Manuscripts and Archives The Institute for Regional Studies Manuscript Collection contains over 900 collections highlighting the culture, the people, and the places of North Dakota. The Institute is especially proud of its early collecting of records regarding the bonanza farming era which began in the 1870s. These records include oral interviews of farm workers, reminiscences, correspondence, and the complete files of the Amenia and Sharon Land Company, the only bonanza farm whose records survived. The importance of land development and agriculture to North Dakota is also reflected through the extensive files of the Ransom County Trust Company collections and farmer related papers. In addition, information is also plentiful regarding the everyday life of pioneers in North Dakota, including numerous reminiscences, correspondence, and interviews. Political aspects of the state's history are reflected in the information on the state's revolutionary Nonpartisan League, and the papers of state politicians Ole H. Olson and S. A. Olsness and of U. S. Congressman Hjalmar Nygaard. Women are also well represented, including the papers of early state politician Minnie Craig, temperance and social reformer Elizabeth Preston Anderson, and educator Aagot Raaen. The women's holdings also include numerous local study and homemaker clubs records, and the records of the North Dakota Homemaker's Council. Likewise, the lives and works of North Dakota literary figures are documented, in the papers of Vera Kelsey, Richard Critchfield, Thomas McGrath, Richard Lyons, and the records of the Dakota Arts Quarterly. North Dakota's many ethnic groups are also documented, most notably Norwegians and Germans from Russia. The Institute also serves as the repository for City of Fargo records, which include city commission meeting minutes, police court ledgers, the files of two urban renewal projects and the Model Cities program. Access to the manuscript collections is available through: printed finding aids available in the Institute Research Room. These finding aids are just beginning to be placed online, grouped in broad subject categories. Currently only the "Architecture and Historic Preservation" area has been developed. The printed finding aids are also available at the State Historical Society of North Dakota in Bismarck, and the Elwyn B. Robinson Dept. of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota, at Grand Forks. the Guide to Manuscripts and Archives, published in 1985, which describes all collections in the Institute and University Archives up to that time. the ODIN on-line catalog. OCLC, the NDSU Libraries' on-line cataloging utility the National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States, by Chadwyck-Healey, Inc. the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC), and on the RLIN database (where only some of the collections are described). Loaning of manuscript collections is available: Through a reciprocal loan agreement, the manuscripts and state archival holdings at the State Historical Society of North Dakota and University of North Dakota's Chester Fritz Library are available for use in the Institute. Request for temporary transfer of collections to the Institute should be made to the Institute Archivist. Please note that the staff must order materials which then must be transferred by staff traveling to Bismarck or Grand Forks. These steps may take up to four weeks so it is important to plan well in advance. The materials may remain at the Institute for the researcher to use for up to three months, with an extension possible. Through the same reciprocal agreement Institute collections can be used at the State Historical Society of North Dakota, the University of North Dakota's Chester Fritz Library, Minot State University Library, Dickinson State University Library, and Moorhead State University Library. Should you wish to use the Institute manuscript collections at one of these sites, please contact that site. Reference Services Staff, Address, and Hours General Policies and Rules Reproduction Policies and Prices

archives@www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu 701-231-8914 Published by the Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU Last Updated: 09/07/2005