Records MA 017 - South Dakota Humanities Council Records

48.0 linear feet [48 records boxes] 101 black-and-white photographs. 659 black-and-white, negatives, 197 color photographs, 166 color negatives, 2386 color slides, 45 Films, 20 video cassettes, 4 filmstrips, 37 audio reels, 16 audiocassettes, 1 CD-R

The South Dakota Humanities Council Records document the administrative, financial, and programmatic history of the organization from its founding as the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities through the early twenty-first century. The records illustrate the Council’s mission to promote public engagement with the humanities, support community-based programs, and manage federally funded initiatives in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Materials include administrative correspondence, meeting files, financial records, grant proposals, publications, program documentation, and audiovisual materials. Correspondence features communications with Council members, partner institutions, public officials—including Governors George S. Mickelson and William J. Janklow—and representatives of the NEH. Meeting records document the activities of the Council, Executive Committee, Membership Committee, and Program Committee, with sessions held across the state in cities such as Pierre, Sioux Falls, Chamberlain, Mitchell, Rapid City, and Aberdeen.

Financial records form a substantial portion of the collection and include audits, ledgers, balance sheets, vouchers, receipts, and statements of receipts and disbursements. These materials document the Council’s fiscal management, including re-grant activity, Reading Series and Resource Center expenditures, and accounting for the affiliated South Dakota Humanities Foundation. Audit reports and NEH compliance plans demonstrate adherence to federal and state grant requirements.

Grant and project files comprise a major component of the collection, containing proposals, applications, reports, correspondence, fiscal records, and publicity materials. Topics represented include Native American language and cultural preservation, South Dakota history, literature, women’s studies, rural depopulation, arts, and media. Projects include “Lakota Language Project,” “Lost Bird of Wounded Knee,” “Living Roots of Music,” “Oscar Micheaux Film Festival,” “Barn Again!,” “Choices for the 21st Century,” “Vietnam War: A Season of Remembrance,” “Yesterday’s Tomorrows,” “Staking a Claim: The People, Places, and Stories of Mining in the Black Hills,” and “Text, Discourse, Grammar: A Summer Institute for Lakota Language Teachers.”

Program files document the Speakers Bureau, Reading Series, Chautauqua, and other statewide initiatives. These include funded and rejected proposals, correspondence, scholar and coordinator packets, study guides, evaluation forms, and promotional materials illustrating the Council’s efforts to expand public access to the humanities. Later program records include files for Prime Time Family Reading, Key Ingredients, Farm and Ranch Stories, Between Fences, We the People, One Book South Dakota, The Big Read, and the South Dakota Festival of Books. Publications such as The Human Adventure, What’s Up, Perspectives on South Dakota, Report to the People, and the South Dakota Humanities Council Newsletter document Council outreach, publicity, and communication with the public.

The collection also includes audiovisual and photographic materials depicting Council programs, community events, and participants from approximately 1980 through 2005. These visual records provide evidence of public engagement through lectures, exhibits, and cultural festivals sponsored by the Council.

This collection offers a comprehensive record of the South Dakota Humanities Council’s growth from a state committee to a central public humanities organization. It reflects the Council’s collaboration with the National Endowment for the Humanities, its role in administering grant funds, and its leadership in advancing humanities programming throughout South Dakota. The materials document the Council’s influence in promoting cultural preservation, education, and civic dialogue, particularly within rural and Native American communities, and serve as an essential resource for studying the development and impact

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Silver anniversary anthology: twenty-five years of the South Dakota Humanities Council 1972-1997, Thomas J. Gasque, The Council, 1997. ARCHIVES: PS548.S8 S54 1997

South Dakota Humanities Council website

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