Articles and notes on the early history of Pierce County, Wis., some written by Paul B. Bjerkeng, some by unidentified authors; accompanied by papers relating to the Pierce County Historical Society, photographs, clippings (all in SC 8); and additional articles, several letters in Norwegian, a speech by Marion Neprud, and letters to the editor, 1941-1942, by Bjerkeng (all in SC 85).
Papers relating to the estate of River Falls, Wisconsin, businessman P. W. Ramer; including his will, legal documents, and correspondence between his descendants.
Essay by Christensen, a descendant of settlers in Nasonville, Wis., describing living conditions, farming, lumbering, and Indians, and including biographical sketches of some of the early settlers.
Brief history, 1910-1945, of the Osceola, Wisconsin, club, describing activities and accomplishments; and a 1945 memorandum, "Plans for Post War Travel," with advice to club members on how to travel cross country in post-war America.
Papers of Osborn Strahl, a Clifton, Pierce County, Wisconsin, lumberman, consisting mainly of family correspondence (1860-1909), containing information on Strahl and MacDonald family genealogy. Included are letters which describe agricultural life in the Los Angeles area in 1892, early twentieth-century life in the state of Washington, the Seattle harbor, and the Oregon and Washington Indian wars. There is also material relating to school experiences of the Strahl family, including essays, speeches, and class notes (circa 1845-1858); three land certificates (1854-1855); and reminiscences by Strahl of Pierce County settlers.
Photocopy of an unfinished manuscript by Helweg, handwritten and in Danish, with the translated title "Manuscript on the Establishment of the Danish Settlement of West Denmark, Polk County, Wisconsin, U.S.A." West Denmark was on the west shore of Little Butternut Lake in Luck Township. The manuscript is bound, and was not finished due to Pastor Helweg's death.
Opera Hotel register (1887-1901, 1941) includes names, addresses (generally limited to city if any), date/time, rooms rented, and a notes field. Since many of the guests were in the entertainment industry, many entries include creatively devised advertisements for the performances or other additional information on the group and type of entertainment provided. A note, dated 1941, appears to have been added by a later owner of the register. According to the River Falls Journal, the register was in the possession of W. A. Freeman when the fire that burned the building formerly housing the Opera Hotel, burned in 1921.
Scrapbook of news clippings concerning Halls, Pierce County, Wis., sheriff, and his leadership of the successful efforts to close the saloons and the brothel located on the island between Pierce County and Red Wing, Minnesota.
Minutes of stockholders' and board of directors' meetings and a list of the original stockholders. The hospital, renamed the Holmes Sanitarium in 1892, was founded in 1887 by Dr. Irving D. Wiltrout. The original corporation was dissolved in 1894.
A photocopied typewritten description of the conditions at Andersonville Prison, written by a son of Ole Steensland (1843?-1905?), 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, a prisoner there from 1863 to 1865.
Reminiscences of Myran, a Wisconsin farmer, in which he describes his father's immigration from Norway in 1841, settlement in Sand Creek, Dunn County, Wisconsin, in 1865, and subsequent events in the area.
Records of Old Academy Girls, a social club whose members had attended the River Falls Academy, River Falls, Wisconsin, between 1856 and 1878. Included is an account of the club's founding, minutes, membership lists, and newspaper accounts of club events.
Treasurer's journal record of receipts and disbursements showing date, source or payee, purpose and order number, and amount received or disbursed. Also contains minutes of annual meeting in 1865.
Bulletins and broadsides, April-May, 1972, concerning a student strike of classes and other anti-Vietnam War activities on the University of Wisconsin-River Falls campus, including several items produced by the Oak Street Eagles.
[1] School District Record (1925-1942) includes minutes of annual meetings, school board proceedings, financial records, school censuses, treasurers bonds, and teachers' contracts; [2] Clerk's Papers (1909-1941) includes correspondence, annual reports, teachers' contracts and reports, treasurer's bonds, and school censuses; and [3] School Registers (1933-1941) showing pupils' names and attendance records, daily programs, visitors' record, and state reading circle record.
[1] School District Records (1925-1958) containing minutes of school board meetings, register of school officers, accounts of receipts and expenditures, teachers' contracts, treasurers' bonds, and school tax certificates; [2] Clerk's Papers (1941-1958) including school censuses, annual reports of clerks and teachers, official bonds, and other miscellaneous papers and forms; [3] Treasurer's Book (1952-1958) showing receipts and disbursements; and [4] School Registers (1935-1953) containing each pupil's name, standing, and attendance record, daily programs, visitors record, and state reading circle record.
Copy of a letter, March 29, 1862, written by Dieffenbach from Fort Scott, Kansas, to John W. Barrett (1837-1907) describing his past military service and experiences and giving his views on slavery.
"NSP Environmental Monitoring and Ecological Studies Program, 1971 Annual Report for the Allen S. King Generating Plant, Oak Park Heights, Minnesota," a plant whose construction was opposed by many because of its potential for ecological and recreational damage to the St. Croix River; plus a covering letter with attachments.
Field cards compiled by the assessor for appraisal of residential property, showing the assessed value of the land and dwelling. Each card includes the land description, name and address of owners and tenants, and detailed structural information about the dwelling, improvements and attachments such as style, age, living areas, heating system, construction material, and condition. Also includes penciled diagrams showing block boundaries, lot dimensions, and location. Some cards have photos attached. ?b The series includes a small folder of cards for commercial and industrial properties, a 1988 zoning map, a 1991 sub-division map (number within subdivision is lot number), and a 2005 key map which acts as index to the cards.
