The 1990s are back in this edition of recent acquisitions. Settle in on your faux-leather beanbag chair, put your hair up in a scrunchie, and get ready to learn about some fly ’90s objects recently donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota’s museum collection. Cue the Pearl Jam!

1. Virgil Hill Fan Club buttons, 1985-1995

SHSND 2024.00022.00001-.00002

Virgil Hill, famous boxing champion, was recently named the 48th recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award. During his career, thousands of North Dakotans attended his home state fights in Bismarck, Minot, Grand Forks, and Fargo. Hill’s recent accolade inspired donor Rita Nodland to reach out to us with her memories of watching Hill in the ring.

Recalling the Virgil Hill Fan Club buttons she acquired between 1985 and 1995, Nodland notes, “We were avid fans of Virgil Hill during his boxing career. We were also members of the VH Fan Club. We started following Virgil with a fight in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. It was an outdoor ring along the beach. After that, we went to every fight we could, mostly in Bismarck, and sometimes with adult family members and friends. … I never had an interest in boxing prior to [Hill’s] fights, but there was a rush every time we went. His promoters did a very good job exciting the crowd.”

2. Lisa Frank unicorn pencil box, 1992-1993

SHSND 2024.00012.00003

If you want a visual representation of elementary school in the 1990s, look no further than the colorful fantasy stylings of Lisa Frank. During the decade of grunge, her distinctive animals with big, wet eyes rendered in highly saturated colors seemed to be slapped on every available school supply surface and were beloved by middle school girls.

This unicorn-bedazzled Lisa Frank pencil supply box was used by donor Erica Houn, who also happens to be the agency’s business manager, when she was in first grade at Pioneer Elementary School in Bismarck. She pointed out to us that her name is written on it in two spots—once by her and once by her first-grade teacher, Mrs. Schubert. It’s well-loved, judging by the crayon marks and daubs of dried glue inside.

The delightfully crayon-scribbled inside of the pencil box.

3. Trolls pencil box, 1992-1993

SHSND 2024.00012.00004

Erica Houn also donated another pencil box, which highlights beloved franchise Trolls. This one she used at home rather than school.

Troll dolls and all of their associated merchandise were first popular in the 1960s and have made several resurgences in the following decades, including the 1990s. Houn personalized this pencil box by assigning the name “JTT” (moniker of ’90s tween dreamboat Johnathan Taylor Thomas of “Home Improvement” and “The Lion King” fame) to the troll on the far left. This note is faintly visible near the bottom of the label.

4. Walkman and headphones, 1988

SHSND 2023.00082.00001-.00002

The Sony Walkman is synonymous with the 1990s. We recently received this cool kid device from Susan Nissen, who bought hers in summer 1988 either at Best Buy in Moorhead, Minnesota, or Radio Shack in Fargo when she was a second-year medical student at the University of North Dakota. She used it through the bulk of the ’90s.

According to the donor, “I felt very ‘swank’ to have such a ‘vogue’ device. It would easily all fit into my backpack once I arrived to class. I mean, this was the first I could walk around outside and listen to music from cassette tapes! This was so beyond an old transistor radio or large boombox.”

Have something rad, excellent, bodacious, etc., (yes, I know, my knowledge of ’90s slang is really getting stretched thin here) that you’d like to donate to the State Historical Society museum collection? Give us a shout via our online donation questionnaire!

Happy Independence Day! Did you know North Dakota’s history is specially linked to this holiday? On July 4, 1889, the men who assembled the original draft of our state’s constitution that established all our state’s laws met in Bismarck for the Constitutional Convention. There were 75 delegates who worked on the document, and it was handwritten in sections by several different clerks. Other members elected from outside the committee to work included a chaplain, a chief clerk, a sergeant at arms, and a watchman. The work was completed Aug. 17, 1889. Some—though not all—delegates signed it. The constitution was approved by voters Oct. 1, which is noted on North Dakota’s state seal. On Nov. 2, President Benjamin Harrison signed this state into being. The Fourth of July in 1889 must have been one of special excitement—it led to North Dakota being part of the United States!

