SD Agricultural Heritage Museum Blog

This leather saddle was acquired from the Antelope Range Station in Buffalo. At 8,300 acers, the station was South Dakota State University’s largest research station. The land was given to SDSU in 1947 to be used for the research of resource protection for cattle ranching and sheep production. The research ended and about 4 years ago the station was closed. The saddle itself has wooden stirrups and is covered in decorative designs that were stamped/tooled into the leather. The saddle was bought in Rapid City from the Duhamel Co., who’s saddles and leatherworks were very well known and sought after at the time.

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The workers are wearing aprons that say Vienna Lumberyard, so we assume this inthe Vienna, South Dakota area. Vienna had five elevator companies.

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Seed sacks are a source of appealing graphic designs. Many have colorful, descriptive, and some time humorous designs. To help pay for his college education, William Jacques started growing and selling improved strains of open pollinated corn. In 1920 he developed a line of inbred corn and by 1924 had moved from Neilsville, WI to Prescott, WI where he built one of the first successful seed corn companies. In 1931, he produced the first hybrid seed corn grown in the upper Midwest.

As his business grew, William realized he needed a trademark for his company. His trademark is a picture of his youngest daughter, Patsy, sitting on a pile of Jacques Proven Hybrid ear corn. Patsy appeared on thousands of bags of corn seed. Jacques Seed introduced its alfalfa seed in the 1960s followed by grain and forage sorghums seeds. Soybeans were introduced in 1972 and sunflowers in 1975. Starting in 1975, Jacques Seed was sold several times.

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This photograph from the Pennington County Extension Homemakers scrapbook caption reads:

Eager for Christmas suggestions, a large group of Extension Club representatives flocked to the Home Service Dept. of the Black Hills Power and Light Co. for a demonstration arranged by the county Extension service. Showing the prettily packaged candy for the holidays is “Nancy Haven” (Dorothy Carlson) of Minneapolis, Minn., regional home economist for Western Beet Sugar Producers, Inc.

The women had the opportunity to sample the candies during the demonstration. Extension club members tasted, compared and “took home tidbits for the small fry.”

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Inscribed inside the front cover of this autograph album is “Merry Christmas to Christine Carlson from your sister Olli.” The cover of the book is white celluloid with embossed purple and yellow daffodils with gilded stems. The 25-page album has pale green, white, and pink pages. The autographs in the book are dated between 1901 and 1905 and are from friends and family.

Sixteenth century Dutch and German students had classmates and professors sign the margins of their textbooks. Later small leather-bound albums with blank pages were used for collecting signatures. During the Victorian era (1820-1901), autograph books became popular with both men and women. Autograph books became treasured keepsakes to those who moved away and might not see friends and relatives for a long time, if ever again. They served as sweet reminders of childhood and school days. Antiques autograph books contained good and silly poetry, witty sayings, the signers’ thoughts and good wishes, and artistic drawings. A lock of hair or pressed flowers may even be found pressed between the pages. Autograph books had a resurgence of popularity around 1914 through the 1920s. Autograph books have not passed into oblivion, yet from the 1950s on, they mostly contain simply signatures and perhaps addresses.

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On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany. The first American infantry soldiers landed in France on June 26, 1917, to begin training for combat. American men either drafted or enlisted to fight in Europe for the duration of the war.

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Quilting is a popular pastime for many people today. There are luscious fabrics and battings to use and many innovative new patterns. This 27-page booklet published by the Ladies Art Company of St. Louis, Missouri not only offered patterns for sale but also provided information on making patterns, making blocks, setting the blocks together, how to finish the quilt, quilting and materials needed. A quilter could buy either pieced block patterns or appliqued patterns. Patterns could be purchased with color cards for 15 cents, two for 25 cents, five for 50 cents or 12 for a $1. Without color card they were 5 cents, seven for 25 cents, 15 for 50 cents or 35 for $1.

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What a strange sight to see a submarine crossing the prairies! This is an HA. 19, a Type A Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarine touring through Watertown on a World War II War Bond drive. 
The submarine had made its way to the entrance of Pearl Harbor during the main attack but was became grounded on a reef. It was discovered by the USS Helm and fired on the sub dislodging it from the reef.

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Dec. 7, 1941 is the day the United States entered World War II. The Imperial Japanese Navy and Army Air Force attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After the attack, those on the Homefront enthusiastically supported the U.S. war effort. Victory gardens were planted, war bonds bought, ration cards used and advice on conserving, recycling and making do was followed. This 32-page booklet offered advice on everything from care of the car, a laundry guide, proper care of gardening tools, conserving electricity and water and a weekly menu. The back cover of the booklet is a reminder that donating scrap metals, batteries and rubber was of great benefit to American troops. For instance: a worn-out wash pail could make three steel bayonets; worn out auto tires could supply enough rubber for thirty gas masks and a tractor laying around unused provided enough scrap iron for 580 heavy machine guns.

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During the Great Depression of the 1930s, resources became scarce all over the country, hitting rural areas hard. People lost livelihoods and homes. To survive, people became creative—they recycled, made-over and made things last. Many have memories of wearing clothing that mother made from feed sacks. 

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