Category Archives: Military

Primary Source Sets released

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Agriculture, Arts and Culture, History Blog, James-Younger Bank Raid, Malt-O-Meal, Military, People, Recreation, Religion, Social Issues, Women, World War I

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We are pleased to announce that we recently released a set of educational guides to Northfield-area history called Primary Source Sets. Primary source sets are online collections of digitized historical materials—from photographs to diaries and more—arranged by topic. These sets all reflect the local Northfield experience of a larger historic event, theme, or era.

The sets explore these twelve topics:

Each set includes a topic overview, links to approximately 20 digitized items on the Northfield-Rice County Digital History Collection (DHC), discussion questions, related resources, and a guide to using primary sources for research. Several benchmarks of the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in both Social Studies and English Language Arts can be explored using these sets, as well.

Some of the Primary Source Sets available on the DHC

Mark Heiman, Northfield history enthusiast and member of the DHC steering committee, observed, “This is an invaluable starting point for anyone interested in local history, whether you want a deep dive into a topic you’re already familiar with or an introduction to fascinating people and stories that may be new to you.”

The Project Coordinator for the DHC, Stephanie Hess, explained, “One of the primary goals of the DHC is to provide access to a wide variety of digitized materials about local history. We want to spread the word about these amazing resources and provide guidance so teachers, students, and the whole community can discover their stories.”

Northfield founder John W. North and his daughter, Emma, in 1855. Find this primary source along with others in the Settlement & Immigration Primary Source Set on the Northfield History Collaborative.

Northfield founder John W. North and his daughter, Emma, in 1855. Find this primary source along with others in the Settlement & Immigration Primary Source Set on the Northfield-Rice County Digital History Collection.

The DHC developed these sets with guidance from the Minnesota Digital Library and the Digital Public Library of America. These publications were made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. The sets are open to all researchers: please follow the link to the Primary Source Set landing page.

For more guidance, check out our Primary Source Set Users Guide.

Send us feedback about these primary source sets!

The Armistice of 1918

09 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by in History Blog, Military, People, St. Olaf College, World War I

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One hundred years ago this month, people in Northfield waited with the rest of the world to hear that the devastating Great War was finally over. Rumors that Germany was going to agree to an Armistice—or cease-fire—ran rampant.

On November 8, 1918, the Northfield News ran a political cartoon showing American troops, and American resources, were forcing Germany’s Kaiser to end the war. It was more than wishful thinking, since at that very moment a German delegation was considering the terms of an armistice with the Allied countries.

Northfield News cartoon, published Nov. 8, 1918

Northfield News cartoon, published Nov. 8, 1918

Homer Mason, one of Northfield’s service men stationed in France, was the assistant N.C.O. in charge of a radio station. At his post, he frequently received press reports sent out by the Allied troops. It was here, he later wrote, that he heard Germany “send out her press at the critical period before the armistice was signed.” He sent copies of these press reports to his parents.

Press Report, delivery of Armistice terms, Nov. 10, 1918

Press Report, delivery of Armistice terms, Nov. 10, 1918

The very next day, November 11, 1918, Homer had just come into the station when he heard that the French Marshal Ferdinand Foch had just sent out his orders to all of the Allied troops to cease firing at 11 o’clock French time. The Germans had signed the Armistice terms, and the war was finally over.

Order from Marshal Foch, November 11, 1918

Order from Marshal Foch, November 11, 1918. Translation available on the Collaborative.

The world rejoiced, but none as much as people in France, whose country had been completely devastated by trench warfare and German occupation. Homer reported that “The French people are certainly a happy bunch of folks nowadays. They are celebrating everywhere.”

Letter from Homer Mason to his parents, Nov. 13, 1918

Letter from Homer Mason to his parents, Nov. 13, 1918

Northfield was celebrating, too. Homer’s parents both told of the jubilation they felt and provided details on just how Northfield celebrated the end of the war. On November 12, Homer’s mother Melinda wrote:

This is a day after we got the news that the war was over, but yesterday I could not write – so many came in and then there was so much merriment and noise that you could not hear yourself think. The bells commenced to ring at 3:30 in the night. We got up and lit up the whole house. We knew what it meant and how glad and thankful we [were]. And after it got light the soldiers came and the band and after that, all the school children, with old pails and dish pans and anything they could make noise on. All [are] so thankful it is over.

Homer’s father, George, later said all the church bells and whistles in town blew after they got the news at 3:30 a.m. and they “kept it up until 6 o’clock.” He said he “grabbed the Flag and whirled it around and posted it at the front door.”

