Research file on organization

File — Box: 2, Folder: 8

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: Records of the Fargo Branch of The National League of American Pen Women consist of local bylaws, Correspondence, Art Project Series, and Subject Files Series. The Correspondence Series, which makes up approximately 70% of the collection, consist of incoming and outgoing correspondence. When received, the correspondence of the collection had very minimal organization. All correspondence is arranged chronologically. The correspondence is primarily from the president and treasurer of the branch with national officers and local branch members. The correspondence of the collection gives a very accurate account of the activities and members of the Fargo Branch. The Art Project Series consists of information concerning a project which the Fargo Branch undertook. The project entailed the publishing of a list of North Dakota artists and craftsmen. This series includes a file of information concerning the reason for undertaking the project and its progress, and related correspondence. In addition, there is a file containing "postcard type" photographs of a few of the North Dakota artists featured, as well as a copy of Art Workers of North Dakota. This series also includes a final copy of North Dakota Artists and Craftsmen (14 leaves), compiled by the state president of the NLAPW in 1952, Marian Jordan Piper; a listing of paintings by Elmer H. Halvorson (4 leaves) of Wheelock, N.D.; and, a draft of North Dakota and the Arts of Design (30 leaves), dated 1942, which was apparently written by a member of the American Association of University Women in North Dakota. The Subject File Series consist of many different topics. It includes biographies and autobiographies of prominent and not so prominent past officers of the Fargo Branch. These include Maude Kroke Backlund, Phyllis Baldwin, Zoe Beiler, Denise Barrette, Isabel Campbell, Ella Brace, Angela Boleyn, Ann Bolin, Jessamine Slaughter Burgum, Mary Boynton Cowdrey, Betty Hall Flegal, Eloise Wode Hockett, Lydia O. Jackson, May Kelly, Vera Kelsey, Grace Brown Putnam, Ina Cullom Robertson, Mary Alder Dwight, Grace V. Watkins, and Verna Huber Whempner. There is also a folder of financial information that is very incomplete and sporadic, which includes primarily budget reports and correspondence concerning the finances of the branch for the years 1942 until 1960. The histories of the Fargo Branch were written every two years by the branch historian. The information included in these three histories consists primarily of the events and officers of the branch for the previous two years. The branch's meeting minutes are also included, but they are essentially sporadic and superficial, with many missing. The five newspaper clippings about branch members are primarily death notices, however, there is a story about Stella Halsten Hohncke. Names of officers, memberships lists, activities of the branch, and correspondence relating to the organization itself are included in the organizational material file. The reports file contains primarily "achievement reports," submitted by members of the branch, which contain information about their financial achievements for the year. Also included are annual reports and reports from the president of the branch. The regional activities file contains Midwest Regional News, a newsletter of the region in which the Fargo Branch was a part, and a program from the 1959 regional convention. There is also a file containing information regarding the branch, which Cynthia Selland gathered from the North Dakota Historical Society in Bismarck, N.D.