Aaron McGaffey Beede and Ralph Gordon Beede Papers, 1899-1969

Collection Overview

Title: Aaron McGaffey Beede and Ralph Gordon Beede Papers, 1899-1969

ID: OGLMC/206

Creator: Beede, Aaron McGaffey (1859-1934)

Extent: 3.5 Linear Feet

Arrangement:

The Aaron McGaffey Beede and Ralph Gordon Beede Papers (1899-1969) has been arranged so that items related to Aaron McGaffey Beede come first. This includes his extensive personal and professional correspondence, 1915-1934.

Materials for Ralph Gordon Beede, son of Aaron McGaffey Beede, are arranged next. These consist primarily of personal and professional correspondence (1925-1965). One folder containing the text of speeches delivered by Ralph Gordon Beede, as well as a folder of legislative materials, are also included.

The collection was rearranged in December 2004 so that similar files were organized together. Nothing was discarded during this process.

Date Acquired: 06/20/1972

Languages: English [eng]

Abstract

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Included are four ledgers: the first ledger, “A,” is undated and consists of an untitled literary manuscript. Ledger “B” contains the handwritten text of Beede’s speeches, as well as newspaper clippings consisting of the text of speeches. Ledger “C” consists of miscellaneous documents and entries regarding Beede’s missionary work. The final ledger, “D,” contains diary entries for 1919.

Arranged third are Beede’s eighteen handwritten journals, 1912-1922. The journals record his activities as an Indian missionary, as well as reflections on his life and times. Weather reports and local happenings were also frequent entries. Researchers are urged to note that the end date for some of the journals was difficult to determine. The listed dates in the inventory should not be viewed as absolute.

Several unpublished manuscripts, including a lengthy one on Indian customs, are also included. The manuscripts also include two essays written on the Dakota Indian Victory Dance, one mystery play, and one article written for possible publication. Beede’s finished publications are arranged next. Duplicate copies of publications were cataloged and added to the North Dakota Book Collection. Lastly, there are two folders of miscellaneous materials.

Administrative Information

Accruals: Additional materials were received from William McGaffey Beede on June 14, 1983 (83-1173)

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

Acquisition Source: William McGaffey Beede, Minot, North Dakota

Acquisition Method: Donation

Separated Materials:

Sitting Bull & Custer by Aaron McGaffey Beede. Bismarck Tribune: 1913. Call Number: E83.876 B4

Large Indian Cornfields in North Dakota Long Ago, and an Indian Drama Petite for School Children by Aaron McGaffey Beede. Bismarck Tribune: 1914. Call Number: E78.N75 B4

Heart-in-the-Lodge, “All a Mistake” by Aaron McGaffey Beede. Bismarck Tribune: 1915. Call Number: E99.D1 B4

Toward the Sun, Poems by A. McG Beede, Ph.D., with Commentary Notes by Melvin R. Gilmore. Bismarck Tribune: 1916. Call Number: PS3503.E243 T6 1916

Self Sloughed-Off Person Free: Heart and Pluck in this Epoch by Aaron McGaffey Beede. Grant County News: 1934 Call Number: PS3503.E243 B43

Preferred Citation: (Description of Item). Aaron McGaffey Beede and Ralph Gordon Beede Papers. OGLMC 206, Box #, Folder #. Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections. Chester Fritz Library. University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.

Finding Aid Revision History: Finding aid added to Archon in July 2012.

Box and Folder Listing

Series 1: Introductory Materials

Box 1

Folder 1: Correspondence regarding donation of collection, 1971
Folder 2: Newspaper Clippings and Obituaries - Aaron McGaffey Beede (1934) and Ralph Gordon Beede (1969)

Series 2: Aaron McGaffey Beede

Box 1

Folder 3: Correspondence, 1915-1919
Folder 4: Correspondence, 1920-1922
Folder 5: Correspondence: Citizens State Bank vs. Olaf G. Smealand, 1921
Folder 6: Correspondence, 1923
Folder 7: Correspondence: Bearpaw Land Papers, including sale to Ordway and correspondence with the Bank of North Dakota, 1923-1928
Folder 8: Correspondence, 1924
Folder 9: Correspondence, 1925
Folder 10: Correspondence, 1926
Folder 11: Correspondence, 1927
Folder 12: Correspondence, 1928
Folder 13: Correspondence, 1929
Folder 14: Correspondence, 1930
Folder 15: Correspondence, 1931
Folder 16: Correspondence, 1932
Folder 17: Correspondence, 1933
Folder 18: Correspondence, 1934
Folder 19: Correspondence, undated
Folder 20: Ledgers: “A”, undated literary manuscript
Folder 21: Ledgers: “B”, undated, text and clippings of speeches
Folder 22: Ledgers: “C”, 1900-1902
Folder 23: Ledgers: “D”, 1919
Folder 24: Journal 1, 1912-August 1913
Folder 25: Journal 2, December 1913-February 1914
Folder 26: Journal 3, February-August 1914
Folder 27: Journal 4, August 1914-February 1915
Folder 28: Journal 5, February-May 1915

