Hjalmar Nygaard was born on March 24, 1906, on a farm near Sharon, N.D., in Steele County.  He was educated in the public schools at Sharon and, upon graduation, attended Mayville State Teachers College and the University of North Dakota.  In 1960, Hjalmar was elected Congressman-at-large to the U.S. House of Representatives, and was re-elected as Representative of North Dakota's First (Eastern) Congressional District in 1962.  While in Washington, he served as a member of the National Monument Commission.  In addition, he was also a member of the House's Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, and he used this position to work for the Garrison Diversion and Irrigation Project.  Hjalmar was the Republican Representative of North Dakota from 1961-1963, serving in the 87th and 88th Congresses, until his sudden death, a victim of a heart attack, on July 18, 1963.

The Hjalmar C. Nygaard papers collection contains files and documents pertaining to Mr. Nygaard's brief time as a Republican Representative from the Eastern Congressional District of North Dakota, 1961-1963.  The general correspondence is arranged alphabetically by subject.  The constituent mail is arranged alphabetically by last name.  The legislative collection contains mainly copies of House and Senate bills, arranged numerically, along with pertient correspondence. 
 

Politics and Government