Digital Collections

Allen Spiker German Russian Dialect Tapes

The German language of the German Russians in North Dakota is unique, having developed in the foreign environment of the Russian colonies and later in the United States. In the 1970s, Allen Spiker, a North Dakota native and himself a descendant of German Russian immigrants, began to document this rapidly disappearing language as part of his German linguist education. He conducted sound recordings across North Dakota, typically with the oldest generation of German Russians who learned German as their first language and still actively used German in their communities and homes. Mr. Spiker’s research helped determine how the language developed, how heavily influenced it was by Russian and English, and if German dialects still existed in the German Russian communities of North Dakota. The results of his work are an important aspect in documenting the culture and heritage of what is today the largest ethnic group in North Dakota.

Cal Olson Photography Collection Cal Olson, chief photographer and later managing editor of Fargo, N.D.’s Forum newspaper from 1950 to 1978, leaves a rich visual legacy documenting the people and life in North Dakota and western Minnesota. This legacy has been entrusted by his family to NDSU’s Institute for Regional Studies Archives. Cal Olson’s work reflects the very essence of the National Press Photographers Association, of which he served twice as its president, dedicated to the advancement of visual journalism and to promote its role as a vital public service.  The Cal Olson collection of over 8,000 negatives reflects life in Fargo, Moorhead and the Red River Valley, featuring newsworthy events of the era. It includes his award winning photographs of the 1957 Fargo tornado, North Dakota Indians, the Vietnam War, North Dakota politics and politicians, people at work and play, and, one of his greatest passions, hunting and fishing. Related Information:

• Cal Olson Biographical Essay, by Catherine Olson McMullen
• Newspaperman, by Catherine Olson McMullen
• Cal Olson and Photojournalism, by Sheldon Green

The Fargo Board of City Commissioners Meeting Minutes consist of digitized and transcribed pages from the original minutes of the commission. The minutes date back to the year 1875 and give good insight into the workings of the City of Fargo government, including the construction and maintenance of infrastructure, the operation of the fire and police departments, elections, ordinances, resolutions, Board of Equalization, and management of the city during times of crisis.

Dakota Lithographs and Engravings

The Institute for Regional Studies Archives has acquired over time a small collection of original lithographs, engravings, and woodcuts published in nineteenth century periodicals that help document the early settlement era in North Dakota. The collection includes images of the bonanza farm era, Indians, weather, politics, and small town life. Most of the collection has been digitized and is available online. High-resolution images have been mounted for this collection, allowing the researcher to view each image in greater detail. As additional images are acquired and digitized, they will be added to the online collection.

The Ellendale Coleman Museum Photograph Collection consists of photographs donated by the museum to the NDSU Archives in 2016. Most of the images relate to the people and places in and around Ellendale, ND and Dickey County. A large number of photographs are of the North Dakota State Normal and Industrial School, which operated between 1899 and 1971.

Fargo Public Library Photograph Collection

In 1998 the Fargo Public Library entrusted its historical photographs with the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies Archives for permanent preservation. The Fargo Public Library and the Institute are pleased to make this collection available for public use via Digital Horizons. The collection documents many aspects of Fargo life from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. A recent addition to the collection is a series of color slides documenting the famous 1957 Fargo tornado, taken and donated by Samuel G. Chapman.

For Eagles to be Crows
Introduction Video

The “For Eagles to be Crows” programs were aired on KDSU in 1973. The programs were later aired on radio stations in Minnesota, New Mexico, Massachusetts, and North Dakota. They were intended to facilitate interracial understanding and allow the Native American people of North Dakota the opportunity to speak about their past, their future, and what is important to them from their own point of view. The programs are divided into three sections. The first section contains the heritage of the Native American people on the Fort Berthold, Fort Totten, Standing Rock and Turtle Mountain Reservations. The second section contains an overview of federal agency program trends and policies. The third section contains a discussion of problems experienced by the Native American people.

The producer of the project was Sharon Cobb; the associate producer was JoAnn Logan. The narrator was John L. Tipton, program manager of KDSU. Other assistants were Mary Metzger and John Hetland. KDSU received the American Bar Association’s Certificate of Merit in the Gavel Awards Competition in 1974 for the series.

The title was taken from a quote by Sitting Bull in 1876: “If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man He would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans. In my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.”

Work on this collection was completed by Rebecca Keightley as part of her internship with Sociology and Anthropology.

The H.L. Bolley Photograph Collection of the NDSU University Archives is comprised of two distinct series.   The first series consists of approximately 80 lantern slides which were taken by Bolley, Dean of Biology and Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology at North Dakota Agricultural College, during the summer and fall of 1903, when the College and the United States Department of Agriculture funded a trip to allow him to study the chief flax growing areas in Holland, Belgium, Northern Germany, and Russia.

Bolley’s journal of the trip, “Outline of European Travels during the Summer and Autumn of 1903.” is available on Digital Horizons.  Bolley also wrote an article about the trip, “Flax Culture,” North Dakota Agricultural College Experiment Station Bulletin No. 71 (October 1906): 137-214.  The article and the abstract are also available on Digital Horizons.

