Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1938-2002 (Accumulation)
Extent
1.0 linear feet (1 records center box)
Name of creator
Biographical history
Audrae Eugenie Visser was born June 3, 1919 to Harry J.L. and Addie Mae (Perryman) Visser on a farm near Hurley, South Dakota. She attended country schools in Turner and Moody counties and graduated from Flandreau High School in 1938. She received degrees from Black Hills Teachers College, South Dakota State University, and the University of Denver.
Visser’s 52-year career in the field of education began with a position in the Moody County country schools from 1939 to 1943. She also taught elementary and high school students in Hot Springs, Pierre, Elkton, De Smet, and Flandreau, South Dakota, and in Windom, Verdi, and Lake Benton, Minnesota. She spent one year in Nagoya, Japan from 1954 to 1955, teaching the children of U.S. Air Force personnel stationed there.
Visser was also a poet and wrote her first poem when she was twelve years old. Her first published poem appeared in Pasque Petals, the South Dakota Poetry Society magazine when she was 21 years old. She published her first book of poetry, Rustic Roads and Other Poems, in 1961, and was appointed to be Poet Laureate of South Dakota in 1974 by Governor Richard Kneip. She published nine more volumes of poetry from 1974-1998, and also wrote the introduction to Pages Glued Apart, a book of poetry by Evelyn Winklepleck-Stuefen. Visser’s books sometimes included her own art work. / Visser’s poetry has won numerous awards, including second prize in the 1984 National Federation of State Poetry Societies contest judged by May Swenson. She also sponsored state and national poetry contests as memorials to her parents since 1976, including the Perryman-Visser scholarship for outstanding poetically-inclined students at South Dakota State University. She served as Associate Editor and Editor of Pasque Petals during the time that she was Poet Laureate and a member of the South Dakota State Poetry Society.
Audrae Visser had a son, Lou H. Guardino, and a brother, Donald. She died on October 8, 2001 in Mabank, Texas.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The materials in this collection were collected and donated by Dr. Charles Woodard of the South Dakota State University English Department. The collection is primarily composed of correspondence between Audrae Visser and Dr. Woodard and includes many of her writings to fulfill class assignments. Also included are photographs she took and written accounts of her frequent travel vacations, as well as materials related to her awards, honors, and activities as a poet and as a member of numerous organizations.
This collection consists of correspondence, clippings, photographs, and many poetic and prose writings by Visser including book reviews and reports, speeches, and a Pioneer Humor Project undertaken to fulfill the requirements of the Heritage of the Prairies Institute at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minnesota.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open to researchers without restrictions. The materials in the Archives do not circulate and may be used in-house only.
Researchers conducting extensive research are asked to make an advance appointment to access archival material. Please call or e-mail prior to visiting the collection and indicate as much detail as possible about a particular topic and intended use.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
South Dakota State University supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted as a result of their fragile condition or by contractual agreements with donors.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Country Cousin
Call Number: PS3572.I75 C68 1986
Publication Date: 1986
Grass Roots Poetry
Call Number: PS3572.I75 G7 1991
Publication Date: 1991
Honyocker Stories
Call Number: PS3543.I58 H6
Publication Date: 1981
Meter for Momma
Call Number: PS3572.I75 M47 1974
Publication Date: 1974
Pages Glued Apart by Fern Evelyn Winklepleck-Stuefen, edited by Janet Leih
Introduction by Audrae Visser
Call Number: PS3573.I534 P33 1990
Publication Date: 1990
Pheasant Flights
Call Number: PS3572.I75 P5 1989
Publication Date: 1989
Poems for Brother Donald
Call Number: PS3572.I75 P6 1974
Publication Date: 1974
Poems for Pop
Call Number: PS3572.I75 P63 1976
Publication Date: 1976
Prairie Poetry
Call Number: PS3572.I75 P7 1998
Publication Date: 1998
Rustic Roads and Other Poems
Call Number: PS3543.I58 R8
Publication Date: 1961
South Dakota Stories
Call Number: PS3572.I75 S67
Publication Date: 1980
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
ID
ID
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Visser, Audrae 1919-2001 (Subject)
- Woodard, Charles 1942- (Subject)