New Rockford Transcript - Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

If you've been a reader of Archival Anecdotes, you may have noticed that I like to use metaphors and stories to get a better sense about artifacts, histories, people or places. While it is true I...

There seems to be a theme running in Archival Anecdotes as of late. Over the past few weeks I have shared insights into the lives and contributions of folks who helped charter the Eddy County Museum....

History is what we make it Dorothy Payne Beardsley (1894-1985) lived to be 90 years old and experienced nearly a century of rapid cultural change in her lifetime. She was involved with the Minerva...

Legacy is a word that conjures images of grandeur. It has always felt like a fancy word, with wide expanses and a sprinkling of crown-jewels. While many people talk about creating a legacy to leave...

I am counting the days until the snow piles outside the museum melt and allow access to any of the buildings, and the artifacts within. Don't get me wrong, I love the photographs and stories I've...

There are many elements involved in keeping a museum. When I first began offering my archival skills to the Eddy County Museum, my primary task was to document each artifact and enter it into a...

"It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help." – Epicurus, Greek Philosopher, 300 B.C. If you have been following Archival Anecdotes this month, then you can...

In anticipation of the warmer days ahead, it seems as though there is no better time to introduce the Original Garden Club and the contents of their 1971 Scrapbook. The photographs in the scrapbook ar...

In honor of National Women's History Month, we've been exploring the role that women's clubs had in creating our local histories. This would be a difficult task for our little museum, however one...

March is a month of change. There's even that old saying, "In like a lion and out like lamb," that somehow provides comfort in uncertainty. The Calendar of Cheer has an interesting passage for us...

The Homestead Act of 1862 opened settlement opportunities throughout the Dakota Territory, thus giving the Scandinavian populations an opportunity to escape crop shortages and create new...

In recent weeks, I've been writing about the origins of the Eddy County Museum, and by extension the Pioneer Daughters Club. I am aware however, that there is another event that I have failed to...

At 20 years of age, Sveinung A. Olsness left his home in Vinyo Telem, Norway and traveled by steam and sail to New York, ultimately making it to North Dakota by rail in 1886. When Olsness began...

It has been nearly 60 years since the Eddy County Museum held its first meeting and established a board of directors. The founding board was led by chairman Alice Rindt and secretary-treasurer Addie...

In recent weeks, I've been sharing about the collaborative efforts that founded the museum. The Pioneer Daughters were just one of the many organizations involved. After all, they were a local...

The history of the Pioneer Daughters extend back to 1929 when J.M. Diving delivered a speech in Dickenson titled "The Pioneer Mother of N. Dak." The Pioneer Daughters were a special branch of the...

Welcome to a newly relaunched edition of Archival Anecdotes! This exclusive feature first came to be during the 2020 pandemic and continued to the end of 2021. In past editions of Archival Anecdotes,...

Life is complicated, I think most of us can agree on that. So when I came across this unique card for a Happy New Year, I knew I wanted to share. It features several geese in the barnyard,...

Many times, I have thought about the inner lives of people who settled Eddy County. Did they curse the cold? Did they miss the friends and family they left behind? Did they burn a candle late into...

The snow is on the ground. It happens almost every year. And yet, so many of us can still be left in awe of the accumulations. In the early days, there seemed to be no shortage of excitement around a...

So many of the Christmas traditions we embrace today took root in the British culture of the Victorian Era. It was a time for rapid commercial development and industrial growth. There were great...

I'd like to introduce you to an antiquated hairstyle that still offers loads of volume. The pompadour- you might have heard of it before. The pompadour was a trend for men in the 1950s, and for Madam...

During the holiday season, it is quite possible that you will find yourself dining upon fine china or other heirloom porcelain. If you do, then you have a great opportunity to take a look back in hist...