Sheyenne Photographs: Sandhills 1975

Collection

Identifier: Photo Folio 101

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Sheyenne Photographs: Sandhills 1975 collection consists of fifty-six gelatin silver prints taken by students of a Wayne Gudmundson class at Minnesota State University Moorhead. An introductory broadside describes the array of photographs as being “taken along the Sheyenne River Valley south of Kindred, N.D., where the Army Corp of Engineers has proposed the building of a dam. If constructed, it would flood the valley and destroy a very beautiful part of our community, ruin North Dakota’s largest forest, as well as force 50 families out of their homes.” All photographs are mounted on white cardboard, have hanging devices on the back, and appear to have been mounted as an exhibit somewhere. The photographers are identified in the introductory broadside as Rick Jordahl, Norm Kanwisher, Terry Mahnke, Al Running, DuWayne Rude, Fred Schumacher, and BeAnn Vransish. However, the photographers represented in the collection are Jordahl, Kanwisher, Running, Rude, and Schumacher. For seventeen of the prints the photographer is not given. Some of the photographs were given titles, and those titles are reflected when given in the box and folder listing with quotation marks. Most of the images are 7 ½ x 9 ½ inches in size. The photographs are organized by photographer into series. The Rick Jordahl Series contains three photographs. One is of an unidentified farm house, another is of tree bark, and the last shows the reflections of a large tree in a river. The Norm Kanwisher Series includes three photographs, including an unidentified farmstead with a barn, house, and pole fence, surrounding by trees. The other two photographs include a shot of some cattails and a scene of the Sheyenne River. The DuWayne Rude Series includes five photographs, including a Minneapolis Moline tractor and two shots of an unidentified man in overalls, one of which has a fence in the background. The remaining two photographs are of melting ice and a clay formation. The Al Running Series contains five photographs. The first is of an unidentified man on a farmstead, kneeling with a shovel. A photograph of another unidentified man wearing a cowboy hat is also included. The other three photographs consist of a skull of an animal, presumably a cow, a cemetery with a gate that displays the name “Barrie”, and a scene of a church congregation sitting on the steps of a church. The Fred Schumacher Series is the largest photographer series in the group, containing twenty-three photographs. Several of the photographs are nature images of river and forest scenes or of various wildlife creatures. In addition, the series includes photographs of the Iron Spring Beaver Dam and the Iver Braaten washout. The Unidentified Photographer Series includes seventeen photographs for which the photographer is not given. This series contains a variety of images of nature subjects, people, and scenic views of the Sheyenne River and Sheyenne Grasslands. There is also an image titled “View toward proposed damsite”.