One hundred years ago next year, a party was held on the lawn in front of what is now Old Main to mark the construction of the new Minot State Normal School.
Student Matt Volk uncovered that old photo during his research of Minot State's beginnings. He and other students and professors will be on hand during a history presentation at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room 114 of Minot State University's Memorial Hall.
The presentation, "Digital Minot: An On-Line Museum of Local History," is the third presentation about the history of Minot and what researchers have uncovered in dusty archives and through fresh interviews.
Article Photos
Submitted photo
The Delta Epsilon Phi sorority basketball team at Minot State University in 1931.
Volk's research uncovered how Minot State came into existence at a time of booming immigration and a growing economy. The state was influenced by Progressivism, an ideology that focused on the improvement of social institutions through political reform. Volk's research indicates that imigration, economics and Progressivism all helped Minot State get its start.
Heath Glenn researched how important on-campus extracurricular activities were for students at the Minot State Teachers College in the 1930s. His research uncovered women's involvement in sports, such as the Mecca for Pep, a women's physical education club that let women participate in intramural sports such as volleyball, basketball, hiking, skating, dancing, archery, tennis and clogging.
Glenn said he found out some things that surprised him.
"They really only focused on certain sports and baseball wasn't one of them," said Glenn. "The lack of baseball was very intriguing."
Glenn said he will talk on Tuesday about why the women intramural clubs didn't play baseball. He was also surprised by how important sports were on campus at the time. Participation in sports added a lot to a person's
social prestige on campus, more so than it does now, he said. Glenn said he did most of his research in the Gordon B. Olson Library on campus, paging through old school newspapers and yearbooks.
Leah Ronholdt researched the history of the Thompson-Larson Funeral Home in downtown Minot. According to her research, Theodore Thompson constructed the funeral home building in 1934 as a gift for his wife, Julia Larson, who became the first licensed, female embalmer in the state. Edward and Catherine Fisher purchased the funeral home in 1945. Their son Tom Fisher later ran the business, which continues to operate in Minot.
Others at the presentation will be history professor Bethany Andreasen and Amy Lisner, project coordinator.
The presentation is free and open to the public.
Glenn said the information the student researchers found will be available on the Digital Minot website following the presentation. Other historical informaiton can also be found on the website at (digitalminot.minotstateu.edu/omeka/)