Heritage Renewal

This afternoon I had the privilege of giving the closing address, "Resilience on the Northern Plains," for the research review day at the Central Grasslands Research Extension Center, Streeter. Many thanks to Ann & Paul Nyren for the invitation and hospitality. Reproduced here are a couple of items I have posted to my Facebook accounts.

"Much enjoyed the day at the CGREC and learned a lot about current issues and research in the Coteau and in the cattle industry. Following the program, rancher Gene Goven from Turtle Lake, a splendid participant in the panel on on range monitoring, lingered to visit with Paul Nyren, director of the CGREC."

"Following my talk at the Central Grasslands Research Extension Center (Streeter) today, my hostess, Ann Nyren, presented me with a set of lace doilies crocheted by Sandi Dewald, a staff member of the CGREC, also a historian and enthusiastic German from Russia. Sandi (here pictured) learned to crochet, she says, from her mother-in-law. What a delight to have these objects of art as a memento of the day!"

A pleasant drive yesterday to Ellendale for the (first) annual meeting of the Ellendale Area Arts Council, chaired by its president, Ken Schmierer. The meeting, convened in the lobby of the Ellendale Opera House, had a joyous tone as members reviewed successes over the past, first year of existence: at least fourteen successful events or exhibitions, including the World Art Show, the Applefest Art Show, the Jim Dow exhibition "Marking the Land," the North Dakota Art Museum exhibition "Snow Country Prison," and many others. Quite a record thus far! And ambitious plans for the future, including a reiteration of the World Art Show. After election of officers there ensued considerable discussion about how to capitalize on successes and consolidate the organization's gains--build membership, enhance contributions, gain wider public acceptance, and so on. These seem like typical issues for an organization that enjoys initial success and then has to figure out what to do with it. It will be a joy to watch the arts & heritage scene in Ellendale move to new and higher levels.

Following the business meeting an audience began to gather for "Snow Country Prison and Beyond," a program presented by Carolyn D. Baker (at right, preparing for her presentation) of Mayville State University and funded by the North Dakota Humanities Council. Carolyn presents with style, and people responded with appreciation. Perhaps you had to be there to appreciate this, but what do you make of a gathering of country-town North Dakotans sitting around on a Sunday afternoon arguing about the meaning of haiku written by a Japanese internee during the Second World War? Now you wish you'd been there, don't you?

I was there, and have the opportunity to observe many such wonderful events, by virtue of my work for NDSU Extension on the project, "Building Community Vitality through Cultural Arts."

In line with its evolving mission to foster grassroots heritage tourism on the northern plains, the center has become an institutional member of the North Dakota Rural & Nature Tourism Association.

More WPA research photos: posted to the center Webshots account, images of the Bushy Bank, called by Custer "Hidden Wood" when he camped there on 8 July 1974, early in the Black Hills expedition. View the slideshow - http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/569730136FwxtWq

Amazing images of the Scoria Lily Ranch, Adams County, ND, posted to the center Webshots account. View the slideshow here - http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/569699207IAFQhl

Just uploaded to Heritage Image, the Webshots account of the CHR: a suite of photos of the Sermon in Stone, Fairmount, North Dakota. The story of the Sermon in Stone, a remarkable collection of folk art created by Father Bierens in the 1930s, will be told in the web guide to "Highways & Trails of the WPA" as it goes online. In the meantime, people can call up and wonder at these strange and wonderful images. View the slideshow here - http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/569693873YpBtVe

Speaking of Heritage Image, the Webshots account - this is a large and growing repository of images of the northern plains acquired parcel to the work of the center. Browse its albums here - http://community.webshots.com/user/NDSUCHR