Strengthening the Endowment of Augustana College's Center for Western Studies

FAIN: CH-50657-09

Augustana University (Sioux Falls, SD 57197-0001)
Harry F. Thompson (Project Director: May 2008 to February 2014)

To Support: augmentation of the college's endowment for the support of the Center for Western Studies

Augustana College, a Christian liberal arts institution affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America seeks a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to strengthen the Center for Western Studies' endowment. The Center is a department of the College with the mission of preserving and interpreting the history and cultures of the Northern Plains. As an archives, museum, academic publisher, and provider of educational programming and internships for the students and the campus, as well as the region, Augustana is seeking a $300,000 challenge grant matched by the College on a four-to-one basis for a total endowment campaign of $1,500,000. A successful campaign will increase the Center's endowment and provide dollars to support, enhance, and expand the Center's main program areas which include the Archives and Library Program, the Dakota Conference on Northern Plains, Educational Exhibits, the Publications Program, and the Building Fund.

Media Coverage

Center Preserves Regional History (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Peter Harriman
Publication: Sioux Falls Argus Leader
Date: 1/11/2014
Abstract: Although the article mentions the exhibit observing the 125th anniversary of statehood, it also describes the growth of the Center's archives, library, programs, and endowment.
URL: http://augie.edu/cws

Oyos Explores WWII Air Force Technical School's Impact on Sioux Falls in "Reveille" (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Kelly Sprecher
Publication: The Augustana
Date: 4/30/2015
Abstract: An interview with the author.
URL: http://www.augie/cws

Associated Products

Reveille for Sioux Falls: A World War II Army Air Forces Technical School Changes a South Dakota City (Book)
Title: Reveille for Sioux Falls: A World War II Army Air Forces Technical School Changes a South Dakota City
Author: Lynwood E. Oyos
Abstract: The population of metropolitan Sioux Falls today exceeds 200,000. Whereas once its primary industry was agribusiness, now the city is also the center of healthcare, education, and financial services for a four-state region. Originally the site of Plains Indian encampments along the falls of the Big Sioux River, followed in the 1860s by English, Scandinavian, and German settlers, Sioux Falls today boasts remarkable racial diversity, with over fifty different languages spoken in the city school district. Many of these changes began with the advent in 1942 of the Army Air Forces Technical School. In this new, illustrated history of the military technical school, author Lynwood E. Oyos proposes that, along with its air base, the school changed Sioux Falls in the post-World War II era as much as the railroads did in the nineteenth century. The radio communication school, where 45,000 men and women trained through 1945, brought new wealth to the community, changed social attitudes about women and minorities, stimulated construction of new homes and businesses, contributed to the city’s first industrial park, and created Sioux Falls’ first modern airport.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n92014633/
Secondary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws
Access Model: Purchase
Publisher: Center for Western Studies
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780931170973
Copy sent to NEH?: No

On the Record: An Exhibition of Contemporary Ledger Art (Exhibition)
Title: On the Record: An Exhibition of Contemporary Ledger Art
Curator: Kristi Thomas
Abstract: Plains Indian ledger art by Donald F. Montileaux, Jerry Fogg, Wade Patton, Gerald Yellowhawk, and Jim Yellowhawk
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws

Forbidden Landscapes (Exhibition)
Title: Forbidden Landscapes
Curator: Kristi Thomas
Abstract: The photographic art of northern Norway by Professor Lars Westvig, University of Nordland, Norway
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws

South Dakota 2014 Art Exhibit and Sale (Exhibition)
Title: South Dakota 2014 Art Exhibit and Sale
Curator: Kristi Thomas
Abstract: A juried art show and sale of works by 38 South Dakota artists, including Native American artists, in observance of the 125th anniversary of statehood.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws

Why Are We? Carl Grupp--A Retrospective of a Life Half Lived (Exhibition)
Title: Why Are We? Carl Grupp--A Retrospective of a Life Half Lived
Curator: Kristi Thomas and Lindsay Twa
Abstract: A collaborative exhibit with the Eide-Dalrymple Gallery at Augustana College of the life-work of Augustana art professor Carl Grupp.
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws

