Alfred G. Arvold Papers
Collection
Identifier: UA0057.3
Scope and Contents
In addition to biographical information on his life, the Alfred G. Arvold papers document Arvold’s life from his youth in Wisconsin, his training at the University of Wisconsin and his two year teaching career at Eau Claire. The collection reflects his forty-five year career at NDAC focusing primarily on the Citizen’s Lecture Course/Lyceum series he founded in 1910, the Little Country Theatre he founded in 1914 and his theatrical endeavors including plays and pageants. It also includes materials on his involvement as a member of the Players Club of New York City and as a Shriner including his term as Imperial Potentate for the Shrine of North America in 1944-1945. The collection has been arranged into six series in chronological order.
The six series are: Biographical information; Personal background; Activities at the University of Wisconsin [1901-1905]; Orator, Correspondent and Storyteller; North Dakota Agricultural College [1907-1952]; Masonic Temple/Shrine activity; The LCT Register and The Players.
The Biographical series is comprised of: photo print, clippings, research notes and copy of an article written by Arvold.
Personal background includes Honors [Doctor of Humanities from UND and former students honor A. G.], and Obituaries.
Activities at the University of Wisconsin 1901 – 1905 include club activities, play activity, commencement oration and alumni magazine position.
Orator, Correspondent and Storyteller include Lectures/Presentations/Quotations [1907 – 1952]; Personalities Met & Travel; Correspondence [1924-1948]; Alfred G. Arvold Stories
North Dakota Agricultural College includes Outreach, Speech, Oration and Public Programing [1914 Arvold address; extension service/Package Lending Library; Public Speaking System; Declamatory Activities; Public Programs, Community Center Movement; Play Days; Department of Public Discussion and Social Service; Neighborhood Programs; One-Act Plays; Neighborhood Activities in Country Communities and two student papers on Arvold]; Little Country Theatre [Auditorium remodel; LCT stained glass windows; Lincoln Log Cabin; LCT postcard; The Little Country Theatre book and two pamphlets; 10th , 15th , & 20th anniversaries; articles about LCT 1914-1939; Family; NDAC Campus Artifacts & Copies; Miscellaneous; Citizen’s Lecture Course/Lyceum [1910-1910/1920-1953]; Cyclone Circus [1908]; Student Life Train [1913]; Senior Class Graduation Plays [1909-1938]; The Land of Dakotahs, Statewide Pageant [scripts with n.d.]; Country Life Conferences [1912-1913]; Community Programs [1915-1945]; Literary Society Festivals [1912-1918]; Industrial Course Graduation Plays [1914-1928]; Short Course Graduation Play [1916]; Other NDAC Plays [1909-1935]; Annual Harvest Festivals [1916-1951]; Annual Christmas Festivals [1915-1951]; May Festivals/Lilac Days [1916-1932/[1933-1952]; Boys and Girls Institute [1920-1945]; One Act Play Festivals/Contests [1920-1951]; and A & MT High School Graduation Plays [1915-1937].
The Masonic Temple/Shrine series includes General Materials; Shrine News; Activites; Imperial Council, St. Felix Conclaves and Red Cross of Constantine; El Zagal Temple St. Felix Conclave banquet programs for Red Cross of Constantine, held in Fargo various years between 1925 and 1938. There are a number of banquet programs from across the United States honoring the Imperial Potentate, including one for Arvold held at San Francisco in December 1944. Another file contains miscellaneous Mystic Shrine programs, several from Fargo in 1917 and 1919. There is a copy of Letters from an “Old Made” Merchant to His Sons booklet apparently prepared for a Shrine event in Fargo in 1905 and contains humorous vignettes on initiation rites. There are different editions of The Mystic Shrine that feature photographs and events during the year Arvold served as Imperial Potentate. Three Scottish Rite reunion booklets for meetings held in Fargo (1900 and 1908) and Valley City (1950), North Dakota. Completing the collection are issues of Shrine News from 1944-1945 that feature news articles on Arvold’s tenure as Imperial Potentate including his itineraries for several months as Imperial Potentate.
