expendable. A lot of people have to take a moment to wrap their minds around those tough truths.

What do you hope visitors are learning when they visit RRMMSHS?
I hope that our visitors can see how important these sites were and appreciate the men and women who helped operate them. I hope they can connect the history of this site with what is going on today, as the U.S. is involved in many nuclear issues right now.

Why do you love your job?
I can’t name one specific reason. I love history, so working at a historic site is a dream come true. I love the people I work with; we all work together and get along so well. I love the visitors that come out and support this place. I am a people person so meeting new people from all over the world is a ton of fun. I also love making sure people smile and enjoy my tours while learning about the site. It’s just a great job no matter how you look at it.

What have you learned by working at RRMMSHS?
I have learned so much about nuclear weapons, the Air Force, the history of the area and the people who worked here. I learned how to connect with people and educate them. I’ve learned so much that I can’t list everything!

What are your future career goals and how do they fit in with working at RRMMSHS?
I am currently working on my B.S. in Recreation and Tourism Studies and I hope to help run, preserve and interpret many other historic sites throughout the U.S. or the world. Working at RRMMSHS is a great example of how bringing history back to life can influence people and local tourism. It is also a great example of teamwork and effort because the State Historical Society and our local supporters worked so hard and put so much time and effort into this site. Without both parties’ help, this site would not be what it is today.

Why is RRMMSHS special?
Why isn’t it special?! It gives people a close-up look at a once top secret facility that once controlled weapons of mass destruction. You can’t get much more amazing and special than that.

The Museum Division is offered everything from political buttons to cook cars, and we are grateful that people think about preserving items for future generations through the State Historical Society of North Dakota. The Museum Collections Committee needs to be very selective in what is accepted, since we simply do not have the storage space for everything offered to us, especially large items like pianos and buggies. Here are a few items we recently accepted into our collection.

1. Accession 2015.00054 is a wheelchair once owned by Louise Wike and donated by her granddaughter Peggy Wanner.

Peggy’s grandmother's name was Louise Carlson. She came from Norway by herself when she was 28 years old in 1905. Louise heard about the "Free Land" and figured she would settle there, sell it, and get rich. She worked her way to Dickinson, ND, and settled on a homestead in 1909 on the southwest quarter of 24-144-98 in Billings County.

In 1939, Louise lost her left leg due to varicose veins and diabetes. When she came home from the Dickinson hospital her family bought her a wheelchair. She also had an artificial left leg that she would only put on when she went outside with crutches.

Louise’s wheelchair is shown here with a footrest. The footrest was taken off later so she could use her other foot to move around the house and have her arms free.

2. Accession 2015.00050 consists of a collection of toys from Sylvia Schmid’s childhood and from her children.

Sylvia’s brother received this Buddy L Dump Truck, still with its original paint, for Christmas. The metal headlights are missing because their sister Louise swallowed one of them in December 1947 when she was one year old. That required a trip from Williston to Minot, where the doctor removed the headlight, costing her parents $75. The doctor asked whether he could keep it to add to the collection of all the things he had removed from people's throats.

3. Accession 2015.00036 is bowling team blouses and shirts with various sponsors worn by the donor, Darlene Brown, from 1952 to 2015.

Darlene wore the shirts to league games and tournaments held at Nicola Bowling, the Bismarck Bowling Alley, Capitol Bowling, Midway Bowling, and 10-Spot Bowling Alleys.

Rodger’s Maytag of Bismarck was their bowling team’s sponsor from 1965 to 2003.