Frank L. Anders Manuscript Collection
Collection
Identifier: Mss 3120
Scope and Content
Correspondence Series consists of letters to and from Frank L. Anders ranging from 1898 to 1966. Included in this series is a typed copy of Anders’ Medal of Honor citation, letters to various friends and family, organizations, Anders’ repeated attempts to return to service during World War II, a dispute over a debt owed by Richard O’Neill, and a folder with letters from M. P. Ramer, Robert Nesbit, a fellow Mason, Al Walter, J. F. Case, George Mantor, Burt Gifford, Lorne Wilde, W. Glen Wallace, Thor Wennerblom, Marion Piper, and Fred Uyrm.
Household Series holds the Anders family budgets, driver’s licenses, play programs, elementary report cards, college documents, his college physics and chemistry notebook, train passes and membership cards, journals, and an authorization to travel to the Philippines with his son Franklin in 1964.
Christopher C. Anders Series contains letters and other items mostly from Frank’s younger brother Chris’ time as a member of the Russian Railway Service Corps (RRSC) in Siberia and Manchuria from 1917-1919.
History Series has both the handwritten and typewritten manuscripts Frank Anders wrote of his service during the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. There are also hand-drawn maps of the Philippines, a short autobiography, and other biographies from newspapers and magazines. The series has the research he did on Lt. Col. George Custer, including the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the Custer Trail from Mandan to the Little Bighorn, and several addresses he gave on the subject. Biographical and autobiographical documents of other individuals are included as well.
Engineering Series includes engineering work Frank Anders did as Fargo City Engineer (1910-1920) such as street paving, the water filtration plant, and drainage. His other numerous major municipal projects across North Dakota are also a part of the series. Additionally, it contains his documents as construction engineer of the new State Capitol Building in Bismarck (1932-1934).
Mining Series is composed of legal and budgetary documents related to mining sites and projects across several states.
Ceremony Series collects the documents, programs, and miscellaneous other items collected from the various ceremonies Frank Anders attended, including Medal of Honor ceremonies, presidential inaugurations, and other military-related organization events.
Publications Series is made up of a book on Medal of Honor recipients that Anders used as a scrapbook of military service; a small, personalized Bible from the Epworth League of the First Methodist Church along with an accompanying letter; and 16 art books from the World’s Fair published between November 1893 and February 1894.
Oversized Series contains items too large to fit into the standard manuscript boxes. This includes blueprints, pamphlets, political flyers, and local and foreign newspapers. The political flyers refer to the condition of the Agassiz school roof and an ordinance for the Fargo waterworks fund. Mining documents include Kearsage Mining Company daily reports and maps regarding the Grey Eagle-Sheridan mine and another along the Yellowstone River between Froze to Death Creek and Starved to Death Creek. The blueprint is a plat map of Waldo, ND and Brandenberg, ND township drainage in 1916. Military items are some documents on the happenings in the Soviet Union, a program for a July 4, 1918, celebration in Vladivostok, Siberia, a copy of Frank Anders’ certificate of membership in the Army and Navy Legion of Valor, and a poster commemorating Company B, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Newspapers date from 1917 through 1960 and are from Fargo Courier-News (Frank Anders’ Spanish-American War photos and stories; Chris Anders in Siberia), Peking Evening Journal (RRSC), Siberian newspapers from 1918 and 1919, Here and There With the 31st (newspaper of the 31st U.S. Infantry Regiment in Siberia as part of the American Expeditionary Force-Siberia), the Lakeland (FL) Ledger, and the Manila Bulletin (Frank and Franklin Anders’ trip back to the Philippines).
Household Series holds the Anders family budgets, driver’s licenses, play programs, elementary report cards, college documents, his college physics and chemistry notebook, train passes and membership cards, journals, and an authorization to travel to the Philippines with his son Franklin in 1964.
Christopher C. Anders Series contains letters and other items mostly from Frank’s younger brother Chris’ time as a member of the Russian Railway Service Corps (RRSC) in Siberia and Manchuria from 1917-1919.