The Great War and the Northern Plains, 1914-2014 (46th Annual Dakota Conference) (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: The Great War and the Northern Plains, 1914-2014 (46th Annual Dakota Conference)
Author: Harry F. Thompson
Abstract: The 46th Annual Dakota Conference examined the impact on the Northern Plains of World War I. More than 70 presentations were made, and 240 attended.
Date Range: 4/25-26/2014
Location: Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws

Where the West Begins? Geography, Identity, and Promise (47th Annual Dakota Conference) (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Where the West Begins? Geography, Identity, and Promise (47th Annual Dakota Conference)
Author: Harry F. Thompson
Abstract: The 47th Dakota Conference examined such issues as geography, identity, and promise related to the Midwest, Great Plains, and West. More than 70 presentations were made, and 240 people attended.
Date Range: 4/24-25/2015
Location: Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws

Voices of the Past (Exhibition)
Title: Voices of the Past
Curator: Harry F. Thompson
Abstract: A major re-envisioning of the core museum exhibits in the Fantle Building for the Center for Western Studies. The installation of new exhibits in three museum galleries interpret indigenous life and immigrant life on the Northern Plains, 1700-1960. The project, which began in 2013 with a fundraising campaign, was known as the Exhibit Expansion Initiative, which was a component of the Center for Western Studies Strategic Plan, 2010-2019.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://augie.edu/cws

34th Annual Artists of the Plains Art Show and Sale (Exhibition)
Title: 34th Annual Artists of the Plains Art Show and Sale
Curator: Kristi Thomas
Abstract: The Center for Western Studies sponsors this three-day exhibition and sale of art by 24 artists from 5-6 states of the Northern Plains. The event is held in downtown Sioux Falls, SD.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws

35th Annual Artists of the Plains Art Show and Sale (Exhibition)
Title: 35th Annual Artists of the Plains Art Show and Sale
Curator: Kristi Thomas
Abstract: The Center for Western Studies sponsors this show and sale of art by 24 artists, including Native American, from 5-6 states of the Northern Plains. The show is held in downtown Sioux Falls, SD.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws

The New Radicals: Manifestos from the Western Plains (Article)
Title: The New Radicals: Manifestos from the Western Plains
Author: Harry F. Thompson
Abstract: “The New Radicals: Manifestos from the Western Plains” is the title of an article by Executive Director Dr. Harry Thompson published in the special issue of the Journal of the West devoted to radicalism in the American West, 53:1 (Winter 2014): 60-68. Thompson writes about four works of nonfiction, all published in the last eight years, as examples of continuing concern with issues facing the region: Ghost Dances, by Josh Garrett-Davis, A Separate Country, by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Bird Cloud, by Annie Proulx, and The Horizontal World, by Debra Marquart. “Like the grasses of the Plains,” writes Thompson, “the roots of radicalism in the West extend deep into the earth.” Both Marquart and Garrett-Davis explore their personal journeys of escape from and return to the land of their birth, North Dakota and South Dakota, respectively. Cook-Lynn, born on the Crow Creek Reservation, issues a call for a historiography that arises from indigenous perspectives and a recognition of separate nation status. Proulx writes about her experience in building a radical vision of metal and stone in Wyoming.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/cws
Access Model: Subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of the West
Publisher: ABC-CLIO

Little Business on the Prairie (Book)
Title: Little Business on the Prairie
Author: Robert E. Wright
Abstract: In his new study, Little Business on the Prairie: Entrepreneurship, Prosperity, and Challenge in South Dakota, economic historian Robert Wright reviews the state’s economic history through the lenses of its public policies, politics, and institutions of governance. The book demonstrates that an economy that suffers from palpable disadvantages, like long distance from major markets and low population density, will still thrive if it is governed efficiently. In other words, crucial public goods like education, infrastructure, and justice should be provided at minimal cost, and entrepreneurs should not be burdened with excessive regulatory and tax expense. Economic performance suffers when governance is poor and public goods are provided at an unnecessarily high cost. This Wright shows by comparing South Dakota to other states and by examining the economies of the state's Indian reservations. Public goods provisions on reservations is spotty and generally very poor and, not surprising, reservation economies lag far behind that of the state even though individual Native Americans have shown considerable entrepreneurial skill. Little Business on the Prairie concludes with Wright’s prescription for confronting the economic and governance challenges that lie ahead for South Dakota.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://www.augie.edu/center-western-studies/gift-shop/announcing-little-business-on-prairie-robert-e-wright

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