So, to celebrate, and without further ado—here are four more interesting things about North Dakota’s Constitutional Convention.

1. North Dakota wasn’t alone. Washington, Montana, and, of course, South Dakota all met simultaneously to set up a constitution prior to receiving statehood. All were reported on with interest, and the different conventions even wired greetings to each other.
   
   Becoming a state was heavily politicized, especially in how it was perceived that each new state may add to the political arena. Legislation monitored this process. President Grover Cleveland had signed the Omnibus Bill allowing these four areas to become states and outlined the means for meeting in convention, but earlier drafts did not even fully establish if Dakota Territory would enter as one large state or be separated. It also originally included New Mexico on the docket.
   
   The Disney movie “The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band” also displays this history as the backdrop to its plot, following an early pioneer family of divided political leanings which moves to “Dakota” around the time of these events. Along with some incredibly catchy tunes about both Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison, it’s a trip to watch—and it was used as research for part of the state’s centennial celebration!
    
2. There was a parade. Not too surprisingly, there were people gathering to work and people excited to see what was going on, and there was pomp and circumstance. Delegates joined a procession to the Capitol building down Main Street, nearly a mile in length, according to reports. This parade consisted of infantry and cavalry from Fort Yates and Fort Lincoln, two bands, a company of militia, the Grand Army of the Republic post, fire companies, and a group of “ladies on horseback” who represented the four new states being formed. Sitting Bull was also there and participated in the parade.
   
    
   SHSND E0621-00001
    
3. They took a few breaks. The delegates met over a calendar period of 45 days but didn’t work on the constitution more than about 32, and several times, a few days were taken off. A couple times, requests for a brief adjournment were requested, but not accepted. Once, a break was requested so farmers could be permitted to see to their farms. This request was first denied but was then contested.
    
4. The delegates setting up the constitution kind of forgot the politics. In the original draft of the North Dakota State Constitution, delegates did not fully create the process of voting for the United States president. So the state called its first special session in 1892 to correct this, just prior to the first presidential election that North Dakota voters would be able to participate in. At that time, it was set up so that voters chose their three electors directly. Ironically, North Dakota evenly split its vote. Each of the three electors voted for a different candidate: one for the Populist, one for the Democratic, and one for the Republican. As far as I am aware, this was the only time that has ever happened in a presidential vote!

Interested in more history about this? Check out the constitution, view this photo of the members of the original Constitutional Convention, and see the reunion photo of the remaining members in 1914.

The education team at the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum is working to develop a fur trade program similar to the “Red River Rendezvous” interpretive program created at the Pembina State Museum. The Pembina program uses a pair of muskets that a former site supervisor at the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center manufactured. He hand-carved a model and formed several silicone molds, which he tested before pouring the resin to create the rifles for Pembina.

I paint tiny, nerdy things. One of the side effects of this hobby is that people often mistakenly think that because I paint little plastic figures I can paint larger things as well. During my 12 years of painting, I have learned a lot of tips and tricks, but these do not always translate to larger items. Nevertheless, I volunteered to take on the task of fixing up and painting a couple of miscast test models for the ND Heritage Center program, which was a worthy challenge.

The rifles were so long I could not use my regular painting table and had to prepare a special workspace for this project.

The problems with these rifles arose from the molding process. Mold lines are a common feature of any molded item. These lines are a byproduct of the casting process. As the two halves of the mold come together, gaps or misalignments can cause lines to form at the halfway mark. Besides the mold lines, air bubbles in the resin had caused pockets and holes. I needed to trim the tip of the rifle barrel as one half-circle section was longer than the other. Oh, and one of the rifle’s sights was missing.

Mold lines running down the middle of the rifle’s barrel. The gun was also missing the sight and had many scuff marks.

Here, air bubbles in the resin rose to the surface and left holes during the casting process.

