Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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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 are exactly what you would expect from a group of botanical enthusiasts; flowers, flower arrangements, flower arrangements on exhibit, and club members preparing flower shows. To be honest, reproducing most of these photos in the newspaper just wouldn't do them justice. This collection is best to be v...
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 certain type of artifact made history all the more accessible - the scrapbook. For those who might not be familiar, scrapbooks are compositionally arranged pages that consist of paper cutouts, print media and embellishments. They appeared about the same time print media began to flourish in the late...
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 this month that reads, "A place in the ranks awaits you, Each man [and woman] has some part to play. The past and future are nothing in the face of the stern today." The calendar left these words uncredited, but thanks to the internet in 2023, I was able to uncover the origin of the poem. "Now" was...
You might think that it wasn’t acceptable for mothers of the 19th century to work for a wage outside of the home. However, it would be more appropriate to say that it did not make economic sense for her to do so. The value of her work at home was too great. It is interesting to note that it was the following generation (those born around 1900), who began applying modern skill sets to community enhancement. For the Pioneer Daughters in 1961, members document their family histories. They conducted interviews, documented narratives, c...
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 opportunities. It is estimated that between 1865 and 1918, 1.3 million Swedes and 800,000 Norwegians immigrated to America. Some of those immigrants made it to Eddy County. It wasn't uncommon for young women to travel and immigrate on their own, nor was it uncommon for them to work to fund their trip. In 1894,...
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 include- the county's Diamond Jubilee in 1958. I learned about this event a couple years ago while I was digitizing photos. If there ever was a photographically documented event in Eddy County's history, the Diamond Jubilee is it. Through these photos we can clearly see the celebration of history...
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 farming, wheat sold for 64 cents a bushel in New Rockford. At that time, farming was done by oxen, horse and mule. Breaking was done by walking plows, and the land was then disced and seeded with a broadcast. When harvest time came, it was done with a cradle, a scythe with wooden tines which kept the...
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 Leske. Lenora Neuharth served on the museum board and as president of the Minerva Club. Edyth Piper was also involved in the Minerva Club in addition to the museum, and was president of the Pioneer Daughters. Elsie Dunham, Joyce Mattson, Ann Owens, Edgar Mattson, Joe Rindt, Edwin Horning, and Horton...
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 chapter with historic interests. The first objective of the organizations included recording pioneer family histories. The second was to construct a shelf to display historic items in a public setting. As ideas developed and were shared, the project grew into something much bigger. The ideas grew so big...
When the Pioneer Daughters first organized in 1961, they set out to document their family histories. This granted future generations an incredible window into the past. You too can take a look through this window! It is open to the public, through the Eddy County Museum’s website, at eddycounty.catalogaccess.com. Currently, there are 39 “Pioneer Histories” ready and waiting to show you a piece of the past. For now, I will share a few excerpts. I only ask that you ponder this: here we are, in 2023, reading the histories that were written 60 ye...
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 North Dakota Federation of Women's Clubs. To be eligible to join, a woman needed to be the descendant of a pioneer family who settled in the area prior to its statehood. The primary goal of the organization was "to honor the memory of pioneer mothers of this state and to keep alive its heritage."...
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, I took readers back to the beginnings of Eddy County- some 140+ years ago. Readers learned about the commercial development that came to define Eddy County, as well as some of the modern inventions that undoubtedly influenced life on the prairie. We took a look at some of the fashion and styles of...
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, unsuspecting of the menacing fox nearby. On the back, it includes a poem by Fredrick Langridge that reads, "The peaceful geese enjoy a drink Without the slightest thought of fear And yet there's ample cause, I think Their sly old foe, the fox, is near. Before a cackle they can say, He pounces down, in haste...
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 night, or go to bed early, buried deep under the covers? Did they yearn for company, or perhaps sought out solace? We can never truly answer such questions, but there are artifacts within the museum that provide insight. Anton Youngberg traveled from Sweden to America in 1900. When he arrived at...
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 significant snowfall. This article highlights a few of the events that residents recorded through photographs. Please note- this is by no means an exhaustive history of regional blizzards, just some insight regarding the artifacts left behind. The earliest photographic accounts include the...
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 advancements in transportation, and the first mail order catalog made its debut. We start by going back 203 years to 1818, when "Silent Night" was first heard by villagers attending Christmas Eve mass in St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria. It has endured to become one of the most appreciated...
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 Pompadour, who became the namesake of the 'do. But the pompadour I am writing about is as Edwardian as they come, set firmly from the 1890s until 1920. It was a time for progress in many arenas: transportation, communication, medicine, education and more. Women's fashion flourished with billowing bl...
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 history. First a little clarification on terminology. In American English, we often use the word china to refer to high-quality dishes. However, for historians and collectors, fine china has specific thin texture resulting from white kaolin clay and was primarily produced in China. Porcelain has a sim...
Regular readers of Archival Anecdotes might recognize the name that belonged to an Eddy County pioneer, Elsie Kerr. Many of her items have been featured in this series - from cookie jars and flour-sack bloomers, to postcards and more. Kerr had vast collections and connections, with which she made significant contributions to the Eddy County Museum. Her donations include various dolls, clothing items, household items, fiber art implements, handwritten correspondences, and a number of early...
As we move further and further into the 21st century, we also move further away from some of the most impactful events of the century before. Countless books and movies have been made about the two world wars that devastated much of the world in such a short period of time. Still, it is too easy to lose touch with these monumental events. That is why this summer, while cleaning the Stavanger Church, the Eddy County Museum staff worked to create a permanent exhibit to highlight the impact these...
Have you ever shaved with a straight edge razor? Would you even know where to begin? For much of history, the straight razor was the most effective option for those who wanted a smooth face. Perhaps this is why beards were commonly in fashion in the centuries leading up to modern times. Change came in 1895, when King Gillette invented and began selling razors with disposable blades. These blades no longer required honing and were far safer. No longer would a clean shave be a risk of cuts and...
From time to time, someone will ask me if the museum is haunted. My first reaction is to laugh. My second reaction is to tell the truth and say, "I never been there after dark, so I have no reason to believe so." The truth is, some of the artifacts within the museum do haunt me. There are items that sit in the darkest corners of the museum and offer little in terms of didactic value. In lay terms- these artifacts do very little to earn their keep. Their labels are simple and provide only the...
The history of the Eddy County Museum begins in the 1960s when three community groups came together with a vision to preserve the county's history for future generations. Those future generations include every one of us. We are the future, filled with uncertainty and promise. So why should we care about the past? Individually, we all have our own reasons- many of which are tied to our experience and heritage. Collectively, our reasons aren't that different from the museum pioneers in the 1960s....
Over time, humans have made many great tools and developments to aid in the carrying of our "things." From wheelbarrows to baskets, most carrying implements had an element of work involved. Even the lunchboxes, briefcases, valises and satchels all had such purpose. Sometime during the 18th century, women developed a new kind of implement to help them carry their necessary belongings. The reticule, as it was called, served women for the next 200 years. These bags hung close to the body or from...
Perhaps you remember the saying, "See a penny, pick it up. All day long you'll have good luck," but how many actually do this? After all, what can you buy with a penny these days? Or a nickel? Or dime for that matter? In early years of the 20th century, coins had far more buying power, so it makes sense that there were a wide variety of coin cases and purses available at that time. The Eddy County Museum holds a dozen coin carrying devices in the collection. Most are the common leather pouches...
