Title: Wynona H. Wilkins Papers, 1956-1994

ID: OGLMC1296

Primary Creator: Wilkins, Wynona (1916-2021)

Extent: 0.5 Linear Feet

Date Acquired: 10/15/1994. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: University of North Dakota - Faculty, Women's History

Languages: English

The Wynona H. Wilkins Papers consist mainly of newspaper clippings dating from 1956-1994. These along with magazine articles, postcards, greeting cards and letters are arranged alphabetically by topic. The majority of the material dates from the 1970's.

Wilkins initially gathered items to illustrate the thesis of her article "The Idea of North Dakota", that is, people viewed North Dakota negatively because they were not familiar with the state. Wilkin's project started almost by accident. She was in Oklahoma City, Okla., in a card shop. She picked up a greeting card that read "Hi there! I just arrived here in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and that's a bit of a blow 'cause I'm supposed to be in Furdsville, North Dakota. Oh well, see you soon!" She bought it, the first entry in her collection.

Wynona Huchette Wilkins, a native of western Pennsylvania, attended West Virginia University, and holds a M.A. degree in history from Indiana University. She taught at the University of Oklahoma from 1962-1963, and in the Tunisian program of the United States Peace Corps in 1963. From 1964-1967 she taught French and European history at the Ironton Center of Ohio University. In 1967, she became a member of the UND Language Department and taught French.

Wynona and her husband, Dr. Robert Wilkins, professor of history, co-authored God Giveth the Increase: The History of the Episcopal Church in North Dakota (1959) and North Dakota: A Bicentennial History (1977). She has also written several articles, including "The Idea of North Dakota" (contained in this collection), which appeared in 1971 in the North Dakota Quarterly, a journal which she helped her husband edit.

Wynona Wilkins retired from the University of North Dakota on May 15, 1987. She died in Grand Forks on December 23, 2021.

University of North Dakota - Faculty
Women's History

Repository: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections

Accruals: Additional materials were received from Robert Wilkins, October 18, 1991; 94-2003

Access Restrictions: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.

Acquisition Source: Wynona Wilkins, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Acquisition Method: Donation; 94-1979

Separated Materials: Six photographs were separated and placed in the Photograph File Cabinet.

Related Publications:

God Giveth the Increase: The History of the Episcopal Church in North Dakota by Robert and Wynona Wilkins.  Fargo: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1959.

North Dakota: A Bicentennial History by Robert and Wynona Wilkins. New York: Norton, 1977.

Preferred Citation: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota.

Processing Information: Finding aid added to Archon in November 2013