Letter from George Mason to Homer Mason, November 27, 1918

Letter from George Mason to Homer Mason, November 27, 1918

“We are glad the armistice is signed,” wrote George, “and I hope that they will soon come to a peace that will be just and durable. We don’t want any more of this war business.”

What did the Armistice mean for the boys from Northfield stationed in places “over there” as well as “over here”? It did not mean they could come home immediately, especially since it only halted the military operation of the war. The official end to the war came with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

In the meantime, servicemen stationed in Europe changed their focus from military offensive to occupying force. Homer Mason, for one, hoped he would be home by the summer [he was]. Other servicemen, like Northfield’s Arthur Houston and his road crew, now focused on rebuilding blasted roads without the threat of German bombs overhead. Others were recovering in hospitals from injuries or the flu, serving as military escorts, and other duties as assigned by the American Expeditionary Force.

Some Northfield residents served the military at camps scattered throughout the United States. When the Armistice was signed, and a military force at peak strength was no longer necessary, many of them were given a few options. Fredrick Heiberg was at an officer’s training school at the time, and he reported on November 16 that he was offered three options:

  1. Remain here and finish his course – get a commission and be placed in the Reserve Corps.
  2. Get an immediate discharge from the Army.
  3. For men from S.A.T.C. units to return to them.

“Which should I choose?” he asked his mother. “After considering all points from all angles and points I think I’ll choose the second.” He was discharged on November 30, 1918, returned to Northfield shortly after that, and became a dentist.

With the Armistice came the end of fighting the “war to end all wars”. The Northfield men and women who served remained forever changed by their experiences. We honor their service and sacrifice every year on Veterans Day, but especially this year—the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice.

World War I book donations

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by in Arts and Culture, History Blog, Military, Northfield Historical Society, Northfield News, Northfield Public Library, Recreation, Rice County Historical Society, World War I

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Did you know that books can help win wars?

At least, that is what Northfield citizens thought 100 years ago, when their country was deeply involved in World War I. The Northfield News urged its readers to “Let Your Idle Books Help Our Soldiers.”

There were book collection points at the Northfield Public Library and other libraries in Rice County.

Even the Boy Scouts helped the cause – they “did their bit” to collect books from the community by driving around Northfield in a car with a large banner on it. According to their scrapbook from the time, the boys collected almost 1,300 volumes on March 23, 1918. This scrapbook has many other great photographs of the Boy Scouts activities during this period, including Liberty Loan parades and more.

During wartime, there are many ways to contribute to the war effort. Books – and knowledge – may have been just what they needed to win.

500 Unique Items from World War I Era Digitized

02 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in Carleton College, City of Dundas, History Blog, Military, Northfield Historical Society, Politics and Government, Rice County Historical Society, St. Olaf College, World War I

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We at the Northfield-Rice County Digital History Collection (DHC), a digital library of historical records from the Northfield area, are pleased to announce that we have completed a grant-funded project to digitize historical materials that document the World War I era in Northfield and Rice County, Minnesota.

The digitized materials come from many of the DHC’s 16 partner organizations and include text documents, photographs, illustrations, artifacts, and even sheet music. The new online collection shares the experiences of individuals from the Northfield and Rice County area who served during the war in various branches of the military, in the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations, and on the home front.

Selection of items available in the World War I online collection.

“We have a remarkably deep collection of World War I records and are thrilled that we can now share a portion of those records online,” stated Susan Garwood, the Executive Director of the Rice County Historical Society, one of the DHC’s founding partners. “The records we have in our collection are the only remaining official record of Rice County’s participation in the war. They are invaluable to genealogical researchers and will provide a great cache of primary documents for schools.”

The Project Coordinator for the DHC, Stephanie Hess, added, “We are very excited that these materials can now be found and used widely, not just within our local organizations.”

To complete this digitization project, the DHC:

  • created 5,212 new digital images (scans and photographs);
  • transcribed 4,757 pages of typed and handwritten text; and
  • developed an extensive online collection guide, complete with links to the database.

In honor of the centennial of the United States’ involvement in the Great War, the DHC is pleased to provide the public this rich collection of primary resources. The online collection is open to all researchers: please follow the links to the materials through the collection guide at http://nrcdighistory.org/collection-guides/world-war-i-collection-guide/.

About the Northfield-Rice County Digital History Collection: The Northfield Historical Society and the Rice County Historical Society have partnered to provide a common site to preserve and make accessible digital versions of historical collections held in various locations across the Rice County, MN. Formerly this partnership was called the Northfield History Collaborative. In 2020, the name was changed to the Northfield-Rice County Digital History Collection and it remains a hub of historical resources related to the area.

