archivesandspecialcollections

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The Reading Room and the Archives and Special Collections will be closed June 26, 2025, from 12 pm (noon) to 5 pm.

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Honorary degrees at USD

USD graduation commencement programs are a great source for names of people who have received honorary degrees from the University of South Dakota. Honorary degrees before 1985 are not shown in the list below. 1985Dietrich, ErnstDoctor of Humane Letters1985Floyd, Joseph L.Doctor of Humane Letters1985Patterson, Samuel CDoctor of Humane Letters1986-SummerBridgeford, EthelDoctor of Humane…

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Change in Reading Room hours

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An unusual set of books in the Mahoney Music Collection contains and celebrates wood.

The Mahoney Music Collection covers a wide range of musical subjects. Within the subject of musical instruments — construction is an unusual set of books, the Hough’s Encyclopaedia of American Woods. While the 1957 set in the Mahoney Music Collection is not complete, a complete set has 13 two-ring binders with samples of wood and 8 volumes of descriptive text. In the binders, many American trees…

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McLaughlin, S.D.: Local Politics on a Postal Level

In 1927, Representative William Williamson of South Dakota faced a dilemma regarding the retirement of Postmaster Frank Dennerly of the McLaughlin Post Office. Dennerly had served since 1910 but was a member of the Democratic Party and had been pushed out by local Republicans. As a U.S. representative, Williamson had some influence in the final candidate for the position but was caught between…

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FromThePage Newsletter

Our first issue of FromthePage Newsletter is now available. See what we are doing with transcription projects. https://libguides.usd.edu/fromthepage/newsletter

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Albert J. Maag

The University of South Dakota Archives and Special Collections has published an online finding aid for Albert J. Maag. Albert J. Maag was born on December 1, 1891 in Malmø, Sweden before his family emigrated to Huron, South Dakota. He started his union life in May 1918 by becoming a charter member of the Railroad Local Union 247 Sheet Metal Workers International Association, as…

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Are you ready for United States’ semiquincentennial? Part two.

In preparation for July 4, 2026, the Archives and Special Collections staff are searching our collections for items related to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, previous anniversary celebrations, or the five research themes suggested by the American Association for State and Local History. Our latest find is a souvenir from the United States’ sesquicentennial (150th) celebration in…

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Happy Earth Day - Let's talk recycling.

While researching another topic, I recently found in a 1975 Volante student newspaper that the League of Women Voters established an all-volunteer recycling center in Vermillion SD, and it was in a restructured building below the bluff. The article does not mention when. If you know when this recycling center started and stopped, please let me know. Newspapers are a good source for historical…

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Senator James Abourezk's Thirteen-Day Filibuster

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The Reading Room is closed Friday, April 11 2025.

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South Dakota Special Olympics Accreditation in 1973

The Special Olympics, created in 1968, provides year-round sports training and athletic competition for special needs children and adults. The program was originally sponsored by the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation. Accreditation of programs in the United States was authorized by the founder of the Special Olympics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of Rose Kennedy who had intellectual challenges.…

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Fundraising for the DakotaDome 

The Armory, now called the Belbas Center, was the first indoor athletic building constructed in 1905 at the University of South Dakota (USD) where enrollment was 450 students.  Aside from being a venue for military sciences, athletics, and physical education, it served as a place for social activities. Twenty-four years later a building was built as enrollment more than doubled and physical…

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This is a helpful book when reading difficult handwritten documents.

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New Finding Aids and Collection Inventories at the Archives and Special Collections

The archivist and staff of the Archives and Special Collections write guides to our collections, papers, and records called finding aids and collection inventories. Some of the finding aids and collection inventories finished 2024: Crow Creek Site collection Day (John) collection on Arthur Amiotte Fahsing (William Frederick) papers Gallup-Livingston (Mary) papers Holm (Richard)…

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The 1972 University of South Dakota (USD) Champion Coyote Football Team

The year 1972 marked the 83rd year of football at USD and the 50th anniversary of the North Central conference (NCC). The last time USD football won the NCC championship was in 1951. A combination of an impressive and talented football team and excellent coaching under head coach Joe Salem, winner the District Six Coach of the Year award in 1972, propelled the team to become co-champions with an…

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Beatrice Chaffee Department of Music Chair at the University of South Dakota

Beatrice Chaffee was the first and only woman chair of the Department of Music at the University of South Dakota (USD). Her background was in music education. Ms. Chaffee taught music and choir to K-12 grades in schools in Pennsylvania, Iowa and South Dakota. In 1961 she received her Master of Music Degree from USD and joined the faculty of the USD Department of Music in 1964. Her husband,…