The LCT Register contains signatures of visitors to the Little Country Theatre 1927-1953
The six series are: Biographical information; Personal background; Activities at the University of Wisconsin [1901-1905]; Orator, Correspondent and Storyteller; North Dakota Agricultural College [1907-1952]; Masonic Temple/Shrine activity; The LCT Register and The Players.
The Biographical series is comprised of: photo print, clippings, research notes and copy of an article written by Arvold.
Personal background includes Honors [Doctor of Humanities from UND and former students honor A. G.], and Obituaries.
Activities at the University of Wisconsin 1901 – 1905 include club activities, play activity, commencement oration and alumni magazine position.
Orator, Correspondent and Storyteller include Lectures/Presentations/Quotations [1907 – 1952]; Personalities Met & Travel; Correspondence [1924-1948]; Alfred G. Arvold Stories
North Dakota Agricultural College includes Outreach, Speech, Oration and Public Programing [1914 Arvold address; extension service/Package Lending Library; Public Speaking System; Declamatory Activities; Public Programs, Community Center Movement; Play Days; Department of Public Discussion and Social Service; Neighborhood Programs; One-Act Plays; Neighborhood Activities in Country Communities and two student papers on Arvold]; Little Country Theatre [Auditorium remodel; LCT stained glass windows; Lincoln Log Cabin; LCT postcard; The Little Country Theatre book and two pamphlets; 10th , 15th , & 20th anniversaries; articles about LCT 1914-1939; Family; NDAC Campus Artifacts & Copies; Miscellaneous; Citizen’s Lecture Course/Lyceum [1910-1910/1920-1953]; Cyclone Circus [1908]; Student Life Train [1913]; Senior Class Graduation Plays [1909-1938]; The Land of Dakotahs, Statewide Pageant [scripts with n.d.]; Country Life Conferences [1912-1913]; Community Programs [1915-1945]; Literary Society Festivals [1912-1918]; Industrial Course Graduation Plays [1914-1928]; Short Course Graduation Play [1916]; Other NDAC Plays [1909-1935]; Annual Harvest Festivals [1916-1951]; Annual Christmas Festivals [1915-1951]; May Festivals/Lilac Days [1916-1932/[1933-1952]; Boys and Girls Institute [1920-1945]; One Act Play Festivals/Contests [1920-1951]; and A & MT High School Graduation Plays [1915-1937].
The Masonic Temple/Shrine series includes General Materials; Shrine News; Activites; Imperial Council, St. Felix Conclaves and Red Cross of Constantine; El Zagal Temple St. Felix Conclave banquet programs for Red Cross of Constantine, held in Fargo various years between 1925 and 1938. There are a number of banquet programs from across the United States honoring the Imperial Potentate, including one for Arvold held at San Francisco in December 1944. Another file contains miscellaneous Mystic Shrine programs, several from Fargo in 1917 and 1919. There is a copy of Letters from an “Old Made” Merchant to His Sons booklet apparently prepared for a Shrine event in Fargo in 1905 and contains humorous vignettes on initiation rites. There are different editions of The Mystic Shrine that feature photographs and events during the year Arvold served as Imperial Potentate. Three Scottish Rite reunion booklets for meetings held in Fargo (1900 and 1908) and Valley City (1950), North Dakota. Completing the collection are issues of Shrine News from 1944-1945 that feature news articles on Arvold’s tenure as Imperial Potentate including his itineraries for several months as Imperial Potentate.
The LCT Register contains signatures of visitors to the Little Country Theatre 1927-1953
Dates
- 1900-2004
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the NDSU Archives.
Biographical / Historical
Alfred G. Arvold was born at Whitewater, Wisconsin on January 15, 1882, son of Louis and Caroline Arvold. After graduating from high school he attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison and earned a B.A. degree in 1905. After his graduation he taught school in Eau Claire, Wisconsin until 1907 when he was offered a faculty position at the North Dakota Agricultural College (NDAC), Fargo, North Dakota, as an instructor in English and Oratory.
