Occupation: Legislators; Lawyers
Associated Groups: Democratic Party (U.S.); American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; United States. Congress. House, 19710103-19730103; United States. Congress. Senate, 19730103-19790103
J. M. (John Merton) Aldrich was born on January 28, 1866, in Olmstead County, Minnesota, to Levi O. and Mary Moore Aldrich. He was educated in the county and high schools of Rochester, Minnesota. In 1885, he enrolled at Dakota Agricultural College in Brookings, South Dakota, and became the first student to specialize in zoological sciences. He graduated in 1888, receiving his B.S. degree during the institution’s first formal commencement ceremony.
Following his graduation, Aldrich remained at Dakota Agricultural College as an Assistant in Entomology (1889–1890), then as an Assistant in Zoology (1890–1892), and also assisted the Agricultural Experiment Station Entomologist during this period. He pursued further academic credentials, earning additional B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Kansas, and later, in 1906, a Ph.D. from Stanford University. His doctoral dissertation was his influential Catalog of North American Diptera, which he began while serving as Professor of Zoology at the University of Idaho (1893–1913).
After leaving the University of Idaho in 1913, Aldrich joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture Bureau of Entomology in West Lafayette, Indiana as an Entomological Assistant. In 1918, he was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where he served as Custodian of Diptera and Associate Curator in the Division of Insects. He was the first Dipterist hired at the Smithsonian who had previously served in the USDA.
Aldrich was internationally recognized for his ability to collect rare insect specimens across the western United States, Alaska, and Guatemala. Many of his finds were previously unknown to science. His expertise in North American Diptera positioned the National Museum as a leading research center for New World Diptera. In 1923, he donated his personal collection of over 45,000 insect specimens, representing more than 4,000 taxa, along with a detailed card catalog of North American Diptera literature. This resource became one of the most valuable general Diptera collections in the museum.
He published extensively on entomological subjects and served as President of the Entomological Society of America in 1921. He received numerous accolades during his lifetime. Aldrich passed away in 1934. His legacy endures, notably through the Aldrich Entomology Club, founded in 1961 at the University of Idaho, which continues to promote engagement in insect biology among students, faculty, and the public.
Jane Alexander was born in Brookings, South Dakota, to Ruth Ann and William Alexander. She began her journey of community engagement during her high school years while volunteering at the Brookings Retirement Center. Here she formed a lasting friendship with Neva Harding. This connection inspired her to delve into Neva's life, eventually leading to the expansion of Neva's autobiography.
Jane graduated from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she majored in history. Alongside her studies, she dedicated her time to volunteering as a tutor and aide to children in the Holyoke Schools.
After graduating in 1980, Jane embarked on a career dedicated to helping others. She worked at the Parker Street shelter with unhoused adults in Boston, and later at the Pine Street Inn women’s clinic. It was during her time at the women’s clinic that she, along with her colleague Eileen Reilly, conceptualized the idea of a daytime shelter for women. In 1982, they brought this vision to life, establishing the Women’s Lunch Place in the basement of the Church of the Covenant, with Jane serving as the Executive Director for the next two decades.
Throughout her career, Jane received numerous accolades for her work, including the Mount Holyoke College Mary Lyon Award and the Boston Celtic’s “Heroes Among Us” award. In 2002, she transitioned to roles at Renewal House and East Boston Ecumenical Community, while also volunteering for disaster relief efforts with the Red Cross and providing medical aid in Haiti.
In 2004, Jane married Mark Johnson of Jamaica Plain, and they relocated to New Orleans in 2007. There, she pursued her passion for social work, earning her master’s degree from Tulane School of Social Work. She then served as the Executive Director of Churches United in Moorhead, Minnesota, until 2016, where she pioneered initiatives for permanent housing and winter expansion at the shelter.
Jane returned to Massachusetts, settling in Dracut with her sister Sarah Alexander. There, she devoted herself to caregiving, providing assistance to elderly individuals and their families.
Jane passed away on July 26, 2022, in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Ruth Ann Alexander was born in Lansing, Michigan, on February 13, 1924, to Harry and Anne (Green) Musselman, and died in Brookings, South Dakota, on February 1, 2010. She graduated from East Lansing High School and Michigan State University, earning a B.A. in English in 1945. She later completed a master’s degree in American studies at the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. in American intellectual history at Michigan State University. In 1955, she married William Alexander, with whom she had three children.