To fix these issues, I started with an Exacto knife and trimmed the barrel to make it even. I also scraped away mold lines to make the join line as smooth as possible. Unfortunately, I could not completely eliminate the mold lines without potentially damaging the desired shape of the rifles. I would try fixing these in the painting process using an acrylic resin. I had to turn to a different tool and skill set to address the air bubbles and missing sight.

In the world of miniatures, there is a substance called “green stuff.” Its actual name is Kneadatite. Green stuff has two parts—a yellow filler and a blue hardener. Mixing the two parts produces a sticky green modeling putty with unique properties often used for filling gaps in miniatures. Before 3D sculpting with computer programs like Blender or ZBrush became common in manufacturing miniatures, green stuff was the medium of choice for skilled artisans to sculpt original miniatures. While most of my green stuff work was filling holes, several areas required a bit of sculpting, such as the missing sight. With most of the problem areas fixed, it was time to prime and paint. A quick spray of brown primer got these rifles ready for my brushes.

Kneadatite before being mixed.

A fresh batch of green stuff ready to fill air holes and fix other imperfections in the rifles.

Using a silicone sculpting tool, I smoothed the green stuff into place, so it looks like it always belonged.

A close-up as I push green stuff into the same holes as above.

Lovely spring weather allowed for outdoor priming.

My biggest challenge when painting large items is making them look real when viewed up close. I have tricks for painting 28 mm scale wood grain, but those don’t work on life-size models. One of the education team’s first decisions was that we did not want to make the rifles look too real. This program might travel to schools, and we wouldn’t want to cause alarm. It is also one of the reasons we did not include the trigger and firing mechanism on the finished product. These were also the parts most likely to break, according to the staff at Pembina.

The paint process for the metal was pretty simple. I applied a base coat of silver followed by a technique called shaded metallics, which you can read all about in a past blog post about painting patina. This gave me a nice worn metal look. I followed a similar process for the brass. Trying to find the right color for the wood on the rifle took some thought and looking at lots of reference images. In the end I found a medium brown color from Vallejo Acrylic Paints that worked for a base coat on the main body of the rifle. I added a few other colors to create wood variations on other parts of the rifle. Then I ran into a problem. In my original plan, I wanted to use a brown ink to help shade in the wood’s nooks, crannies, and crevices. After completing one side, I could tell I had made a terrible mistake on the first gun.

The rifle on the left has had the shaded metallics treatment applied; the one on the right shows what the metal looked like beforehand.

I used a thinner coat of brass on top of the darker metallic undercoat to make it look worn.

In my years of painting, I have taught several individuals how to paint miniatures. One of the first things I always tell them is that most painting involves fixing your mistakes. You will mess up at some point, but everything is fixable. For this project, all I had to do was repaint the wood color and fix where the ink had dripped down and across my completed gun barrel in a couple of spots. The only thing lost was the time spent redoing those sections.

The next problem I needed to overcome was the butts of the rifles. The rifles at Pembina State Museum either had another piece that we made to cover the gun butts or were finished to look that way. After pondering the issue for several weeks, I found examples of trade guns with the stock wrapped in leather. At first that seemed easy enough to pull off, and I even went out and bought supplies. But I soon realized that I was out of my depth. A quick phone call later, I recruited the best seamstress I knew to help me. And all it cost me was bringing one of the grandkids along.

This decision proved one of my best. With my mom’s help, we created a pattern and cover. She also had a much better selection of leather pieces than I could find at the store. So we were able to come up with something we both thought worked well.

With the help of reference photos and the sewing expertise of my mom, we were able to cover the gun butts with faux leather.

My son, Calvin, takes a break from playing with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from my childhood to help me try some weathering on a spare piece of leather.

With the covers completed, I only had one step left. I needed to add the classic trade gun decoration of brass tacks. The tacks were cast separately for the original program rifles and later glued into place. I admit it was probably the fastest way to complete this task, but casting resin is not a skill I have learned—yet. I went with what I knew and used real tacks. With a pin vise tool, I drilled small holes into the rifle. I tried to match patterns I had seen in different reference photos. A small problem arose with my tacks being longer than I could drill into the rifle, so I snipped the ends. After a drop of glue to secure each tack, I could finally call this project done.

A pin vise is used to drill holes into the rifle.

Overall, this was a fun challenge. Plus, it is always great to help with any project that improves the offerings of the State Historical Society of North Dakota. I estimate I spent close to 20 hours on this project. All of it was worth it. These rifles will be used in Medora at the Chateau de Morès State Historic Site as part of an August teacher workshop that we are presenting on trade and transportation. Be sure to sign up if you are a teacher and want to see these rifles in person.

My completed masterpieces with brass tacks in place.

One day while I was working at the State Archives, a patron approached the reference desk and asked me why Little Egypt Park, located in Williams County, was called Little Egypt? The person was interested in finding out why and how the park ended up with that name. I was intrigued myself, as I couldn’t think of any historical or geographical reasoning behind the name and set to work searching through various resources at the State Archives. This is what I found.

Little Egypt Park, located 30 miles south of Ray on Lake Sakakawea, features picnic areas, camping, and direct access to the lake so visitors can boat, fish, and swim at the park as well. In the late 1980s, plans were made to improve the park by creating a swimming area and bathhouse as well as upgraded picnic shelters and camping areas. And that’s all I was able to find. I looked through the State Archives resources I knew of, including “The Wonders of Williams: A History of Williams County, North Dakota,” local newspapers, and collections relating to parks and the creation of the parks, with no luck. This was odd, since it is common to find information about a park’s origins or name significance in our collections. Feeling stumped and not sure where else to search, I asked other State Archives staff members if they had any ideas, perhaps they had researched Little Egypt Park in the past. Shane Molander, the state archivist, reached out to State Historical Board member Richard Stenberg, an associate professor in the Arts and Human Sciences Department at Williston State College, with my question and provided me with the first lead I had so far: The old-timers in Williams County would say that the land had good soil or dirt. But what was the connection?

The sprawling Little Egypt Park on the shores of Lake Sakakawea. Courtesy Williams County

This research got me thinking about how and why place names were chosen during European immigration and settlement in the Midwest and Western states. The capital city of Bismarck is famously named in honor of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. A settlement in Traill County was given the name Little Chicago, and later in Dunseith, Little Chicago of the West was formed in the hopes that it would soon rival the city in Illinois. Towns across the Midwest were named Little Norway or Little Sweden by Norwegian or Swedish immigrants. So what inspired the people of Williams County to choose Little Egypt as their new park’s name? Continuing my search, I started looking for places named Little Egypt outside of North Dakota to see if any other information could be gathered about this interesting place name.

I came across this advertisement during my search for Little Egypt place names. The Devils Lake World, October 4, 1922, p. 15

Southern Illinois is nicknamed “Little Egypt,” with several towns in the southern half of the state named after Egyptian cities. This nickname was inspired by comparisons of the geographic features of the Mississippi River and flood plains of southern Illinois to the fertile Nile Valley in Egypt. Poor harvests in the northern regions of the state also contributed to this nickname, as the land in southern Illinois provided food relief to the struggling north during the winter of 1830-31.

Suddenly the dots began to connect. The “good dirt” that the old timers in Williams County thought the name came from could have been an allusion to the fertile soil found in that region of the county or to the fertile soil they hoped the region would have. The name also evokes the feeling of a prosperous community, like the settlers in Little Chicago would have wanted. Or perhaps people from southern Illinois settled in Williams County and chose to name the park after their home in Illinois. One single answer may not exist with multiple inspirations possible. But as it doesn’t appear the reason for the name was recorded, my quest continues.

The State Historical Society of North Dakota has over 14 million artifacts in its museum, archives, and archaeology collections. That’s a lot! To showcase more of these, we’ve started a new video series called “Our Heritage.” Each month’s video features artifacts related to a prominent North Dakotan, historical topic, or related theme and are presented by a member of our staff who’s an expert on or has a passion for the subject.

Our first video, which premiered in January, focused on Fannie Dunn Quain, North Dakota’s first licensed female physician. Sarah Walker, head of reference services in the State Archives, pulled the Fannie Dunn Quain papers from the collections to discuss and show who this trailblazer was.

