October is Archives Month, when archives around the country celebrate the records in their holdings and recognize the archivists who assess, collect, organize, 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 North Dakota State Archives houses a collection of papers compiled by local WPA workers through the Federal Writers’ Project during the 1930s. These include a variety of interviews and gathered information about people, places, and more, as they relate to North Dakota. Some are published, while others remain unpublished manuscripts.
One portion of these records documents the history of the range and livestock business in North Dakota. This material was meant to be published in a book containing similar information from western and southwestern states. Directions for compiling the information noted that “the character and scope of the work will necessarily vary from state to state. The history and problems of grazing in Texas, for example, differ considerably from those in Oregon.” In North Dakota, the focus naturally included the Marquis de Mores and other well-known figures in the state’s cattle business.
Although this research was never published, the information gathered and written out remains a valuable resource for researchers. It can be accessed at the North Dakota State Archives, one of several WPA projects that did not make it to print.
Interestingly, in 1937, news correspondent Willis Thornton of Washington, D.C., published a series of articles about the “big business” of the federal government. In one, he discussed how the U.S. government had become involved in publishing through the WPA program. He wrote, “the government’s activities in the publishing field are not confined to mechanical reproduction of words, that is, to creating and producing publications. It is now producing the words, too. By September 1, at least 5,000,000 words, the product of the Federal Writers’ Project, were on their way to publication in about 30 volumes. … When the whole project is carried through there will have been printed more than 250 books containing 20 million federally produced words. … Thus, in the publishing field, too, the government is daily occupying a more impressive position.”
His numbers may not have been entirely accurate, but the Federal Writers’ Project not only provided jobs during the Depression, it also documented important history that might otherwise never have been captured on such a large scale, including here in North Dakota.
Dakota Datebook by Sarah Walker