Alexander taught English at South Dakota State University for 34 years, rising to the rank of full professor and becoming the first woman to chair the English Department (1981–1989). She introduced the university’s first courses on women writers, as well as African American and Native American literature. She also chaired the committee that established the Women’s Studies major. She received numerous grants and fellowships, including a Bunting Fellowship at Harvard University in 1987, and was recognized three times with SDSU’s Outstanding Educator Award (1971, 1972, 1974). Upon her retirement in 1989, she was named Professor Emeritus and continued to research South Dakota women writers and women in the Episcopal Church.
From 1994 to 2002, Alexander wrote a column for the South Dakota Church News titled All Sorts and Conditions of Women, which was later collected and published in 2003 as Patches in a History Quilt: Episcopal Women in the Diocese of South Dakota, 1868–2000. She also published scholarly articles on South Dakota writers such as Elaine Goodale Eastman and Kate Boyles Bingham. Beyond her scholarship, she participated in the Great Plains Chautauqua series, portraying Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1989–1991) and later serving as series moderator (1998–2001).
An advocate for women and girls, Alexander was the first woman elected to the Brookings School Board (1970–1975), where she promoted equal funding for girls’ and boys’ activities and raised academic standards. In 1972, Governor Richard Kneip appointed her to the first South Dakota Commission on the Status of Women, where she served until 1979. She also served on the Board of Directors of the South Dakota Historical Association (1988–2000), the Episcopal Church History Association (1992–1997), and the Episcopal Women’s Church History Project (1991–1997). She helped establish the Brookings Food Pantry and chaired the Emergency Services Commission from 1983 to 1999.
On February 25, 1924, the South Dakota Chapter of Alpha Zeta at South Dakota State College was officially chartered with 19 founding members, as announced by Harry Potter, General Secretary of Alpha Zeta. This milestone followed an initial inquiry sent by S.D.S.C. President Willis E. Johnson on December 24, 1919. During the application process, the group—consisting of approximately 25 men—was known as the Hopkins Club. After three unsuccessful attempts, the chapter was successfully established under the leadership of S.D.S.C. President C.W. Pugsley, himself a member of Alpha Zeta, along with many other faculty members who were also affiliated with the fraternity.
Alpha Zeta, the oldest fraternal society in agriculture, was founded on November 4, 1897, at Ohio State University. Today, it is a global network of diverse professionals in agriculture and natural resources dedicated to recognizing, developing, and promoting leaders grounded in common values and integrity. The fraternity’s mission is to advance agriculture in its broadest sense, fostering leadership, fellowship, service, and a spirit of love and fraternity among its members.
As of 2016, the South Dakota Chapter of Alpha Zeta remains an honorary fraternity for the top students in the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at South Dakota State University. The chapter actively participates in numerous campus activities, including the Career Fair and Ag Day. Its community engagement includes mentoring youth, visiting nursing homes, fence-mending, and invasive weed eradication at the Girl Scouts’ Camp Wildwood, as well as fundraising for local service projects such as the Harvest Table and the Food Pantry.
Activity V of the Title III Strengthening Institutions Program grant was designed to improve institutional management and enhance student services by fostering increased connectivity and communication within the academic community on campus.
Dr. Alfred Durham, a Kiwanis member, founded the Altrusa Institute in Nashville in 1917 during World War I, recognizing the need for women’s civic organizations. He organized clubs in Nashville, Louisville, and Dayton before meeting Mamie L. Bass in Indianapolis.
Mamie L. Bass, former Superintendent of the Women's Division of the U.S. Employment Services, envisioned a greater purpose for Altrusa. At the first convention in June 1918, Altrusa became a classified service organization for business and professional women, renamed the National Association of Altrusa Clubs. Bass authored the Principles of Altrusa, defining it as “a builder of women,” officially adopted in 1921. By 1922, there were 20 clubs.
Altrusa promoted vocational education for women, later expanding to scholarships and guidance for both young and older women. It became international in 1935 with a club in Mexico and soon expanded to other countries. In 1946, Altrusa sent its first representative to the United Nations.