In 1914 at the NDAC he founded the Little Country Theatre (LCT), “a country life laboratory which has become known throughout the world because of its work in country neighborhoods.” Arvold was also active in bringing world-renown entertainers to the NDAC campus; writing and producing plays and pageants across the state of North Dakota; developing the campus Public Programs series; and serving as Imperial Potentate of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Arvold was the subject of numerous national articles and was himself the author of numerous works, including Alfred … In Every Man’s Life (1957), The Little Country Theater (1923), The Little Country Theater, Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow (n.d.), Neighborhood Activities in Country Communities (1940), and Value of Public Speaking (191-).
On June 16, 1909 Alfred Arvold married Mildred Mason Tolles at Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They had two children, Alfred Mason and Mary Caroline. In 1953 Alfred Arvold was retired from the North Dakota Agricultural College and lived in Fargo until his death on April 16, 1957. Mildred Arvold died February 15, 1975. They are buried at Whitewater, Wisconsin.
In 1914 at the NDAC he founded the Little Country Theatre (LCT), “a country life laboratory which has become known throughout the world because of its work in country neighborhoods.” Arvold was also active in bringing world-renown entertainers to the NDAC campus; writing and producing plays and pageants across the state of North Dakota; developing the campus Public Programs series; and serving as Imperial Potentate of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Arvold was the subject of numerous national articles and was himself the author of numerous works, including Alfred … In Every Man’s Life (1957), The Little Country Theater (1923), The Little Country Theater, Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow (n.d.), Neighborhood Activities in Country Communities (1940), and Value of Public Speaking (191-).
On June 16, 1909 Alfred Arvold married Mildred Mason Tolles at Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They had two children, Alfred Mason and Mary Caroline. In 1953 Alfred Arvold was retired from the North Dakota Agricultural College and lived in Fargo until his death on April 16, 1957. Mildred Arvold died February 15, 1975. They are buried at Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Extent
17 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Overview
In addition to biographical information on his life, the Alfred G. Arvold papers document Arvold’s life from his youth in Wisconsin, his training at the University of Wisconsin and his two year teaching career at Eau Claire. The collection reflects his forty-five year career at NDAC focusing primarily on the Citizen’s Lecture Course/Lyceum series he founded in 1910, the Little Country Theatre he founded in 1914 and his theatrical endeavors including plays and pageants. It also includes materials on his involvement as a member of the Players Club of New York City and as a Shriner including his term as Imperial Potentate for the Shrine of North America in 1944-1945.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by A.G. Arvold, July 1953 (Acc 72) & Mary Arvold, July 2012; various departmental donations
Separated Materials
The following books were separated and cataloged:
• Proceedings 70th Annual Session A A O N M S, Articles of Incorporation/ By-laws & Code, 1944 • Proceedings 71st Annual Session A A O N M S, Articles of Incorporation/By-laws & Code, 1945 • “The Shriners Finest Hour” by John D. McGilvray, 1955 • “. . . unto the least of these: A Story of the Shriners’ Hospitals for Crippled Children” prepared by the Board of Governors and the Staff of the Greenville, South Carolina Unit, Shriners’ Hospitals for Crippled Children, 1948 • The Mystic Shrine • The Theatre of the Fraternity
• Proceedings 70th Annual Session A A O N M S, Articles of Incorporation/ By-laws & Code, 1944 • Proceedings 71st Annual Session A A O N M S, Articles of Incorporation/By-laws & Code, 1945 • “The Shriners Finest Hour” by John D. McGilvray, 1955 • “. . . unto the least of these: A Story of the Shriners’ Hospitals for Crippled Children” prepared by the Board of Governors and the Staff of the Greenville, South Carolina Unit, Shriners’ Hospitals for Crippled Children, 1948 • The Mystic Shrine • The Theatre of the Fraternity
Legal Status
The NDSU Archives owns the property rights to this collection.
Legal Status
Copyrights to this collection is held by The North Dakota State University Archives.
Processing Information
Box 6 was accidentaly skipped.
- Title
- Finding Aid to the Alfred G. Arvold Papers
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the University Archives Repository
Contact:
West Building
3551 7th Avenue N
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu
West Building
3551 7th Avenue N
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu