October is Archives Month, when archives across the country celebrate their records and recognize the archivists who assess, collect, preserve, and provide access to information of lasting value. The North Dakota State Archives is part of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
The State Archives houses a collection of papers compiled by local WPA workers during the 1930s. These include interviews and gathered information about people, places, and more across North Dakota.
One part of this series documents the histories of cities, townships, and counties. In addition to general sketches, lists of people, clubs, churches, and buildings, some of these histories are told through interviews and biographies.
For example, Fred Martin, born in 1877 in Canada, moved to Hope in Steele County in 1894. He started out working in a hardware and implement store. By the 1930s, he and his wife owned two residences, a drugstore, a cafe, a cream station, a grocery store, a post office building, various acres, and a shed once owned by the E. W. Hansen Lumber Company.
Other pieces of history came from newspaper articles. One example from the Hope Pioneer in 1883 was retyped for the archives. It included a reprint from the Mayville Eagle accusing Hope of sending 75 armed men to intimidate voters during a county seat election.
The Eagle claimed, was it not to intimidate or bulldoze the voters of that township to vote for Hillsboro? You can't bulldoze Western Trail. The Hope Pioneer responded, there were no 75 armed men sent from Hope, but there were citizens of Trail County who traveled 18 miles to vote and were refused. Only after it was clear they wouldn't be intimidated did one of the judges back down and they exercised their right as American citizens.
These records reflect what could be gathered at the time and offer a unique window into the memories and experiences of early North Dakotans.
Dakota Datebook by Sarah Walker