In 1966, Altrusa founded ASTRA clubs for young women aged 13–21. Literacy became a permanent service focus in 1977, and in 1997, the Altrusa Foundation adopted Camp Safe Haven for children with HIV/AIDS. In 1989, Altrusa added environmental initiatives to its mission.
Today, Altrusa remains a community-based organization dedicated to local service—supporting shelters, youth, literacy, and housing projects. District Seven includes Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The Brookings Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) was founded in 1931 with 37 members under Miss Gertrude Young. Full membership recognition for South Dakota State College (SDSC) graduates came in 1950 after sustained effort.
Early programs included promoting a kindergarten, which the branch ran in the city library basement from 1932 to 1941 before it joined the public school system. During World War II, members supported the war effort through ration distribution, Red Cross work, and material salvage. The branch has consistently contributed to the National Fellowship Fund through events such as bridge benefits, style shows, and sales of maps, books, and calendars.
Scholarships have long been a priority. A junior-year fellowship evolved in 1962 to awards for a high school senior and an incoming SDSC student. Following Miss Young’s death in 1964, these became the Gertrude Young-AAUW Scholarships.
Study groups have grown in importance. By 1954, groups covered child study, money management, international relations, music, and crafts. In 1963–64, the focus shifted to four areas: community problems, cultural interests, education, and world issues. These groups spurred action programs including support for educational television, international book distribution, special education initiatives, and engagement with legislative issues, particularly in education and women’s rights.
The Hoffman-Townsend Post No. 74 of the American Legion was established in Brookings, South Dakota, as a local chapter dedicated to supporting U.S. military veterans and fostering civic engagement. The Post was named in honor of two Brookings servicemen: Orr Hoffman, who died during World War I at Camp Funston, and Edwin Townsend, who died in World War II. Since its founding, Post 74 has played an active role in the Brookings community, sponsoring youth programs, hosting memorial events, and supporting local veterans.
The Post maintains a hall which serves as a venue for public events, fundraisers, and community gatherings. Among its civic contributions, the Post sponsors the Brookings Post 74 Bandits, a Senior American Legion baseball team, and participates in veteran-focused service initiatives and commemorative activities.
Einar Jentoft Anderson was born on June 17, 1897 to J. Martin and Nicoline A. Anderson. In 1918 Einar was in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Ft. Sheidan, Illinois. He attended South Dakota State College after the war. Einar married Ethel Lucille Olson, who was born August 27, 1908. On September 5, 1988, Einar J. Anderson died in Catawba County, North Carolina.
Sigurd Anderson, the 19th governor of South Dakota, was born on January 22, 1904, on an island near Arendal, Norway. His parents, Karl and Bertha Anderson, immigrated to the United States in 1908, settling on a farm southwest of Canton in Lincoln County. Anderson attended Pleasant Ridge School and graduated high school in 1925, the year his family moved near Bancroft in Kingsbury County.
He enrolled at South Dakota State College in 1925, engaging in public speaking, literary, and journalistic activities. After contracting scarlet fever, he took a year off to work as a farmhand and teach in rural schools. In 1928, he transferred to the University of South Dakota, graduating cum laude in 1931. He taught high school history in Rapid City and Webster before returning to USD for law school, earning his degree in 1937. During this time, he married Vivian Walz of Vermillion; they had one daughter, Kristin.
Anderson established a law practice in Webster in 1937 and was twice elected Day County state’s attorney. In 1950, he won the Republican nomination for governor and was elected, setting a record in 1952 as the only South Dakota gubernatorial candidate to receive over 200,000 votes. His administration established the Legislative Research Council and achieved debt-free status for the state for the first time in 40 years.
After two terms, Anderson was appointed to the Federal Trade Commission by President Eisenhower and reappointed in 1958. He resigned in 1964 to return to Webster and run again for governor but lost the Republican primary to Nils Boe, who later appointed him circuit judge, a position he held until 1975.
Anderson received numerous professional and political honors and was active in various organizations. He died on December 21, 1990.
The Army Administration Schools, Enlisted Branch No. 3 at South Dakota State College was established on December 3, 1942. Initially designed to train clerks for general administrative duties in the Air Corps, the school graduated a total of eleven such classes. On May 19, 1943, a classification course was added, focusing primarily on classification subjects with some administrative training included. Six classes completed this segment of the program.