Box 2

Folder 1: Journal 6, May-June 1915
Folder 2: Journal 7, October-December 1915
Folder 3: Journal 8, December 1915-February 1916
Folder 4: Journal 9, February-June 1916
Folder 5: Journal 10, June-August 1916
Folder 6: Journal 11, August-September 1916
Folder 7: Journal 12, September-October 1916
Folder 8: Journal 13, October-December 1916
Folder 9: Journal 14 (plus loose sheets from August 1914), December 1916-July 1917
Folder 10: Journal 15, July-September 1917
Folder 11: Journal 16, September 1917-November 1918
Folder 12: Journal 17, January 1919-April 1920
Folder 13: Journal 18, March 1920-January 1922
Folder 14: “Extract’s from Dad’s Journal,” article submission to Atlantic Monthly, 1943

Box 3

Folder 1: Writings by A.M. Beede and about A.M. Beede, 1906-1983

Folder 2: Manuscript - “The Dakota Indian Victory-Dance”

Account of a ceremonial dance at Fort Yates in November 1918. Several drafts are present.

Folder 3: Drafts of Four-Act Play - “The Man Soul: Indian View of Life, Death, Flowers, Animals, Ghosts, and Whitemen," undated

Folder 4: “Western Sioux Cosmology" and "Letting Go of the Ghost" - drafts and correspondence, 1918-1919

Folder 5: Indian manuscript - outline and assorted sections

Folder 6: Indian manuscript - sections A-B

A - Relics

B - History

Folder 7: Indian manuscript - sections C-E

C - Symbolic drawings

D - Intelligence

E - Customs and habits

Folder 8: Indian manuscript - sections F-L

F - Personages (mainly Black Ball and Sitting Bull)

G - Flowers used as medicine

H - Sioux physical appearance

I - Sybolism of dreams

J - Tolerance

K - Deaths and funerals

L - Christmas

Folder 9: Indian manuscript - sections M-Q

M - Superstitions

N - Treatment by white men

O - Farming

P - Sayings

Q - Indian doctors

Folder 10: Indian manuscript - sections R-T

R - Treatment by government agencies

S - Idea of life

T - Belief in God

Folder 11: Indian manuscript - sections U-Z

U - Attitudes toward miracles

V - Institutions

W - Freedom from government

X - Laborers for white men

Y - Physical condition

Z - Beef trust (cattle)

Folder 12: Heart-in-the-Lodge (1915) and Large Indian Cornfields in North Dakota..." (1914)

Folder 13: Sitting Bull and Custer (1913) and Self Sloughed-off, Person Free (1934)

Folder 14: Social Teaching of Paul (ca. 1900) and The Terrible Rat..." (undated)

Folder 15: Some Hindrances to Social Progress in the United States (1899) and Toward the Sun (1916)

Folder 16: Newspaper clippings, membership cards, and check stubs, 1919-1932

Folder 17: Maps - New Leipzig, ND, and North Dakota publications, 1924-1964

The School Bell, ca. 1924

Manual for the State of North Dakota, 1926

North Dakota Historical Quarterly, October 1940

Maps (2) of New Leipzig, ND - Street improvements, 1964

Folder 18: Assorted publications, 1913-1925

Souvenir Programs, Department of Public Speaking, North Dakota Agricultural College, 1913-1914

Public Programs, North Dakota Agricultural College, 1914-1915

A Buffalo Sweatlodge and Early Cheyenne Villages, by George Bird Grinnell, 1918-1919

Bird Lore and Bird Songs of the North American Indian by N.W. Jipson, 1922

A History of... (North Dakota writings on Indigenous peoples, etc.), 1925

Series 3: Ralph Gordon Beede

Box 4

Folder 1: Correspondence, 1925-1939

Folder 2: Correspondence - William G. Bek to R.O. Wilson regarding Beede’s Ph.B. degree and lesson sheets for a short story correspondence course at UND, undated

Folder 3: Correspondence, 1940-1943

Folder 4: Correspondence, 1944-1948

Folder 5: Correspondence, 1950-1959

Folder 6: Correspondence, 1960-1965

Folder 7: House and Senate Bills and Miscellaneous

Folder 8: Speeches, undated

Folder 9: Correspondence, etc. - induction of Ralph Gordon Beede into the North Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame, 1983

Folder 10: Photographs

206-1: Two unidentified Dakota Indians

206-2: Hokanson Brothers store, Fort Yates, ND (postcard)

206-3: Black Hills Council, Fort Yates, ND, September 1923

206-4: Gray Hawk, Dakota Sioux, 1923

206-5: Francis Zahn, Aaron McGaffey Beede, and others, Wahpeton, ND, ca. 1918

206-6: Ralph G. Beede and Usher Burdick, Elgin, ND, June 1960