The Macabees

File — Box: 1, Folder: 23

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The Stella H. Hohncke Papers document her active literary career, the author of plays, short stories, poems, and speeches. The Anna Thorsell articles written by Stella Hohncke, one of which appeared in The Fargo Forum, discuss Mrs. Thorsell's childhood on her father's farm in Denmark and her work in the Danish royal family's kitchens in Copenhagen. There are also scrapbooks on Stell’a life and of the Hohncke family. The paper are organized into three series: Correspondence, Works by Stella H. Hohncke, and Subject files.

The Correspondence Series is divided into three subseries. The Incoming Correspondence from 1936-1958 consists primarily of postcards and letters of appreciation to Stella in reference to her KVOX program, "The Parade of Poets," as well as requests and permission to read listeners' poems. In addition to that are acceptance or rejection letters for Stella's poems from the Salvation Army in Chicago, Ill. and the Ideals Publishing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The collection includes three payment stubs for the publishing of her poems. There is also a letter dated August 27, 1936 from O.E. Lien that states why he erected a statute for farmers south of Denhoff, North Dakota. Included also is a letter of membership into the National League of American Pen Women, and a letter from The Prairie Wings, the official organ of North Dakota Poetry Society, that gave Stella blanket permission to use poems printed in their magazine.

The Outgoing Correspondence from 1953-1955, 1971 contains letters to the Salvation Army, Ideals Publishing Company, and to Nora about Ole Olson's manuscript.

The Family Correspondence includes a letter written on United States Senate letterhead from William Langer dated May 7, 1957, in reference to his hospital stay. Also included is a B.P.O. Elks #260 Lodge Christmas Party notice, and a 1969 Christmas mimeograph letter from the Christiansons in Granville, North Dakota.

The Works by Stella Series is divided into five subseries: plays, short stories, poems, speech, and Thorsell. The Plays Subseries consists of eight plays of various themes, one of which is more of a Christmas pageant, and an untitled play consisting only of the second page. One of the plays, "Voice of the Past," depicts the birth and development of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) movement in North Dakota, as well as mentioning the establishment of the national PTA by Alice McLellan Birney.

The Short Stories Subseries contains fifteen stories of various subjects; however, the majority of the stories have a religious theme. "The Maccabees” includes background notes, compiled by Stella, of the study of the Maccabees that she arranged in chronological order from 586 B.C. into 134 B.C. Only the second page of "The Jester's Sword" exists, while the collection contains an untitled story about Humpty Dumpty.

The Poems Subseries is divided into four files; A-S, 1950-1958, T-Z, 1930, 1935, 1950-1956, 1970, undated, and untitled. A number of the poems have a religious theme, and other poems are about nature and the seasons, love and home. There are also several whimsical poems such as "Tribute to a Pig." The collection also includes undated and untitled poems.

The Speech Subseries contains a program for a Mother and Daughter Banquet in which Stella gave a speech about pioneer mothers' lives.

The Anna Thorsell Subseries consists of two articles about Mrs. L.L. Thorsell, one of which appeared in The Fargo Forum on February 14, 1937, and a later article, as told to Stella Hohncke, that appeared in the December 4, 1954 issue of Dakota Farmer. The latter article not only discusses Mrs. Thorsell's childhood on her father's farm in Denmark, but also includes her work in the Danish royal family's kitchens in Copenhagen. The article also mentions two of King Christian IX's daughters, Queen Alexandria of England and Empress Marie of Russia. Part of the Empress’ large entourage was six of her chefs that cooked in the Danish kitchens, and both the Russian chefs and the Danish kitchen staff conversed with each other in French.

The Subject File Series is divided into four files that are arranged alphabetically. The Awards file, from 1936, 1940, 1974, contains newspaper articles that include a reception for contributors to North Dakota Singing, honorable mention in the North Dakota Division of the National Thanksgiving Poetry Association's contest, and the Model Laundry winners' names and pictures in its city wide Letter Writing Contest. In addition to that, is a newspaper article about Stella's graduation from high school at the age of 70, and an article in Midweek about her Woman of the Year Award for Continuing Service when Stella was 82 years old.

The Family file includes newspaper articles, from 1937-1941, 1976, about Stella's son John, and pictures of the 1940 and 1941 Graduating Class of Central High School. Her mother's obituary states that Mrs. J. O. Halsten emigrated from Norway, and not only was Mrs. Halsten one of the first homesteaders in Cass County, she was the last living charter member of the Herby Maple Sheyenne Lutheran Church.

The General file, from 1931-1937, 1954, contains a newspaper article about Stella's radio broadcast, "The Parade of Poets," over KVOX Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:05 P.M. from approximately October 1939 to January 1940. There also is a typewritten account of the 75th Anniversary of the Maple Sheyenne Congregation and its founding history. The article goes on to mention that the first settlers to the area were August and Hans Haglund in 1871. A newspaper article by Mrs. C.E. Backlund of Lisbon, North Dakota, reprinted from The Rotarian Magazine, which tells about the life of a country editor's wife, is also in the collection. Mrs. Backlund's husband, one of the oldest active printers in North Dakota, was foreman of the Ransom County Gazette and Free Press (Lisbon), and set his first type in 1890. A newspaper article titled "Hanson" mentions Stella's radio broadcast as well as Mrs. Backlund's book, The Lonely Road. A Fargo Forum article mentions that Stella gave a program of musical selections and readings for the Chautauqua in Spiritwood Lake.

The Programs file includes programs from events that Stella Halsten took part in, such as a student recital in 1917 for the Western School of Expression in which she played the piano, and a reading she did for Miss Florence Ford's Music Class in 1918. There is a 1919 program for a Graduate Recital of the Western School of Expression and the Dakota Conservatory of Music in which Stella was a reader and pianist. Other programs list Easter plays, as well as a pageant arranged by Mrs. Hohncke. The North Dakota Clubwoman newsletter, dated November, 1931, contains a picture of the cast members (including Stella) of the play, "Club Spirit," and a 1953 Easter program from the Parkview United Church in Stratford, Ontario that lists Stella's poem, "The Garden Beautiful."

The Poems (collected) file consists of three folders of poems that Stella collected and saved: 1936, 1939-1941, 1950-1971, and undated. The collected poems deal with a variety of themes, such as religion, nature and seasons, as well as life, love, and friends.

Scrapbook 1 (1910-1934) contains a variety of items ranging from collected poems, mementos and newspaper articles on the Hohncke family, early settlers at Arthur, North Dakota including Bruno Mergner, on the origins of popular hymns, as well, as obituaries of Sirena Dalrymple and her daughter, Mrs. M. Hines. There are also calendars for 1910 and 1921.

Scrapbook 2 (1928-1939) consists of various newspaper articles that tell of different works by Stella Hohncke, as well as that she was a cast member in plays such as "Lignite." There are newspaper articles on the Hohncke family and on others such as James Foley, North Dakota's Poet Laureate. The file also contains collected poems and a program of Dickens’s "Christmas Carol," a play in which Stella was a cast member.

The Cornelia Spelletich file consists of a carbon copy of a typewritten manuscript for her work Chronicles of Cornelia, a book about Cornelia's childhood in a log cabin on the family's homestead in Minnesota, which was published in 1955. It appears to be the final draft. According to the Hohncke family Stella helped edit the work.