Herschel Lashkowitz Photograph Collection, 1940s-1980s
Collection
Identifier: Photo 2107
Scope and Contents
This Herschel Lashkowitz Photograph Collection compliments an earlier accession of photographs (processed as Photo 2049) documenting his long career as mayor of Fargo, N.D. and service in the North Dakota Legislature. Only a limited amount of time has been devoted to verifying any duplication between the two collections. This later accession contains a large amount of gelatin silver prints as well as a limited number of color photographs, ranging in sizes from 3x2 inch snapshots to large portfolio size images, as well as an album documenting his service during World War II in the Aleutian Islands.
There is a wide variety of topics and people documented in this collection, from more personal family photographs to many of Herschel Lashkowitz’s many duties as mayor. Some of the activities documented include his political campaigns, disaster images of Fargo, benefits and speeches made to the public, as well as a wide variety of people Lashkowitz encountered along the way. Very few are dated, and there was little to no organization scheme to the original collection when accessioned. The collection had been organized into eleven series: Herschel Lashkowitz Portraits, Political Career, Organizations, People, Fargo, Natural Disasters, Urban renewal, Trips, Religious, U.S. Army and Negatives.
In the Herschel Lashkowitz Portrait Series includes a wide variety of professional and other images of Herschel, ranging from his youth to the time when he served in the North Dakota Senate. It includes two images of Herschel with his father Harry, and a series of color snapshots of the dedication of a spruce grove in Fargo in 1983.
The Political Career Series documents Lashkowitz’s duties while Fargo mayor of speeches, ribbon cuttings, conventions, meetings and political events. The images have been organized alphabetical by name of the event or primary person. Of particular note is a series of images of a visit to Radio Free Europe headquarters.
The Organizations Series encompasses a number of organizations that Lashkowitz belonged to or attended events sponsored by a particular organization. Of particular interest is the series of images taken at the dedication of a Ten Commandments monument at the International Peace Garden at which Charlton Heston was a speaker. There is also a substantial series of snapshots of Fargo Moose Lodge function.
The People Series includes photographs of Lashkowitz with many of the people he met during his time as mayor, and to a lesser extent as state senator. The series is organized alphabetically by the name of the person with him in the image. The series includes a substantial number of unidentified images that are at the end of the series. The larger files include Lashkowitz with Hubert H. Humphrey, Richard Nixon, W. Averell Harriman, John V. Lindsay, as well as of Roger Maris
The Fargo, N.D. Series focuses on main events that happened in the Fargo area, including street openings, dedications, as well as a view looking north up Broadway, a group image of the Fargo Police Department personnel, and construction of a dike and flood control in general.
In the series titled Natural Disasters, there are many images of floods, and tornados that affect primarily the Fargo area. Many of these images are aerial views of the region, as well as an array of different streets, buildings and landmarks. Many of these images are however, residential areas, showing the disasters impact. The 1957 Fargo tornado is particularly well documenting through several series of images. Also of interest are color aerial images of the 1969 Red River flood in Fargo.
The Urban Renewal Series shows several urban renewal projects that were occurring in Fargo. It also includes images documenting Lashkowitz’s visit to San Francisco inspecting its urban renewal project. Of particular interest are the series of images documenting the Main Avenue and Golden Ridge areas of Fargo prior to urban renewal. The negatives for the Golden Ridge neighborhood are on Sheets 22-23. It also includes a series of images showing the destruction of the Moody’s department store building in Fargo.
The Trips Series includes Herschel Lashkowitz’s various photographs of his trips, including Europe, Hawaii and two sets of images marked simply Tucson and Rio Grande.
The Religious Series includes various religious event photographs. Some of the events included are Lashkowitz with Pope Paul, church services, and a funeral.
The U.S. Army Series includes snapshots of Herschel’s time spent in the military. There are many photographs of wildlife, and unidentified servicemen carrying out daily activities. Many if not all of the Aleutian Island images are duplicated in the album. These snapshots document his time serving in the Aleutian Islands during World War II. The negatives for the album prints are preserved in the Negative Series. A second series of negatives (Sheets 20 & 21) also appear to be taken in the Aleutian Islands, although they were found in a packet with other family negatives.
The Negative Series includes three distinct sets of negatives. The first eight negatives are of President Harry S. Truman’s whistle stop at Fargo in 1952 campaigning for the Adlai Stevenson – John Sparkman ticket. Herschel Lashkowitz is on the train with Truman. The second set contains nine negatives of a mayor’s trip to Munich, Germany in October 1961. Herschel Lashkowitz is on a number of the images. The largest set is images taken during World War II on the Aleutian Islands where Herschel Lashkowitz was stationed for part of the war. This series includes 177 negatives, most in 120mm format. These negatives are for most if not all the snapshots and in the album describes in the U.S. Army Series.
The final series of sheets are contact prints made from various 35mm negatives. Although the negatives are not in the collection, some of the prints are scattered throughout the collection. Subject covered include visit to Fargo by Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy and King Olav of Norway; and also of a special appreciation dinner for Herschel Lashkowitz held at the Fargo Civic Center. These contact prints do provide a chronological sequence to the images taken and help to provide additional context to individual images.
Dates
- 1940s-1980s
Access
The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute.
Copyrights
Copyrights to this collection remain with the creators or may be in the public domain.
Biography
Herschel Irving Lashkowitz was born April 2, 1918 in Fargo, N.D., the oldest child of Harry and Etta (Levitz) Lashkowitz. In 1940 he graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. degree. After attending Harvard University for a year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served overseas in the Aleutian Islands and Canal Zone during World War II for three and a half years. After the war in 1946 he moved to Los Angeles to write for the motion picture industry. Also that year Herschel legally changed his last name to Lash. In 1948 he graduated from the University of Minnesota with a LLB degree. After passing both the Minnesota and North Dakota bar examinations, he established a law practice with his father in Fargo.
In 1950 Herschel became the Cass County chairman of the Democratic Party. It was also during this time that he changed his name back to Lashkowitz. In 1954 he ran and was elected mayor of Fargo. He served as mayor for twenty years. During his tenure Fargo had two urban renewal projects (Fourth Street and Main Ave.), suffered the worst tornado in 1957 in the city’s history, and was named an All-American City in 1962.
Herschel ran for North Dakota governor in 1960 as an independent but lost. In 1964 he was elected to the North Dakota Senate. In 1966 he did not seek re-election to the senate but rather sought the endorsement of the Democratic-NPL Party for the East District Congressmen seat. After retiring as Fargo mayor in 1974 Herschel Lashkowitz returned to full-time practice of law. That fall he successfully ran for the North Dakota Senate and served until his health forced him to seek hospitalization in March 1989 during the legislative session. He did not return to the legislature. He died September 7, 1993 at Fargo.
Extent
1006 Photographic Prints (1006 photographic prints)
239 Photographic Negatives (239 negatives)
Language of Materials
English
Provenance
Donated by Shelley Lashkowitz, 1995 (Acc. 2403).
Property rights
The Institute for Regional Studies owns the property rights to this collection.
- Title
- Finding Aid to the Herschel Lashkowitz Photograph Collection
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Institute for Regional Studies Repository
Contact:
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu