Myrtle Porterville Collection

Collection

Identifier: Mss 296

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Myrtle Porterville Collection is arranged into three major series: Mrs. Porterville's personal papers, the material collected on Griggs County history, and a small collection on Steele County history. The Private Papers Series of Mrs. Porterville are not very extensive. The correspondence, arranged chronologically, is very incomplete. It consists mainly of letters from friends, her son Claude and her father. The subject files contain various materials including her brother Byron Bemis' farming record book, Mrs. Porterville's daily class record while teaching in Cooperstown, a very incomplete notebook, several poems believed to be by Mrs. Porterville. The files also include several miscellaneous documents of Mr. Porterville, and various school papers of their son, Claude. The school correspondence and reports, dated 1927 to 1929, are from F. Ray Rogers to all teachers and occasionally to Mrs. Porterville concerning school procedures, policies, etc. The tax statements are for their Cooperstown home, and finally there is Mrs. Porterville's contract for teaching in 1903 in the Cooperstown School District. The Griggs County History Series material is a very extensive collection of primary and secondary source materials. Much of it is transcribed copies rather than original documents. Also, Mrs. Porterville and others have written historical manuscripts on various topics. The collection has been organized basically by subject. The first section is devoted to biographical and genealogical materials. The Biography, autobiography and reminiscence sub-series contains copies of written and published histories from all sources available. It contains a wealth of information on the settling of Griggs County and pioneer life. The Summaries sub-series is an alphabetical listing by family of all vital statistics such as birth, marriage, and death, as well as settlement year and minor historical notes. Mrs. Porterville drew upon many sources and attempted to include everyone known to have lived in Griggs County. Mrs. Porterville also copied birth, marriage and death records from various sources and did extensive clipping of newspapers containing biographical material on former and then current residents of Griggs County. The Cooperstown area family histories sub-series consists of compositions written by students of Mrs. Porterville in the late 1920s about early area pioneers. The next section of the Griggs County history is arranged alphabetically by subject. It is composed mainly of typed and handwritten notes and manuscripts covering almost all aspects of Griggs County history. Since the file titles are quite self-explanatory the researcher should consult the shelf list for specific topics. It should be noted that the files on individual churches are not extensive and include only minimal historical material. The Federal Writers Project papers are mainly those of the Griggs County worker, Mrs. Claire Jackson, although it is evident Mrs. Porterville was very active in helping her assemble the historical data. The correspondence seems quite complete. There are also photocopies of a series of articles written by Mrs. Porterville that were published in the local newspaper, the Griggs County Sentinal-Courier in 1957-1958. Mrs. Porterville took extensive notes from the Griggs County Courier newspaper (title varies) from its beginning to about 1913 which are arranged chronologically. She also arranged and typed some notes by subject but none of the files are very extensive. In the Organizations sub-series none of the files are very extensive except for the Masonic Lodge, Eastern Star and Kiwanis. The Schools sub-series has been divided into several sections: the Cooperstown School District (formerly called Greendale), the Cooperstown High School, and the remaining township school districts. Material on the various towns and villages in Griggs County has been placed in the Towns sub-series. Again, most files are not extensive except for Cooperstown. In 1918 the North Dakota Legislature authorized the establishment of the North Dakota War History Commission, whose purpose it was to collect and preserve the military record of all men who participated in World War I. Mrs. Porterville was appointed Griggs County chairman and responsible for assembling biographical and other material on World War I veterans. The records of her work are very complete and the major part is composed of completed military service forms for each person and copies of letters written by the soldiers to their families. There are also other various items from World War I. The Steele County Series is by no means extensive. It follows basically the format of the Griggs County material including biographical material, newspaper clippings, and then subject files arranged alphabetically. Most of the subject files are not very complete.

Dates

1861-1960.

Creator

Porterville, Myrtle Bemis, 1880-1961. (Person)

Language of Materials

English, Norwegian, Swedish, German.

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute.

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection are not held by the Institute for Regional Studies.