History Series has both the handwritten and typewritten manuscripts Frank Anders wrote of his service during the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. There are also hand-drawn maps of the Philippines, a short autobiography, and other biographies from newspapers and magazines. The series has the research he did on Lt. Col. George Custer, including the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the Custer Trail from Mandan to the Little Bighorn, and several addresses he gave on the subject. Biographical and autobiographical documents of other individuals are included as well.
Engineering Series includes engineering work Frank Anders did as Fargo City Engineer (1910-1920) such as street paving, the water filtration plant, and drainage. His other numerous major municipal projects across North Dakota are also a part of the series. Additionally, it contains his documents as construction engineer of the new State Capitol Building in Bismarck (1932-1934).
Mining Series is composed of legal and budgetary documents related to mining sites and projects across several states.
Ceremony Series collects the documents, programs, and miscellaneous other items collected from the various ceremonies Frank Anders attended, including Medal of Honor ceremonies, presidential inaugurations, and other military-related organization events.
Publications Series is made up of a book on Medal of Honor recipients that Anders used as a scrapbook of military service; a small, personalized Bible from the Epworth League of the First Methodist Church along with an accompanying letter; and 16 art books from the World’s Fair published between November 1893 and February 1894.
Oversized Series contains items too large to fit into the standard manuscript boxes. This includes blueprints, pamphlets, political flyers, and local and foreign newspapers. The political flyers refer to the condition of the Agassiz school roof and an ordinance for the Fargo waterworks fund. Mining documents include Kearsage Mining Company daily reports and maps regarding the Grey Eagle-Sheridan mine and another along the Yellowstone River between Froze to Death Creek and Starved to Death Creek. The blueprint is a plat map of Waldo, ND and Brandenberg, ND township drainage in 1916. Military items are some documents on the happenings in the Soviet Union, a program for a July 4, 1918, celebration in Vladivostok, Siberia, a copy of Frank Anders’ certificate of membership in the Army and Navy Legion of Valor, and a poster commemorating Company B, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Newspapers date from 1917 through 1960 and are from Fargo Courier-News (Frank Anders’ Spanish-American War photos and stories; Chris Anders in Siberia), Peking Evening Journal (RRSC), Siberian newspapers from 1918 and 1919, Here and There With the 31st (newspaper of the 31st U.S. Infantry Regiment in Siberia as part of the American Expeditionary Force-Siberia), the Lakeland (FL) Ledger, and the Manila Bulletin (Frank and Franklin Anders’ trip back to the Philippines).
Dates
- 1892-1989
Copyrights
Copyrights to this collection is held by the NDSU Archives.
Biography
Frank LaFayette Anders was born November 10, 1875, at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory to
Frank and Anna Anders who were stationed there with the Infantry. The next year, after his father was
discharged, the family moved to Fargo. His father died in 1890 of wounds suffered in the Civil War. Mr.
Anders, at 15, then left school to work as a call boy for Northern Pacific Railroad and later learned the
machinist’s trade in their shops. In 1894 he enlisted in the National Guard and was serving his second
enlistment when his unit was sent to the Philippines in 1898. There, as a member of Young’s Scouts, he
won the Congressional Medal of Honor (at his death he was the oldest living holder of this medal in the
United States).
In 1899, he returned to the United States where he worked for mining interests in Salt Lake City. In 1902, with only a seventh-grade education and some time at Dakota Business College (1895), he decided to attend Ripon College in Wisconsin. In 1906 he was awarded the first scholarship given by the University of Wisconsin, where he studied Civil Engineering. He was chief engineer with a Utah Smelting Corporation until 1909 when he returned to Fargo. In 1910 he taught mathematics at the North Dakota Agricultural College and from 1910 to 1920 was City Engineer for Fargo, during which time he designed, helped construct, and operated the Fargo Filtration plant. In 1918 he was commissioned a captain in the Engineering Corps and stationed at Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he wrote a history of the camp. Then, in 1919 he went to Camp Funston at Fort Riley, Kansas where he was in charge of hospital facilities, also serving in Washington and at the Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan.
