North Dakota Agricultural College in Glass Plate Negatives

Introduction

The glass plate negative scans within this exhibit cover life at North Dakota Agricultural College (NDAC) from 1921 – 1931. During this time period the collegiate enrollment more than quadrupled from 375 to 1,500+. These 150+ scans give you a glimpse of student activities, sports, and the buildings of the campus.
 
 

The NDSU glass plate negative collection* consists of approximately 25,000 5x7 glass plate negatives, from the late teens through the 1930s.The focus of the collection is on North Dakota Agriculture, particularly the activities of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and the Extension Service. The majority of the negatives are agriculturally related, although over 500 relate specifically to NDAC (NDAC became NDSU in December of 1960).
 
 

By the mid-1920s the students at North Dakota Agricultural College had decided that the name “Agricultural College” did not adequately represent all the major areas of study with the College (Schools of Agriculture, Chemistry and Technology, Education, Home Economics, Pharmacy, Science and Literature, and Veterinary Science). By the end of the decade, on all but official school documents, NDSC (North Dakota State College) was the unofficial name of the school. Up until early 1922, the school’s nickname was the “Fighting Aggies.” In February of 1922 the new nickname, “Bison” was adopted and thus began the thundering herd.

This exhibit was mounted in the Summer of 2003 and all images were scanned as jpegs at 600 dpi.

*Gelatin dry plate negatives were first produced in the U.S. in 1879. Although the process was used extensively through 1920, the Agricultural College continued using this process through the early 1940s. Gelatin emulsion is still the principal emulsion in use today. Since this dry process was completely manufactured, a photographer only had to buy the plates which required no preparation and they could be processed any time after exposure. (information excerpted from: Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, Gerald J. Munoff, & Margery S. Long. Archives & Manuscripts: Administration of Photographic Collections. SAA Basic Manual Series. Chicago : Society of American Archivists, 1984.)

univarchives@www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu Published by the University Archives, NDSU Dan Hamre, Site Designer Last Updated: 7/28/03