The second series deals with campus scenes at the North Dakota Agricultural College during the beginning of the twentieth century.  Buildings, student activities, and athletics are highlighted in these 80 photographs.

The Korean War Propaganda Leaflet Collection preserved at the Institute for Regional Studies Archives provides a unique look into an aspect of the war often overlooked. Based upon what President Truman called "the campaign of truth", these leaflets became one of the primary means of winning the hearts and minds of enemy troops and Korean civilians.

This collection of over 600 leaflets was amassed by NDSU alumnus Albert G. Brauer, who served in the Eighth U.S. Army Korea as Chief of the Projects Branch, Psychological Warfare Division, G3 Section, from February 1951 to January 1952. Under his direction, a small nucleus of relatively untrained personnel was transformed into an integrated team of writers, artists, and Asian language specialists of professional caliber that produced many hundreds of propaganda leaflets and voice messages for dissemination by aircraft, artillery and by air and ground loudspeaker units.

Related Information:

• Psychological Warfare Korea, 1951, by Major Albert C. Brauer
• Themes in Korean War-Era Leaflets: Implications for Future North-South Korean & Korean-U.S. Dialogues, by Jin K. Kim
• Further Readings on Korea and the Korean War

NDSU-NDAC Historic Documents

This collection consists of historic documents from the North Dakota Agricultural College/North Dakota State University such as yearbooks, commencement programs, architectural drawings, certificates, and noteworthy correspondence from the collections of the NDSU Archives.

NDSU-NDAC Historic Photographs

This collection consists of images from the NDSU University Archives photograph and negative collections, highlighting historic views of the North Dakota Agricultural College/North Dakota State University, from 1890 to present. 

Nonpartisan Leader Cartoons

Political cartooning in North Dakota reached its peak in the late 1910s with the rise of the Nonpartisan League and its Nonpartisan Leader newspaper. The League’s most prominent cartoonist, John Miller Baer, was elected in 1917 to the United States House of Representatives. Featured are twenty-four original Baer cartoons preserved at the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies. The cartoons included here are but a very small sampling of the rich collection of political cartooning found in issues of the Nonpartisan Leader. The entire run of the Leader is available on microfilm at the Institute as well as an almost complete hard-copy set.

Related Information:

• Further Readings on Nonpartisan League
• John Miller Baer: Nonpartisan League Cartoonist and Congressman, by Bill G. Reid

North Dakota Historic Documents

This collection consists of historic documents found in the collections of the Institute for Regional Studies Archives.  They include digitized and transcribed letters, diaries, posters, architectural drawings, and other ephemera relating to North Dakota and its people.

North Dakota Voices from the Past

Stories are the very fabric of our lives. This oral tradition predates the written word, yet it is not until relatively recently that concerted efforts have been made to capture stories through oral history recordings. Such recordings capture not only the story but also the person’s voice. Together they provide a unique historical resource that the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies Archives is pleased to offer through this sampling of oral histories found in various collections donated to the Institute. Also included is music that has a North Dakota connection.

The common theme is voices of North Dakotans talking about important and sometimes mundane events in their lives and the state’s past, their families, jobs, institutions, and political and social movements. Most of the oral histories also include a transcript; the original sheet music is included for musical recordings. As more original cassette and reel-to-reel tapes are digitized, more North Dakota voices and music will be heard, documenting additional aspects of the state’s past.

Photo Gallery: Images from the Institute for Regional Studies Archives

The visual images in the Institute for Regional Studies Archives’ Photo Gallery cover almost every aspect of life in North Dakota and beyond. This sampling is only a small portion of the over 100,000 photographs preserved at the Institute. Collection strengths include pioneer life and sod houses, aspects of agriculture in the state, social scenes, and views of Fargo and many other North Dakota cities and towns.

St. Luke's School of Nursing Photograph Collection

This collection consists of class photographs of St. Luke’s School of Nursing graduates. The school began in 1911 at the St. Luke’s Hospital in Fargo (which is now Sanford). During World War II, the school also trained nurses for the Cadet Nurses Corps. Through the years, the school graduated 2,811 nurses. However, due to competition from local universities, St. Luke’s graduated its last class in 1987.

Strand Studio Photograph Collection

The Strand Studio Photograph Collection highlights the important role community photographers have always played in documenting the people and life of a community. From 1948 to 1988, Curtis and Maxine Strand of Rugby, North Dakota chronicled the memorable moments of their neighbor’s lives:  school teams and graduations, weddings, family portraits, and landmark events on Main Street and elsewhere throughout north central North Dakota. This extensive collection of negatives, reflecting the professional career of the Strands, shows how they touched the lives of thousands of people, doing something very important for them:  preserving their memories and lives in photographs, as captured in their slogan, “Today’s Photographs – Tomorrow’s Best Memories”.