Massive Record of Soldiers Book Uploaded

14 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by in History Blog, Military, Rice County Historical Society, World War I

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We at the DHC are pleased to announce that we have completed the digitization of an incredibly rich resource detailing the service of Rice County servicemen during World War I.

Record of Soldiers in World War ledger

Record of Soldiers in World War ledger, Rice County Historical Society collection, 2010.119.04

This Record of Soldiers in the World War ledger was compiled by the Rice County War Records Committee during and after the war. They intended to keep a record of every man from the county who served using a two-sided form – although we have found that some forms are more filled out than others. As you can imagine, capturing the information for so many people was a massive undertaking and we can see the results in the more than 5″ tall ledger you see here.

To ready this book for the DHC, a team of staff and volunteers spent countless hours scanning every page with writing on it, and also transcribing all the unique text on the pages. We transcribed every word so that the digitized book is full-text searchable on both the DHC’s CONTENTdm database as well as on completely unrelated search engines. A team of DHC staff and volunteers created over 2,000 scans (2,084 to be exact) and transcribed 2,028 pages. None of this would have been possible without the help from these community volunteers and students from St. Olaf College:

Wally Ahrens
Ryleigh Beers
Thea Brenner
Kelly Cheng
Teagan Letscher
Anna Moen
Tetyana Samiliv
Danielle Sovereign
Danica Vin Ly
Jordan Weaver

Each page recorded personal and family information as well as enlistment and service details. In this way, the book is not simply a “war record” book – it can serve as a resource for family historians and genealogists, as well as researchers looking for details on occupations, demographics, residences and migration, and more.

Excerpt from the record of Christian M. Grastvedt of Northfield

Excerpt from the record of Christian M. Grastvedt of Northfield in the Record of Soldiers book.

Occasionally, more detailed stories can be found on the reverse side of a form, including the battles the man participated in, whether or not he was wounded, and sometimes if he died. A few of the records include the soldier’s first-person account of experiences copied from his letters.

First-person note from James Alfred Sheeran of Faribault

First-person note from James Alfred Sheeran of Faribault about his experiences at sea on the way to France during the war. As copied into his page in the Record of Soldiers book.

“The ship on which I traveled,” he wrote, “collided with the S.S. Otranto somewhere north of Ireland … accounts state between three and four hundred American Soldiers were killed or drowned.” Luckily, no one on his ship lost their lives due to the accident. Details like this can be found in many of the pages within the Record of Soldiers book.

Overall, this massive ledger provides a fascinating cross-section view on the variety of ways Rice County men served in the military during World War I. Reading it, you can see how many enlisted compared to how many were drafted. You can see the varied backgrounds each of them came from – yes, many were farmers, but there were also clerks, teachers, plumbers, dentists, mechanics, even a chiropractor. You can see the many departments they served in – Aviation, Signal Corps, Machine Gun, Field or Coast Artillery, Infantry, Engineers, Pioneer Infantry, Navy, and more. You can read details about their promotions, transfers, and movement throughout the U.S. in different training camps as well as all over France. You can see lists of battles they participated in and times they received medical care.

For all of the information found within this book, however, I am always left with a desire to learn more. Why did he get medical care? How did his wife feel about him enlisting and leaving her alone with their baby? Why was he rejected only 5 days after being drafted? What did he do once he returned home? How did he feel about his service if he only served 2 months and never went “across”? What memories did he hold on to long after the war ended?

That’s the beauty of primary source documents like this – they lead you down more paths to research and explore. I hope you enjoy digging into this document as much as we did while preparing it for you!

WWI Community Organizations

06 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by in City of Dundas, History Blog, Military, Northfield Historical Society, People, Politics and Government, World War I

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In my previous posts, I have highlighted some interesting archival documents that tell stories of Northfield experiences during World War I both at home and abroad. Today, I’ll provide more examples of community organizations that arose during and after the war.

Entertainment at the home front was militarized for a short time during the war. You can see evidence of it in the formation of the Dundas Band and Military Company. Prior to 1917, the Dundas Military Company and the Dundas Brass Band existed separately. The two organizations merged on July 9, 1917 to become one organization with two related departments. The band existed to provide entertainment at dances and other community events, and the military company provided military training to men of draft age prior to their entry into the armed forces.

