Anderson, David, 1883-1962
David Anderson Photograph Collection, 1920s-1940s (Photo. 2023)

441 photographic prints
1168 negatives
97 lantern slides

Biography

David Anderson was born March 3, 1883 in Sillerud, Sweden and studied photography there and in Germany. In March 1903 he immigrated to the United States, apparently coming directly to the Red River Valley. He worked as a photographer at Hawley, Minnesota before moving to North Dakota, some time after 1907. In North Dakota he began practicing photography at Cooperstown.

On October 9, 1909 he married Helen W. Peterson in Fargo. Helen was born circa 1890 at Cando, N.D. They had a daughter Ruth, born circa 1914. He was a photographer in Aneta, N.D. from December 1909 until June of 1910, when he sold his studio to Nils P. Hamre of Fargo. Anderson moved to Hillsboro, N.D. and then Mayville in 1912.

Mr. Anderson had his studio in Mayville until the early 1920s. By 1924 he was living in Fargo and had opened a studio in his home at 1340 12th Avenue North, across from the North Dakota Agricultural College.

By 1925 his wife Helen and daughter Ruth are no longer living with him. It is possible they both died around 1922. A Cass County District Court record, in which Mr. Anderson is a defendant, states that both Helen and Ruth were being treated by a Dr. F. Margaret Peake of Grand Forks between September 1921 and November 1922. Mr. Anderson married Inga Peterson in Minneapolis, Minn. on June 30, 1928.

By 1934 Mr. Anderson began to operate a studio at the North Dakota Agricultural College in Morrill Hall. The college granted him office space in exchange for doing campus photographic work.

Mr. Anderson was a member of the Professional Photographers of America, serving on its council. He also won a number of medals for excellence in photography. Some time after 1945 he moved from Fargo. He lived in Maryland for a time before moving to Oregon. He died December 14, 1962 in Medford, Oregon.

Scope and Content

The David Anderson Photograph Collection was left in Fargo when he moved from the city some time shortly after 1945. He gave the collection to the Fargo Chamber of Commerce. In the fall of 1951 the collection was donated to the Institute for Regional Studies by the Chamber (Fargo Forum, Oct. 25, 1951) In 1972, Institute staff member Gary Hedstrom identified the negatives as best as possible. In 1982-1983 the collection was fully processed, with the prints and negatives organized and placed in acid-free sleeves and boxes. Additional identifying information also was incorporated into the finding aid. The lantern slides of the Fargo College Library dedication in 1910 were thought part of the collection when processed. It later was determined that they were donated by Mrs. Edger M. Shaw of East Cleveland, Ohio in 1968. These lantern slides have been retained as part of the lantern slides series. The Anderson Collection is organized into three series: Photographic prints, Negatives and Lantern Slides.

David Anderson was an accomplished photographer and his abilities are reflected in the quality of the images in the collection. There is a broad range of topics and geographic areas represented in the collection. Fargo is perhaps represented the most, especially as they relate to businesses in the city. It seems he photographed many grand openings or newly opened businesses. Other notable photographs include documenting the funeral of aviator Carl Ben Eielson at Hatton, N.D. the visit of Norwegian Crown Prince Olav to Fargo, the building of the 1930s Federal Building in Fargo, German prisoners of war on the Peterson farm of Moorhead, Minnesota, and an extensive series of images related to the North Dakota Agricultural College.

The Photographic Prints Series are organized topically with the files arranged alphabetically. All Fargo photographs have been further subdivided. Some of the prints in this series are reproduced from the negative series and placed in the print series. Most of the original prints are 8 x 10 in., while the prints made from the negatives reflect the size of the original negatives.

The Negative Series comprises the largest portion of the Anderson Collection, consisting of 1,265 items. For very few, have prints been made. The negatives are organized by size and type (glass or plastic) with a letter assigned for each type. They are:

A 4x5 plastic negatives (422 negatives)
J 8x10 glass negatives (38 negatives)
K 5x7 glass negatives (74 negatives)
L 5x7 plastic negatives (313 negatives)
M 4x5 glass negatives (21 negatives)
P 8x10 plastic negatives (291 negatives)

The index to the negatives and lantern slides was developed by the Institute staff and organized into broad subject and geographic categories. The Fargo and North Dakota Agricultural College (NDSU) sections have been subdivided extensively.

The Lantern Slides Series consists of 97 glass slides. There is some question whether most of the slides were ever part of the Anderson collection, but they were found with the Anderson negatives when processing was done. Thus they have been retained with the collection. The collection includes 31 slides (SL 1-31) of the Fargo Water Filtration Plant that were done by Dewey's Studio of Fargo. SL 32-62 are images taken on the North Dakota Agricultural College campus including of buildings, groups and the construction of the Alba Bales House. The lantern slides (SL 63-70) document the laying the cornerstone of the Fargo College Library in 1910, with former President Theodore Roosevelt the speaker. The remainder of the slides include images related to growing corn in North Dakota and quite a number related to apiaries in the state. Topical access is through the Negative and Lantern Slide Index.