Students of the Army Administration School shared all South Dakota State College facilities with civilian students. The program fully occupied the Central Building, Old North Building, East Men’s Hall, West Men’s Hall, and Wecota Annex. For the convenience of the trainees, an exchange was maintained in East Men’s Hall. Health services for the command were provided by local physicians, thereby freeing military medical personnel for other assignments.
Military discipline and ceremonial practice were emphasized through close order drill and organized transitions between classes. Weekly retreat parades were conducted, some held in honor of visiting dignitaries. Each class had formal opening and closing exercises in the college auditorium. Additionally, in the fall of 1943, school personnel assisted with the regional harvest in the Brookings area, helping to meet labor shortages caused by the war.
Professor Emerita Mary Peterson Arnold was born in December 1947. While a student at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, she worked as a city desk reporter and women’s editor for the Mitchell Daily Republic. After earning a master’s degree in English from the University of South Dakota, she spent four years from 1973 to 1977 as a reporter for the Vermillion Plain Talk.
Arnold later taught high school journalism and served as a newspaper and yearbook adviser in Minnesota and Iowa. She joined the faculty of the University of Iowa in 1986, where she earned a doctorate in mass communications. At Iowa, she directed the Iowa High School Press Association and coordinated summer journalism workshops.
She subsequently served as a professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, where she directed the American Society of Newspaper Editors High School Journalism Institute. From 1989 to 2004, Arnold served on the board of the Student Press Law Center, including a term as president.
From 1996 to 2001, Arnold worked in Washington, D.C., managing the Newspaper Association of America Foundation’s high school journalism and youth outreach programs. During this period, she helped establish a student newspaper and a youth editorial program. Afterward, she returned to Ball State University, where she taught journalism courses and directed a high school journalism workshop for two years.
Arnold also worked as a consultant and author for the Media Management Center at Northwestern University, where she wrote a series of four books focusing on women in senior management positions within news organizations.
In 2002, Arnold was hired by South Dakota State University as head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. She retired from the university in 2017.
Edgar J. Banks was an antiquities enthusiast and itinerant archaeologist active during the final decades of the Ottoman Empire. He served as American consul in Baghdad beginning in 1898 and acquired large numbers of cuneiform tablets through the antiquities market, which he sold in small groups to museums, libraries, universities, and theological seminaries across the United States, including institutions in Utah and the American Southwest. Many tablets originated from local excavations at sites such as Telloh and other tells in central Mesopotamia, while others were obtained through dealers in Istanbul. During this period, the Ottoman government did not regulate the trade in minor antiquities. Although initially funded to excavate at Ur, Banks was denied permission to dig at major sites such as Babylon and Tell Ibrahim. In 1903, he was authorized to excavate at Bismya, the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Adab in present-day Iraq. His 1912 publication on the Bismya excavations documents both the archaeological work and administrative challenges encountered under Ottoman authority.
In 1909, Banks became a professor of Oriental languages and archaeology at the University of Toledo. After World War I, he traveled widely as a lecturer and continued to distribute cuneiform tablets to collectors and institutions. Tablets he sold to Charles W. Ames are now held by the Science Museum at the University of Minnesota, among other public and private collections in the United States. Banks is also associated with the sale of the cuneiform tablet known as Plimpton 322 to publisher George Arthur Plimpton; the tablet later entered Columbia University’s collections and is recognized for its importance to the study of Babylonian mathematics, frequently cited for its relevance to early understandings of relationships later formalized as the Pythagorean theorem. Banks was additionally involved in early motion picture ventures and undertook an expedition to Mount Ararat in search of Noah’s Ark, and he reportedly served as a consultant on biblical films in the early 1920s. He settled in Eustis, Florida, in 1921 and remained there until his death in 1945 at the age of 79. The Eustis Historical Museum maintains a permanent exhibit interpreting his life and work.
Allen Barnes was born on June 12, 1926, in Newport, Nebraska. He graduated from Hastings College in 1948, pursued further studies at the University of Idaho, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Madrid in 1952. He held teaching and administrative positions at Chadron State College in Nebraska before serving as Executive Director of the Bi-national Institute in Tehran, Iran, followed by a similar role in Concepción, Chile.