Biography

Myrtle Bemis was born January 5, 1880 in Newton, Wisconsin, the daughter of Henry and Weltha (Haddock) Bemis. In 1882 the family moved to Steele County near Cooperstown, North Dakota. At the age of eighteen, Miss Bemis began to teach in rural schools. She later attended Valley City Normal School from where she graduated in 1902. After teaching in Williston and rural schools for several years she attended the University of North Dakota where she received her masters' degree in history in 1909. On June 15, 1910 Miss Bemis married Charles Albert Porterville, a farmer near Cooperstown. He was born May 19, 1875 at Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. They farmed for five years and Mr. Porterville was also a rural mail carrier. They later lived in Cooperstown where Mr. Porterville worked in various stores. Mrs. Porterville taught at Larimore for several years and then in the Cooperstown schools from 1923 to 1933. They adopted a son Claude who was born in 1916. Mr. Porterville died May 14, 1934. Thereafter Mrs. Porterville lived with her mother and brother on the home farm. There she cared for her mother and kept house for her brother until his death in 1958. Mrs. Porterville died February 16, 1961 in California and was buried in the Cooperstown Cemetery. Mrs. Porterville took an early interest in the history of Griggs County, which started her long career in collecting almost everything documenting the history of the county. She began to do extensive research and collecting while teaching in Cooperstown, enlisting the help of her students. Mrs. Porterville even learned to speak and read Norwegian in order to help in her work. She also wrote a history of the county, which was serialized in the Griggs County Sentinel-Courier.

Extent

9 Linear Feet (9 linear ft.)

Additional Description

Abstract

Griggs County, N.D. native and resident whose avocation was collecting the history of Griggs County, amassing an amazing collection on the county's history and the people who lived there. The collection is a major genealogical resource for Griggs County.

Provenance

Donated by Mrs. Myrtle Porterville, 1954, 1956 (Acc. 296).

Separation Record

The following non-manuscript material has been removed from the Myrtle Porterville Collection and sent to the sections indicated. Books (Library book collection, consult main library catalog for call number and location) Butler, Maria Hagen, Our Prairies Forty Years Ago, 1921 Cooperstown High School Chapter, Quill and Scroll Society, Alumni Directory of Cooperstown High School 1903-1940, 1941 Cooperstown High School, Alumni Directory of Cooperstown High School, 1903-1954, 1954 Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction, Common Schools of Dakota, 1883. An act to establish and provide for the maintenance of a general and uniform system of common schools and improve their usefulness, 1883 Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction, Common Schools of Dakota, 1883. An act to establish and provide for the maintenance of a general and uniform system of common schools and to improvetheir usefulness, 1885 Dakota Directory Services, Farm Directory - Griggs and Steele Counties, N. D. for 1946, 1948, 1950, 1956, 1958 Hankin, S. T. North Dakota Speller, Fifth and Sixth year by months, Lisbon, N. D., 1911, 4th edition. Hankin, S. T. North Dakota Speller, Seventh and Eighth year-by month, Lisbon, N. D. 1911, 6th edition. Hemenway, Frederic V., editor, History of the Third Division, U. S. Army in World War for the period, December 1, 1917 to January 1, 1919 Hope of the Prairie, 75th Anniversary, 1882-1957 Mabel Lutheran Church, Fiftieth Anniversary, 1945 Ness Evangelical Lutheran Church Diamond Jubilee, 1958 Odegard, J. T., Erindringer, I. Lom, Long Lake, Fargo, Minneapolis, 1930 Newspapers (Institute newspaper collection) Cooperstown High School Zip, Dec. 30, 1924; Sept. 28, Oct. 19, 1925; Oct. 4, Nov. 8, Dec. 13, 1927; March 20, April 17, May 8, June 1, 1928 Cooperstown High Record and Cooper-Hi Zip, Oct. 2, 1928-March 5, 1929; March 26, 1929-Jan. 14, 1930; Feb. 25, 1930-March 13, 1934; May 29, 1934; Jan. 29, 1935-May 5, 1936 Cooper High Record, May 16, 1955 Griggs County Sentinel, March 12, 1903 Griggs County Sentinel-Courier, July 26, 1917, 1937-1950 Griggs Courier, June 11, 1886, June 11-18, 1897 Maps (Institute map collection) 21 Traced copies of all townships in Griggs County from U. S. Surveyor General's office Photographs (Institute photograph collection) 5,696 Photographs collected and copied by Mrs. Porterville covering all aspects of Griggs County as well as many family photographs (also have her negatives). Broadsides (Institute broadside collection) "The army of the disabled keeps growing", Red Cross, 1921 Microfilm (Library microfilm collection, consult main library catalog for call number and location) 1 reel diaries (weather logs) of Mrs. Mary Gimblett Glaspell, 1889-1891, 1898-1930