Allen Osmundson Papers

Collection

Identifier: Mss 250

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Allen Osmundson Papers consist of newspaper articles written by Mr. Osmundson, other writers’ articles that Mr. Osmundson collected, and a small collection of photographs. A large number of Mr. Osmundson’s newspaper articles, which were published in the Griggs County Sentinel-Courier, in a reoccurring column titled “Historical Notes”, are included in this collection. These articles are concerned, for the most part, with the local history of Griggs County during the first half of the twentieth century. Many of the typescripts for these columns were also included. There are also a number of Letters to the editor that Mr. Osmundson wrote for the “Sentinel-Courier.” This collection also holds articles by other writers that Mr. Osmundson collected through the years. These articles cover a wide range of subjects from Runic inscriptions found in Spokane, Washington to a thirty-five meter ski jump that was built on a hill outside of Hannaford, North Dakota in 1924. The collection includes a small number of pictures of people and places in Griggs County. The collection has been organized into two series: Osmundson Writings and Subject Files. The Osmundson Writings Series contains Mr. Osmundson’s Historical Notes columns, the typescripts for many of those columns, letters to the editor, and a number of other newspaper articles that he wrote. This series contains one eleven-page manuscript titled Memories from the Great Depression, Allen Osmundson, Binford, North Dakota, A Brief History of the Jessie Post Office”. The Osmundson family file includes several short articles by Allen Osmundson as well as photocopies of the funeral books for Aslak H. Osmundson who died in 1945 and his wife Gurine who died in 1976 and a copy photographic print of the family. There is also a translation from Norwegian by Osmundson with additional information related to the murder at Kloten, N.D. of Sveinung S. Quanbeck and his brother-in-law Olaf Arneson by a Theodore Larson of Edinburg, N.D. in 1924. The Subject Files Series contains a collection of articles about Runic inscriptions found in the 1920s in Spokane, Washington. This series also contains a number of articles by other writers that Mr. Osmundson collected, including a series of articles by Edward Johnson that were published in 1974 in the Griggs County Sentinel-Courier and that deal with local Griggs County history. There is a small collection of photocopies of pictures of people and places associated with Griggs County. A final folder in this series contains, among other things, a list of early settlers in Willow Township, correspondence concerning information about the Willow Cheese Factory, a list of people that Mr. Osmundson has been pallbearer for, and a list of Sheyenne River benchmarks.

Dates

1924-2001.

Creator

Osmundson, Allen, 1926-2008. (Person)

Access

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

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection remain with the Institute for Regional Studies.

Biography

Allen Osmundson was born on December 15, 1926 at McVille, North Dakota in Nelson County. His father was Aslak Osmundson and his mother was Gurine Larson (Nodland) Osmundson. He attended the school in Willow Township from 1932 to 1936 and the school in Pilot Mound Township from 1936 to 1940. He attended Binford High School in 1940-1941. Mr. Osmundson’s military career would last less than a month in 1945. After reporting to Ft. Snelling in early March of 1945 his father died and he received a farm deferment for the duration of the war.

After his father’s death he lived and worked on the family farm with his mother until her death in September of 1976. In 1978 and 1980 Mr. Osmundson made trips to Norway and Sweden to visit relatives. On June 12, 1983 Mr. Osmundson married Phyllis Larson Ronningen in Cooperstown, North Dakota. The couple continued to live on the farm though Mr. Osmundson retired from active farming in the fall of 1996. Mr. Osmundson was an active member of the West Prairie and Zion Lutheran churches. Mr. Osmundson, as this collection demonstrates, had a strong interest in local history and his Norwegian Lutheran heritage. He died December 24, 2008 at Cooperstown, N.D.