Next up was a two-part video with Security Supervisor David Schlecht highlighting some of the firearms in the museum gun vault. This represented just a small sampling of the more than 500 firearms in our gun vault. We feel very lucky to have a Smith & Wesson Model 320 Revolving Rifle with a 20-inch barrel since only about 244 of these were ever made.

April’s video was very timely and my personal favorite so far as I had no idea at least three passengers on the RMS Titanic had ties to North Dakota. Here, Head of Reference Services Sarah Walker tells the stories of Ole Ableseth, Herbert and Carrie Chaffee, and Johannes Nysveen. An audio clip from Ole Ableseth talking about his experience on the Titanic will be sure to pull at your heartstrings.

Our newest video, scheduled to be published May 21, features Captain Joseph Enright, the officer credited with sinking the largest warship by a U.S. submarine. Learn more about Enright from State Historical Society Director Bill Peterson and see some of the pins he received for his service in the U.S. Navy.

We really enjoy making these videos and hope you enjoy watching them and learning more about our collections. See the videos at youtube.com/user/SHSND. We won’t tell you what videos are planned for the next few months, but we will say one will be with multiple people from different departments within the agency discussing artifacts related to the chosen topic. It will be a great collaboration!

Screenshot of OCLC WorldShare, which is one way a library can submit a request received from a researcher for microfilm holdings at the State Archives.

Spring has descended on the Bismarck area after a relatively calm winter for us, and with summer’s approach our busy research season is about to come to the State Archives. While we have patrons throughout the year, we tend to get more visitation in the summer months with folks coming to tackle their family history projects or researchers working on that next book or article on a given topic. While most of our collections are only accessible in person in the reading room, interlibrary loans do provide access to many microfilm resources from afar.

Some may be familiar with these services from their local libraries, whether public or affiliated with a college or university. Such loans allow staff to request material the library does not have in its collection from another library, which then loans it to the requesting library to allow the patron access to it for a specified period. With lending libraries, whose materials typically are meant to circulate, such loans are a routine service. At the State Archives, our material is usually not meant to circulate, but some of our researchers are not able to easily come to Bismarck to research in person. If they need access to North Dakota newspaper resources beyond a search for a specific obituary or other article, this is where interlibrary loans come in.

Our microfilmed newspapers are a popular resource for researchers on a variety of topics and projects. While our digital offerings of newspapers are expanding as resources allow on sites such as Chronicling America and Advantage Archives, many newspapers are not yet digitized, so microfilm is the way to access these.

How does one submit an interlibrary loan request? Contact the appropriate staff at your nearest local library (public, college, or university) that has a microfilm reader available and is willing to facilitate the loan. They submit the request to us, and we either fulfill it by sending the microfilm in the mail or let them know we are unable to fill it at this time. The loan period is 30 days and can be renewed for an additional 30 days unless there is a need for the film to be returned, in which case we would notify the library. We do charge a fee of $4 per roll to libraries in the United States to cover postage and other costs associated with the service. Library staff can submit requests via OCLC WorldShare, which is an online portal many libraries use to submit ILL requests, or they can email us the request directly to archives@nd.gov. We also loan to Canadian libraries, though this incurs an $8 charge per roll because of the increased costs involved.

Some restrictions to this service exist. We loan a maximum of five rolls at a time to a patron. The rolls must stay within the requesting library facility. Also, not all our microfilm rolls can be loaned, but we do let researchers know when they reach out to us regarding a particular resource. And we are unable to loan outside the United States and Canada.

All interlibrary loan requests we receive at the State Archives are logged into Re:discovery as well.

So if you can’t make it to Bismarck, consider giving interlibrary loan a try. We have sent dozens of rolls to libraries across the country and to Canada, averaging 75 loan requests per year. We are happy to help libraries and work with them in providing this service to access one of our more widely used resources. Newspapers are a great window into our past, and you can access most of ours via your local library if needed. Give it a try!