"Sketches of My Life and My Origin ..." by Hamilton, a pioneer settler in Bowman County, North Dakota, and a cattleman there; plus biographical sketches of Andrew Rosander and Fred Hanson, residents of the same area.
A memoir by Norman Foss of River Falls, Wis. about his military service during World War II. The memoir begins with his enlistment and training as an aerial gunner in the Army Air Corps, and includes descriptions of flying decoy missions over France with the 95th Bombardment Group. Foss' flying career ended after only three missions due to a medical problem. After spending time recuperating in England, where he became close friends with an English family and played on the Red Cross golf team, he was transferred to Co. I of the 345th Infantry and was sent to the continent soon after the Battle of the Bulge. He describes being sent to do guard duty at Buchenwald concentration camp. The memoir also describes his discharge and return to River Falls, and includes copies of memorabilia and photographs.
Brief undated recollection by Norah Halverson Howe, Evanston, Illinois, of her experiences as a student at River Falls Normal School in the class of 1916.
Transcripts of oral history interviews conducted in 1973 for the Fridlay Memorial Library with several New Richmond, Wisconsinarea residents including C.S. Arnquist, John Boor, Esther Cox, Lillian Drake, Dr. O. Hoyt Epley, Mrs. Carleton A. Friday, Wilson Greaton, Dr. W.W. Irle, Joye Johnson, Belle Lundy, Margaret McNamara, Catherine McNamara, Grace and Al Shern, and Henning Soderberg.
Typed copy of Fuller's Civil War diary, describing his service with the 30th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry in railroad demolition and prison and patrol duty in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Papers of Nels Jenson (born Niels Johan Jenssen) including two journals, 1874-1887, 1890 (in Norwegian with an English translation, and a corrected translation), detailing his boyhood in Norway, his immigration to the United States, and settling in Hudson, Wis., in 1888; correspondence, 1919-1934, n.d., including letters from his son Olaf in Whitefish, Montana; and writings by Jenson.
Recollections and family history written about 1969 by Nellie Grant Skidmore, Balsam Lake, Wisconsin, recalling events from her youth in Pierce County, Wisconsin (in River Falls SC 150); and a manuscript entitled "And the Scent of Roses," 1973, by Skidmore containing the reminiscences of the P. J. Grant family of El Paso, Pierce County, Wis. Also included are brief histories of the Pierce County communities of Waverly and Olivet.
Minutes of the Ono Grange. Ono, an unincorporated village in Pierce County, is also sometimes referred to as Grange Hall. The processed portion of this collection is summarized above and dates 1881-1888. Additional accessions dating 1925-1931 are described below. Additions, 1925-1931, consisting of a minutes/record book as well as scattered correspondence and resolutions.
My Early Memories, a reminiscence by Younggren of her youth on a farm near River Falls, Wisconsin, and her early years teaching school in rural Minnesota, containing much personal information on life in a Swedish immigrant family.
Photocopy of a letter, April 10, 1865, from Tower, Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Alfred J. Riley, Hartford, Connecticut, discussing local reactions to the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army, the draft, and family matters.
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1891-1915, kept by the family of Nelson, Ellsworth, Wisconsin; and printed ephemera, including three teacher's certificates for Pierce County schools, 1895-1896.
Correspondence, mainly concerning Myrta V. Whitney and her teaching experiences at the State Normal Schools at River Falls (1900) and at Platteville (1900-1905) in Wisconsin.
Photocopied letter, May 23, 1970, written by Mrs. L. LeRoy Cowperthwaite, wife of the head of the School of Speech, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, in which she describes events subsequent to the killing of four Kent State students by National Guardsmen during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration.
Typewritten account of life in post-World War II Germany and of the immigration of the Schubert family from Germany to the United States, about 1951, written by Mrs. Ines Schubert in 1961.
Letter, 1968, to Mrs. Timmerman from her mother containing recollections of logging activities in the Ladysmith, Wisconsin, area; including a sketch of a logger and a 1908 postcard showing floating logs.
Reprint of an article by Halvorson on the Ole Halvorson and Amund Amundson families, their 1868 immigration from Christiana, Norway to Blair, Wisconsin, and their pioneer and logging experiences in their new home.
Typewritten reminiscences of River Falls State Teachers College, 1930-1934, written about 1970 by Morris Buske, a former history student who became a writer of high school textbooks.
Papers of the pioneer family of John Shaw Moffat who settled at Hudson, Wis. in 1854 and of his son-in-law Thomas Hughes who joined Moffat in his law practice and business ventures. The collection includes letters of Moffat's father Samuel on New York land speculations, the personal correspondence of his wife Nancy Bennet Moffat, 1863 letters from his daughter Mary while a teacher in St. Croix Falls, Wis., and materials on his father-in-law Phineas Bennet and early steamboat inventions. The bound volumes include the store accounts of John Moffat after he settled in Hudson; the records of his law firm; records of the Hudson Produce Company and its successor, the St. Croix Valley Produce Company; and the accounts of his brother William, who had settled at Jewett, Wisconsin. Genealogical information concerns the Moffat, Hughes, and Ingram families through 1949.
Letters from Ragsdale, a captain during the Civil War, probably with a South Carolina regiment, and a member of the Texas House of Representatives in the 1880's; plus two letters, 1863-64, from his nephew, Joseph S. Ragsdale, Jr., Co. F, 54th Regiment North Carolina Volunteers; all written to Michael's wife.