Excerpt from the Dundas Band and Military Company Constitution, adopted July 18, 1918

Excerpt from the Dundas Band and Military Company Constitution, adopted July 18, 1918

This organization was community-minded, too. They charged a fee for renting their hall, but would omit or lower the fee if the event were to be a fundraiser for patriotic organizations like the Red Cross. Music and dancing helped raise morale and encourage patriotism throughout a community, things that are essential for community-wide support for a total war like World War I. Once the United States was no longer in an actual state of war following the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty in 1919, the military division was permanently disbanded. The band, however, continued well into the 1930s to provide musical entertainment during peacetime.

Whether Northfielders served their country near or far, their wartime experiences shaped the rest of their lives. When the soldiers returned home, what could they do to process the changes they went through in a relatively short amount of time? Many chose to join together to form a post for the new national organization, the American Legion. The National Organization of the American Legion was formed in 1919 with this as the preamble to their constitution:

to uphold the constitution of the United States; to foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism; to preserve the memories and incidents of [their] association in the Great War; to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state, and nation; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and goodwill on earth; to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom, and democracy; [and] to consecrate and sanctify [their] comradeship by [their] devotion to mutual helpfulness.

Members of Northfield’s Post 84 strived to live up to these ideals from the start. They reprinted this preamble in their official history on the very first page chronicling their history (page 26).

We are fortunate that Northfield’s Post 84 had an able and committed post historian, E. T. Tufte, for its early years because he documented the formation, development, and community activities of the post in two volumes of typed histories. He also included draft lists and names of the men and women of the Northfield area who served in World War I in general, not only those who later became members of the Post.

Excerpt from the History of American Legion Post 84, Volume 1

Excerpt from the History of American Legion Post 84, Volume 1, with details on the preliminary steps for forming the local post in 1919.

The NHS is grateful to members of the post who made these American Legion histories available for scanning and sharing online, because they are amazing resources that tell great stories of Northfield’s veterans and the community at large.

Whether one served the country during World War I abroad or here at home, everyone was affected in some way by wartime activities. It is my hope that the materials preserved and available online can help us understand what life was like for Northfielders during this tumultuous time by providing fascinating details about their individual and collective experiences.

View all of the items digitized for this project here.

More Digitized Resources Available Online

01 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by in History Blog, Military, People, Politics and Government, Rice County Historical Society, World War I

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Over the last few months, I have been busy with my World War I digitization project for the Northfield-Rice County Digital History Collection. To see all 460+ and counting unique items online, go to http://nrcdighistory.org and click on the “World War I in Northfield” link near the bottom of the page.

The stories that can be found among the digitized materials of the DHC are set in locations both near and far. For example, Northfield-area serviceman Irwin F. Smith, a sergeant in Division Intelligence of the 88th Division, was stationed in the Alsace border region of France. Although we have found no records that specify exactly what Sgt. Smith did as an Intelligence officer, some clues can be found in his scrapbook of photographs that is in the Rice County Historical Society collection. The whole scrapbook has been digitized and you can see some amazing photographs from France during the war – including a set of aerial photographs showing trenchworks and more!

Irwin Smith and French colleagues "somewhere in France", 1918

Irwin Smith and French colleagues “somewhere in France”, 1918. See the original on page 7 of his scrapbook on the DHC.

This photograph shows Sgt. Smith standing with unidentified officers and men from the French army. Since America was so late in entering the war, its intelligence-gathering services were not as developed as its allies, and it relied heavily on standards set by the intelligence services of both France and Great Britain. Smith likely trained with and performed his work with these French allies in the field.

While the Allied Forces gained information about the enemy through breaking coded radio transmissions and other methods, they also conducted aerial surveillance using tethered balloons and airplanes equipped with cameras. The aerial photographs showed the locations of enemy trenches, tanks, soldiers, and more. It is very possible that Sgt. Smith was involved in the gathering and analysis of aerial photographs as an intelligence officer, because he had access to dozens of aerial photographs taken in the Alsace region where he was stationed. He kept copies of them in his scrapbook.

Aerial photograph of trenches and shell holes near Bernwiller in the Alsace region, c. 1918

Aerial photograph of trenches and shell holes near Bernwiller in the Alsace region, c. 1918. On page 17 of Smith’s scrapbook.

Most of his photographs show locations near Altkirch, a border town in the Alsace region that was affected by the opening attack of World War I by the French Army against Germany in 1914. Smith was not there until 1918, but the evidence of the battles remained in his photographs – miles of convoluted trench works and empty rain-filled shell holes, not to mention the ruins of houses and barns, remain visible in this contested area 4 years after they were destroyed. We can only imagine what they looked like on the ground.

