The 1990s are back in this edition of recent acquisitions. Settle in on your faux-leather beanbag chair, put your hair up in a scrunchie, and get ready to learn about some fly ’90s objects recently donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota’s museum collection. Cue the Pearl Jam!
1. Virgil Hill Fan Club buttons, 1985-1995
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Virgil Hill, famous boxing champion, was recently named the 48th recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award. During his career, thousands of North Dakotans attended his home state fights in Bismarck, Minot, Grand Forks, and Fargo. Hill’s recent accolade inspired donor Rita Nodland to reach out to us with her memories of watching Hill in the ring.
Recalling the Virgil Hill Fan Club buttons she acquired between 1985 and 1995, Nodland notes, “We were avid fans of Virgil Hill during his boxing career. We were also members of the VH Fan Club. We started following Virgil with a fight in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. It was an outdoor ring along the beach. After that, we went to every fight we could, mostly in Bismarck, and sometimes with adult family members and friends. … I never had an interest in boxing prior to [Hill’s] fights, but there was a rush every time we went. His promoters did a very good job exciting the crowd.”
2. Lisa Frank unicorn pencil box, 1992-1993
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If you want a visual representation of elementary school in the 1990s, look no further than the colorful fantasy stylings of Lisa Frank. During the decade of grunge, her distinctive animals with big, wet eyes rendered in highly saturated colors seemed to be slapped on every available school supply surface and were beloved by middle school girls.
This unicorn-bedazzled Lisa Frank pencil supply box was used by donor Erica Houn, who also happens to be the agency’s business manager, when she was in first grade at Pioneer Elementary School in Bismarck. She pointed out to us that her name is written on it in two spots—once by her and once by her first-grade teacher, Mrs. Schubert. It’s well-loved, judging by the crayon marks and daubs of dried glue inside.
The delightfully crayon-scribbled inside of the pencil box.
3. Trolls pencil box, 1992-1993
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Erica Houn also donated another pencil box, which highlights beloved franchise Trolls. This one she used at home rather than school.
Troll dolls and all of their associated merchandise were first popular in the 1960s and have made several resurgences in the following decades, including the 1990s. Houn personalized this pencil box by assigning the name “JTT” (moniker of ’90s tween dreamboat Johnathan Taylor Thomas of “Home Improvement” and “The Lion King” fame) to the troll on the far left. This note is faintly visible near the bottom of the label.
4. Walkman and headphones, 1988
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The Sony Walkman is synonymous with the 1990s. We recently received this cool kid device from Susan Nissen, who bought hers in summer 1988 either at Best Buy in Moorhead, Minnesota, or Radio Shack in Fargo when she was a second-year medical student at the University of North Dakota. She used it through the bulk of the ’90s.
According to the donor, “I felt very ‘swank’ to have such a ‘vogue’ device. It would easily all fit into my backpack once I arrived to class. I mean, this was the first I could walk around outside and listen to music from cassette tapes! This was so beyond an old transistor radio or large boombox.”
Have something rad, excellent, bodacious, etc., (yes, I know, my knowledge of ’90s slang is really getting stretched thin here) that you’d like to donate to the State Historical Society museum collection? Give us a shout via our online donation questionnaire!