From 1921 to 1932, he served as Receiver and General Manager of the bankrupt Lucky Strike Coal Company of Zap, North Dakota. From 1922 to 1932, he was Regimental Utility Officer and had charge of a five-year construction program at Camp Grafton. He was also a captain in the Fifth Engineers. He served on the Fargo City Water commission from 1929 to 1931, and from 1931 to 1934 he was secretary and construction engineer on the Board of State Capitol Commissioners at Bismarck. He also worked during the 1920’s and 1930’s as an engineer on the promotion of the Missouri River Diversion project and was president of the Great Plains Development Association.
In 1910, Mr. Anders married Mary Bertha Hargrave of Ripon, Wisconsin. They had two children, Marion and Franklin. Major Anders died January 23, 1966, and was buried in Ripon Wisconsin.
Major Anders was Senior Vice Commander of the Legion of Valor, belonged to the Legion of Honor, Spanish War Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Order of Indian Wars, Army and Navy Club, American Legion, and Fargo-Moorhead Officer’s Mess. He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the Society of American Military Engineers. He belonged to the Order of Scabbard and Blade and held the McKinley Congressional Medal. He was a Mason, Scottish Rite, member of the Congregational Church, and president of the Commons Club of Fargo, 1916. He was also president of the Society to Mark Custer’s Trail.
In 1899, he returned to the United States where he worked for mining interests in Salt Lake City. In 1902, with only a seventh-grade education and some time at Dakota Business College (1895), he decided to attend Ripon College in Wisconsin. In 1906 he was awarded the first scholarship given by the University of Wisconsin, where he studied Civil Engineering. He was chief engineer with a Utah Smelting Corporation until 1909 when he returned to Fargo. In 1910 he taught mathematics at the North Dakota Agricultural College and from 1910 to 1920 was City Engineer for Fargo, during which time he designed, helped construct, and operated the Fargo Filtration plant. In 1918 he was commissioned a captain in the Engineering Corps and stationed at Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he wrote a history of the camp. Then, in 1919 he went to Camp Funston at Fort Riley, Kansas where he was in charge of hospital facilities, also serving in Washington and at the Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan.
From 1921 to 1932, he served as Receiver and General Manager of the bankrupt Lucky Strike Coal Company of Zap, North Dakota. From 1922 to 1932, he was Regimental Utility Officer and had charge of a five-year construction program at Camp Grafton. He was also a captain in the Fifth Engineers. He served on the Fargo City Water commission from 1929 to 1931, and from 1931 to 1934 he was secretary and construction engineer on the Board of State Capitol Commissioners at Bismarck. He also worked during the 1920’s and 1930’s as an engineer on the promotion of the Missouri River Diversion project and was president of the Great Plains Development Association.
In 1910, Mr. Anders married Mary Bertha Hargrave of Ripon, Wisconsin. They had two children, Marion and Franklin. Major Anders died January 23, 1966, and was buried in Ripon Wisconsin.
Major Anders was Senior Vice Commander of the Legion of Valor, belonged to the Legion of Honor, Spanish War Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Order of Indian Wars, Army and Navy Club, American Legion, and Fargo-Moorhead Officer’s Mess. He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the Society of American Military Engineers. He belonged to the Order of Scabbard and Blade and held the McKinley Congressional Medal. He was a Mason, Scottish Rite, member of the Congregational Church, and president of the Commons Club of Fargo, 1916. He was also president of the Society to Mark Custer’s Trail.
Extent
3.75 Linear Feet (3.75 linear feet.)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Medal of Honor recipient in Spanish-American War, amateur historian of George Custer, Fargo city engineer, mining engineer, and celebrations of other Medal of Honor recipients.
Provenance
Donated by Marianna (Presler) McJimsey (Acc. 2020-011irs, 2022-010irs, 2016-061irs).
Separations Record
The following non-manuscript items have been removed from the Frank L. Anders Collection and sent to the sections indicated:
Photograph collection
Photographs of various personal, historical, and engineering events and objects dating from the 1890s to the 1980s (Photo 2213)
Photograph collection
Photographs of various personal, historical, and engineering events and objects dating from the 1890s to the 1980s (Photo 2213)
Property Rights
NDSU Archives owns the property rights to this collection.
- Title
- Finding Aid to the Frank L. Anders Manuscript Collection
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
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