SPRING 2013
VOL.33,NO.1
www.augie.edu/cws
Announcing the CWS Digital Collections
Since 2011, Collections Assistant Liz Thrond and Chair of the CWS Collections
Committee Deb Hagemeier have been engaged in the Center’s Digitization Initiative.
The result of these efforts is the Center forWestern Studies Digital Collections,a free and
continually expanding digital archive of materials from the CWS research collections,
which was officially launched at the 2013 Dakota Conference.
The initial collection to be digitized, the Historic Sioux Falls Slide Collection, features
nearly 3,000 images of Sioux Falls and the surrounding area from the 1860s to the 1970s.
A popular collection, originally assembled by Dr. Gary Olson, Professor Emeritus of
History at Augustana, it has long been used by historians, authors, historic building
preservation enthusiasts,and interior designers to reveal the Sioux Falls of long ago.The
Digital Collections currently include more than 500 images from this collection on such
topics as hospitals, city parks, military scenes,parades, the quarries, the Queen Bee Mill
and other important Sioux Falls industries. An additional 2,350 images from this
collection will be added to the database during the summer of 2013, including large
groupings on such topics as street scenes, private homes, schools, and important
residents.
The Digital Collections are managed and web hosted by PastPerfect-Online, an
extension of the Center's PastPerfect museum software.The web interface allows users
to print copies of watermarked images, e-mail links to family and friends, and send
purchasing inquiries and feedback to staff.To learn more about the Digital Collections
and to access them, visit the CWS web-site.
LizThrond wishes to thank Dr.LorenAmundson who volunteers in the archives and
tirelessly scanned thousands of images to make this project possible.The staff intends
to continue this effort,expanding the digital collections to include artifacts,documents,
and additional photographs from CWS holdings, as conditions allow. If you would like
to help fund this important endeavor, please contact Executive Director Dr. Harry
Thompson.
THECENTERFORWESTERNSTUDIES | AUGUSTANACOLLEGE | FANTLE BUILDING
Major NewExhibits Planned
Under a plan approved by the Board of Directors in April, the Center will develop
a design concept for new“permanent” exhibits in the Fantle Building. “Although the
exhibits that Dean Schueler, Art Huseboe, and I oversaw served us well from the time
the Fantle Building opened in 2001,” remarked Executive Director Harry Thompson,
“they are now twelve years old. The Center needs to begin planning for the redesign
and expansion of these exhibits as a way to attract new audiences.”
The acquisition of the Blue CloudAbbey-American Indian Culture Research Center
Collection will facilitate the replacement of the artifacts currently on display in the
Froiland Plains Indian Gallery. “These items need to rest and regain their natural shape,”
observedThompson.
The Art and Educational Exhibits Program was identified as one of five core areas
under the $1.5 million CWS Endowment Campaign, including $300,000 from a National
Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant. The exhibits project, which will
proceed in three phases, is scheduled to be completed in 2018. In addition to using a
portion of endowment earnings, the Center will need to raise funds specific to the
redesign project.
CWS interns and student assistants (left to
right): Lauren Anderson, Kelsey Goplen,
SethWolles, Rebecca Sunde, and Jasmin
Graves. Not pictured: Sebastian Forbush
and Ksenia Vlasenko.
This writing desk and the Norwegian
genealogy journals it highlights from the
Orrin Volden Collection are newly
displayed in the Fantle Scandinavian
Gallery. Other new exhibits in the Fantle
Building include the wedding of Pearl
Lewison and Edwin Hesby (which
demonstrates the costs of getting married
in Iowa during the Great Depression) and
letters from Congregational missionary
Stephen R. Riggs to his second wife,
Annie.