The Norby Collection documents the history, development, and daily life of Brookings, South Dakota, and Brookings County, with limited coverage of South Dakota more broadly, from the late nineteenth century through the early twenty first century. Assembled by George and Evelyn Norby, the collection is organized into multiple series reflecting their sustained efforts to collect, compile, and preserve local historical documentation.

The collection includes extensive runs of the Brookings Register newspaper, providing long term coverage of local news, community events, politics, agriculture, business, and social life. Complementing the newspapers are compiled data files created by the Norbys that aggregate information drawn from newspapers and other local sources. These compiled records document city and county officials, elections, businesses, streets and addresses, homes and housing, churches, public services, cemeteries, schools, South Dakota State University buildings, and other aspects of municipal and community history.

Topical subject files form a substantial portion of the collection and include materials related to Brookings city and county government, organizations, churches, businesses, historic districts, education, South Dakota State University, named individuals, military service, railroads, public safety, cemeteries, and statewide topics. These files consist of clippings, publications, ephemera, maps, directories, reports, and reference materials and reflect both official activity and community life. Researchers are advised to consult both city and county subject groupings, as related material may appear in either.

The collection also includes a large body of directories, primarily telephone directories serving Brookings and surrounding rural areas, along with city directories, farm directories, regional directories, and campus directories for South Dakota State University. These directories document residents, businesses, institutions, and service areas over time. Ephemera within the collection includes business cards, envelopes, signs, calendars, bumper stickers, postcards, ribbons and badges, matchbooks, tokens, framed images, and other transient printed materials associated with local commerce, events, and organizations.

Materials related to the Norbys themselves document the acquisition, housing, processing, and public presentation of the collection, including South Dakota State University Archives records, Images of the Past program materials, and limited personal correspondence, photographs, and household items. Together, the series span approximately 1871 to 2006, with some undated material, and are arranged by series and subject to reflect the structure of the Norbys’ collecting activities.

The Norby Newspapers collection consists primarily of issues of the Brookings Register collected and preserved by George and Evelyn Norby. The newspapers span the years 1879 to 2003, with substantial annual coverage from 1890 through 2003. Early volumes are generally arranged by individual year, while later volumes and supplemental groupings include multi year spans and partial runs. The collection documents local, regional, and state news, including community events, agricultural developments, political activities, business growth, social organizations, and daily life in Brookings and surrounding areas. In addition to the Brookings Register, the collection includes a series of miscellaneous newspaper issues that supplement gaps or represent related local and regional publications. Materials are arranged chronologically by title and year within the Norby Newspapers series.

The Norby Newspapers collection provides a comprehensive and long term record of community life in Brookings, South Dakota, and eastern South Dakota from the late nineteenth century through the early twenty first century. The breadth and continuity of the Brookings Register holdings support research in local history, genealogy, journalism, agriculture, politics, and social change. Preserved through the sustained collecting efforts of George and Evelyn Norby, the collection represents a significant privately assembled archive that enhances institutional newspaper holdings and preserves fragile print materials that document over a century of regional history.