Mystic Memories

Thanks to the work of Carolyn Twingley, Serials/ILL/Archives Librarian, and Johanna Bjork, Reference Librarian, we have a new addition to the Mystic Memories collection — Dr. Walter Swensen’s scrapbook.

Dr. Walter J. Swensen served as the first chief administrator at Bismarck Junior College from 1939-1948.  During that time, he kept a scrapbook of photos, clippings, student and faculty rosters, as well as some budget items.  Dr. Swensen earned his BA from Luther College and his MA and PhD degrees from the University of North Dakota.  He died in 1956 at the age of 59.

Dr. Swensen’s scrapbook was presented to the college by his daughter, Norma Groethe, in August 2010 and is housed in the BSC Library Archives.  Because the original scrapbook is fragile and needs to be handled as little as possible, we decided to digitize the scrapbook as a means of making it available to users.

Check it out … online!

Note:  This is a large file; it may take a few minutes for it to open.

Bismarck State College Mystic Memories

Interested in BJC/BSC history?  Visit the BSC Archives in the Collections section of the BSC Library website and click on the link for Bismarck State College Mystic Memories.   While you’re on the Archives pages, click on the Digital Horizons link, too.  Many BJC/BSC digitized historical records are also available on that site.    

A project to digitize materials from the BSC Archives collection housed at the BSC Library is underway.  Using ContentDM software, library staff members are scanning materials to post on BSC’s website.  Digitization projects have become the norm for college archive collections and help provide access to collections that would otherwise only be available for on-site use. 

Through BSC Library’s project, alumni and other interested persons can now readily find yearbooks and other historical materials online.   As the project moves forward, more and more information about Bismarck State College and its history will become available online.   

To date, all of the Bismarck Junior College and Bismarck State College yearbooks (1941-1981) are available online.  The BJC yearbook was originally called The Markota; in 1951, the name was changed to the Jay-Cee-An.  BSC’s last printed yearbook was published in 1981. All of the issues of Figments of Imagination, BSC’S literary magazine, have also been scanned.

Statewide Digitization Grant

Good news!  For the second time, the BSC Library Archives has been selected to participate in the State Historical Society of North Dakota’s Statewide Digitization Grant project.  Carolyn Twingley, Serials/ILL/Archives Librarian, wrote the successful grant application.

Two digital project archivists from SHSND will work with BSC Library Archives staff to select images from the Archives collection, collect descriptive data, and scan them.  The target is to scan 100 images, which can include everything from photographs to letters to pamphlets and other documents.   The records will be uploaded to the Digital Horizons site.  The project should be complete sometime in August.    

The ten institutions selected to participate in the project are: Barnes County Historical Society, Bismarck State College Library Archives, Bowman County Historical and Genealogical Society, Cass County Historical Society, Dickinson State University, Enderlin Historical Society and Museum, Pembina County Historical Society, Richland County Historical Society, and Walsh County Historic Preservation Commission.

BSC Library Archives Receives Statewide Digitization Grant

Excitement abounds!  We recieved word from the State Historical Society of North Dakota that the BSC Library Archives is one of ten institutions to receive a statewide digitization grant.  Carolyn Twingley, Serials/ILL/Archives Librarian, wrote the grant application and will coordinate BSC’s part of the project.

The plan is to scan 100 images (e.g., photographs, letters, pamphlets, and other documents) from each institution, enter descriptive data, and upload the records to the Digital Horizons site.  Work will begin in May and the project should be wrapped up sometime in August 2009.

Currently, images from the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies & University Archives, the State Historical Society of North Dakota, Prairie Public Broadcasting, and Concordia College Archives are available on the Digital Horizons site. 

The institutions whose resources will be added during the current project include:  Barnes County Historical Society, Billings County Historical Society, Bismarck State College Library Archives, Cass County Historical Society, Manfred Heritage Museum, McLean County Historical Society, Mercer County Historical Society, Pembina County Historical Society, Stutsman County Memorial Museum, and Three Affiliated Tribes Museum.