In 1961, Barnes relocated to Brookings, South Dakota, to become head of the Department of Foreign Languages at South Dakota State University (SDSU). In 1967, he was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, succeeding Frank G. Schultz and serving in that role until 1985. He was followed by Rex Myers.
As Dean, Barnes advocated for the advancement of the College of Arts and Sciences within a university historically centered on agriculture and practical arts. He supported improvements to departmental facilities and led a campaign to establish a performing arts center on campus. He regularly promoted the work of faculty through biannual reports and “state of the college” addresses.
Barnes also emphasized international education, supporting the expansion of foreign language instruction and promoting study abroad opportunities. He assisted international students in their transition to SDSU and the Brookings community. After stepping down as Dean in 1985, he returned to teaching in the Department of Foreign Languages until his retirement in 1989. This collection was donated to the university archives at that time.
Robert “Bob” Wilbur Bartling was a lifelong resident of Brookings, South Dakota, whose life was marked by dedication to athletics, business, education, and community service. Born on August 26, 1926, to Earl and Daisy Bartling, he graduated from Brookings High School in 1944, where he was Homecoming King and excelled in football, basketball, and track. His college education at South Dakota State University was interrupted by service in the U.S. Air Force during World War II. After the war, he earned a business degree from the University of Minnesota and completed training at the St. Louis College of Mortuary Science in 1952.
Bartling returned to Brookings and joined the family business, Bartling Furniture and Funeral Home, before later founding Bartling’s Shoes, South Dakota’s first Nike dealership. A devoted distance runner, he co-founded the Prairie Striders Running Club in 1970 and served as its first president and longtime treasurer. He ran the Jack 15 road race 38 times, held a U.S. Track & Field Masters record for the 30-kilometer distance, and remained active in athletics into his later years.
Bartling was deeply involved with South Dakota State University, where he established the Prairie Striders Running Library at the Hilton M. Briggs Library and began volunteering in the archives in 2015. He was honored by the South Dakota Library Association as “Friend of the Library” in 2019. Other recognitions included the Prairie Striders’ Friend of Running Award in 2007 and induction into the Brookings High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
A longtime member of First Presbyterian Church in Brookings, Bartling served in various leadership roles and was named Outstanding Senior Presbyterian in 2016. He and his wife, Katherine Jean Taylor, were married in Brookings on June 11, 1949, and had two children, Jane and David. Bartling remained active into his 90s, including biking the Mickelson Trail at age 97. He passed away on February 24, 2024, at the age of 97.
Madge A. Kerlin was born February 9, 1901 in Iowa to Marvin P. and Anna R (Kisling) Kerlin. They moved to Chamberlain, South Dakota in 1903 and to Murdo, South Dakota in 1906. She attended South Dakota State College from 1920 to 1921.
Sometime between 1921 and 1923, Madge married World War I veteran Lloyd S. Bastian, who was born in Redfield, South Dakota on December 8, 1898. The 1930 United States Census shows Lloyd and Madge living in Beverly Hills, California with a one-year old son. Lloyd was listed as a dentist and Madge a homemaker. The 1940 US Census shows them living in Oxnard, California, with their two sons. Madge Kerlin Bastian died in Ventura, California on March 6, 1989. Lloyd Bastian died on September 20, 1989.
Lt. Ward B. Bates was born on February 17, 1895, in Yankton, South Dakota. His father, Charles Homer Bates, served as a U.S. Deputy Surveyor and conducted boundary surveys between South Dakota and North Dakota from 1891 to 1892. Bates attended the State University of Iowa in Iowa City.
He enlisted in the Army National Guard on December 1, 1912, and was honorably discharged on December 1, 1915. With the onset of World War I, Bates re-enlisted and was commissioned as a second lieutenant of field artillery on August 15, 1917. He served in the American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) in Europe and traveled across the United States with other newly commissioned officers during his training and assignments. He was honorably discharged on August 1, 1919.
Following the war, Bates moved to California, where he met and married Eunice Morey Wolcott. They had one daughter, Nancy Farley. Ward B. Bates died on October 21, 1946.