DMC Receives Book Collection through IMLS Grant

The Dickinson Museum Center has been notified that it will be receiving a collection of books, DVDs, and other materials as part of a core resource collection. This *Connecting to Collections Bookshelf* collection is part of a grant developed by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)and the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)to supply archives, libraries, and museums throughout the U.S. with relevant information about protecting the nation's cultural heritage resources. Dickinson Museum Center staff applied to the grant in the fall of 2007. The collection is expected to be shipped in the spring of 2008. To read the full press release visit: www.imls.gov/news/2008/021908.shtm.

Women in Combat: Women's History Month

As part of our focus on Women’s History during March, the Dickinson Museum Center will be hosting a lecture from the Larry Remele Memorial Fellowship program of the North Dakota Humanities Council. Dr. Christina Weber, one the 2008 Remele Fellows, will make a presentation at the Dickinson Museum Center on March 4, 2008, at 7:00 p.m.

In "Missing Voices: Women's Experience in War and Combat,” Dr. Christina Weber of NDSU’s department of sociology and anthropology will use in-depth interviews with women in North Dakota who have served in recent wars, including Vietnam and Iraq, to tell of the dangers and hardships women experience in war and the challenges they have with reintegrating into home and civilian life. Women have played (and continue to play) a significant role in war, largely as a result of the increasingly blurred boundaries between combat and combat support. Although there has been extensive public interest in men’s experiences of war, demonstrated by the myriad published biographies and memoirs of men’s experiences in the Vietnam War and numerous memoirs already emerging from male Iraqi War veterans, relatively little is known about women’s war experiences.

Christina D. Weber, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at North Dakota State University (NDSU). She earned her doctoral degree at the State University of New York—Buffalo in 2005 and began her position at NDSU in the fall of that year. Dr. Weber’s professional work ranges from research on the social impact of war to theoretical analyses of social inequality and social change. In her doctoral research, she examined the effects of the Vietnam War on children of Vietnam Veterans. Currently, she is collaborating with the North Dakota National Guard’s Family Program on a research project that explores institutional responses to war.

If you have any questions, please contact the museum center for more information at 701-456-6225 or info@dickinsonmuseumcenter.org. We hope to include women in our history all year long, but have an opportunity to take part in a national promotion effort for Women’s History Month in March. For more information visit: www.nwhp.org

Tourism Conference

The Southwest North Dakota Tourism conference is slatted for Tuesday, January 29th, 2008. The conference, to be held at the Dickinson Days Inn, is $15 to pre-register, and $18 at the door. Not too bad for a meal, opportunity to network, and a seat at some interesting sessions. Click here for the PDF brochure and registration form.

Oil Boom

This article from the New York Times features the oil boom currently impacting the state. The oil industry has a long and interesting history in the region that continues to have a large impact on both the history and the economy of Southwest North Dakota.

Ghost Towns, Outmigration, and North Dakota

The latest issue of National Geographic features a rather depressing article about North Dakota, outmigration, and ghost towns. Here is another site about North Dakota ghost towns that is a little less disheartening.

Spring Cleaning

Here at the museum we do our "spring cleaning" in the dead of winter, when visitation is at its lowest. In the midst of annual reports, newsletter deadlines, assorted board meetings, and various stages of exhibit development, we also did a little refreshing on our website and blog. Nothing more than a little face lift--still feels good to have something new to look at once in a while, though doesn't it? Check out our website at www.dickinsonmuseumcenter.org, have a look around, and come back once in a while to see what changes.

Pearl Harbor Day

Today's online issue of the Fargo Forum features several articles on regional residents who have some connection to Pearl Harbor. One of the articles (here) is an update on a story carried a few months ago on how the North Dakota chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association had to disband as its membership had dropped to four.

This brings to mind sasa and zamani, which refers to an African (Swahili) concept of time. Sasa is overlapping time, where those who have died are still remembered by someone who is living--their lives overlapped; while zamani is time where ancestors may still be remembered, but there is no longer have anyone alive who personally knew them or remembers them. While this isn't a perfect explanation of the two stages, or dimensions, it is still useful for understanding history and the process by which we develop our historical understandings.

These concepts of sasa and zamani cause us concern when we see the number of people connected to significant historical events who are no longer living and/or capable of telling their stories. Every year as Veteran's Day and Pearl Harbor Day pass on the calendar, there are articles about how few are left from the so-called Greatest Generation to tell the stories of war, genocide, the home-front, and other events.

Rather than lamenting the progression of time, let this be a challenge to everyone to take the opportunity to interview older friends and relatives to learn more about their experiences and stories. Record it, transcribe it, publish it--before it is all zamani.