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12/27/2007: On this date in 1956, North Dakotans learned, from their local newspapers, they were supposed to be watching television ads more closely – but not so they’d buy things; they were supposed to partner with an investigative unit newly created by the Federal Trade Commission.

12/30/2007: White buffalo have always been a point of curiosity and interest.

12/31/2007: Thirty-nine years ago today, North Dakotans faced the same holiday issues they do today. People may have complained then and now that there’s nothing to do in Bismarck. Where to go, what to do, and how to measure worth is as important as it ever was. So how do you measure a North Dakotan New Year’s?

1/7/2008: North Dakota State University is today an integral part of the city of Fargo. Yet that was not always the case. It was this month, January of 1889 that marked the beginning of a pitched battle between Valley City and Fargo over the location of the agricultural college, which later evolved into NDSU. Valley City won the first skirmish when the Territorial legislature passed a bill granting them the school. However, Fargo’s citizens refused to give up.

1/9/2008: It’s the fantastic that sells. In 1907 and 1908, Ward County newspapers reported on a mess of such tales—some tall, some so strange they must have happened.

1/30/2008: On this date in 1976, the USS Gurke was decommissioned as a warship after nearly thirty years of service in the United States Navy.

1/31/2008: Farmer, settler, hunter, voyageur and founding father of many cities, Pierre Bottineau was born this month in 1817, 12 miles west of present day Grand Forks. Pierre Bottineau was born to French-Canadian Charles Bottineau and his Native American wife, Margaret Ahdik Songab. Pierre’s parental lineage made him an outsider in both white and American Indian communities; which makes his successes all the more remarkable.

2/1/2008: On this date in 1940, for the first time since 1899, the Post Office of Fayette in Dunn County had a new postmaster.

2/2/2008: Six months after the creation of the City of Lincoln in Burleigh County, city meetings were far from formal. On this date in 1978, Councilman Phil Nelson was nice enough to loan the use of his garage for the evening and a folding metal table was used for members to sit at, the favorite seat being near the wood-burning stove in the corner of the room.

2/5/2008: Alexander Hay was a different sort of guy.