Check out the next post to read about World War I-era Northfield stories closer to home!

View all of the items digitized for this project here.

Friday the 13th during World War I

13 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by in History Blog, Military, People, Politics and Government, St. Olaf College, World War I

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If you think that Friday the 13th is an unlucky date, you are not alone. 99 years ago, Northfield resident Homer Mason agreed with you in principle, but his experiences during World War I made him begin to think that perhaps Friday the 13th was not such a bad thing, after all.

Homer Mason in uniform, 1918. See the full portrait on the Collaborative.

Homer served in the Signal Corps in Tours, France, south of Paris during the fall of 1918. As a radio operator, he was well aware of news from the front as well as from home. In two of his letters, he makes reference to the unluckiness of Friday the 13th, but considering what happened, he said, “I’ll never be skeptical about Friday 13ths after this.”

Excerpt of a letter from Homer Mason to his parents, September 15, 1918. See the full letter on the Collaborative.

In this letter, Homer discusses the Saint-Mihiel offensive of September 12-16, 1918. It was the first independent offensive led by the American Expeditionary Force under General John J. Pershing. In effect, the Americans regained control of a section of France that had been occupied by Germany since 1914. This success – and perhaps the luckiness of Friday the 13th – led to a great increase in confidence on the part of the Americans and their allies.

Excerpt of a letter from Homer Mason to his father, December 13, 1918. See the full letter on the Collaborative.

Later that year, after the Germans had signed the armistice but before the peace treaty was signed, Homer noted another occurrence on Friday the 13th of December. This time, he mentions the fact that President Wilson was willing to take the risk of landing in France to begin the peace negotiations on this traditionally unlucky date. While the treaty negotiations were more or less a success (at least for the winners of the war), Wilson’s other plan for a League of Nations – a multi-national organization devoted to peace in the world – failed. Perhaps he should have landed in France on another day?

Propaganda Posters from World War I

05 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by in History Blog, Military, Politics and Government, Rice County Historical Society, World War I

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Propaganda posters from World War I have very striking, sometimes disturbing designs and messages. Today’s audiences might laugh them off but at the time they were very successful at uniting the American home front to support the war. Check out some of my favorites from the Rice County Historical Society‘s collection here and also on the DHC: http://bit.ly/2z0Pnnv

Poster, “Can Vegetables Fruit and the Kaiser too,” 1918 http://contentdm.carleton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/RiceCounty/id/5201/rec/3

Poster, “Remember! The Flag of Liberty Support It!” 1918 http://contentdm.carleton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/RiceCounty/id/5192/rec/13

Poster, “Little Americans, Do your bit,” 1917 – 1918 http://contentdm.carleton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/RiceCounty/id/5189/rec/10

St. Olaf College and World War I

04 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by in History Blog, Military, St. Olaf College, World War I

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Highlights of the World War I digitization project, part 3

Today I am continuing to share with you some of the great resources I have been able to digitize as a part of this World War I project.

Another uniquely Northfield experience during World War I that I have been exploring was the Student Army Training Corps. The War Department created units of these corps at both St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges. The idea behind these units was to create a group of student-soldiers who continued in their academic pursuits but also received military training. Theoretically, men with this dual training would become better officers for the U.S. Army if the war continued.

However, the S.A.T.C. was only in operation from October 1 to December 10, 1918. The relatively late induction of men into the companies, the signing of the Armistice in November, and the influenza epidemic all limited the effectiveness of the Corps. Even so, 228 men served in two companies at St. Olaf and were proud of their service to the country in this way.

Student Army Training Corps on St. Olaf Avenue, 1918. St. Olaf College Archives. Note the lack of uniform hats and evidence of disorganization in their poses. See it on the DHC.

The women of St. Olaf College also were determined to prove they were patriotic and loyal Americans, as well. They developed a women’s war work pledge in the fall of 1917 vowing to volunteer their time, talents, and funds towards war-related activities. Most of them participated in Red Cross work at the college, attended first aid and food preservation courses, and even formed their own Red Cross Auxiliary.

St. Olaf College Women’s War Work Pledge, 1917. St. Olaf College Archives. See it on the DHC.

You can learn more about the St. Olaf College experience during the war in this special issue of the St. Olaf College Bulletin, published quarterly by the faculty of St. Olaf College. This issue includes a list of names of the St. Olaf men who participated in World War I. It also describes the St. Olaf response to the war in greater detail, including the formation of its Student Army Training Corps (S. A. T. C.) and its women’s War Work Institute. Plus, the St. Olaf College Archives also has some materials about the Corps on their website, too.