Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-07-09
HISTORICAL MUSEUM
UNDER uNTlRlNG EFFORTS OF
MEssRs TANNER AND STEIN
RRuECk MUCH is BEND #
si q II. DONE. ISL 38s4s 81
HERE is FOUND MUCH THAT
r. TELLS THE STORY OF THE
. a5 ANCIENT RED
E$% MAN. ~

Few people realize the magnitude
and value Of the work being done by.
the Curator Tanner Of the State His
torical Society of North Dakota. Day
by.day the work Of receiving and ar
ranging the different and various mat
tiers pertaining to the work Of the
society is being carried on by this
man. II ~. &:5, Sti:F5sS8 :. q,
In the first place about three hun
dred weekly newspapers are received
and put in proper order. This is
done by opening the papers and
spreading them out nat SO that all the
creases caused by folding will dis.
appear and then are alphabetically
arranged on racks so that they can be
instantly found. Then the daily pa
pers received have the same attention
and care and when a complete volume
is obtained it is bound and placed in
a fire proof vault and preserved for
future reference. The room in which
the papers are first assorted and
placed upon the shelves must be SO
arranged that as little light and wind
as possible strikes the paper so as to
preserve the fiber of the paper to
the utmost extent possible. 1t takes
about 1000 square feet of shelves TO
hold the papers received.
One of the greatest difficulties 10
overcome in the work is to secure the
missing copies of the papers that
have not been properly mailed or lost
in transit. - ~ 4 WI :, . ~
| The law requires, two copies Of
every paper and so often only one copy
is mailed and when that is the case the
| officials must write and ask for the
missing copies. A little care on the
| part of publishers along this line will
be of great value to the society and
save much time, labor and expense.
The Nucleus of a Valuable Library.
The number of volumes, of the var
ious books in the library, are about six
hundred and consist principally Of
public documents like reports Of the
Bureau of Ethnology, state and other
| historical societies, about seventy-five
i volumes of reports OF the Smithsonian
Society, one hundred and forty vol
umes of records of the late civil war,
together with many miscellaneous
i works.
The real value of this beginning of
] a good library is in the selection of
the books so far obtained. e
The. key to the age of the civiliza-
4 ton to which the Red man belonged is
to be found in the museum The
thoughtless or curious person will find
much to amuse him here, perhaps, but
the student will find the records of the
conditions in which the Indian lived
when he alone was the only inhabit.
ant of these vast regions before ne
came into contact with the white man
or the white mans methods of life.
| When the Indian saw tool of steel
he at once realized that it was super.
ior to his own kind Of tool, hence he
ceased to make Of bone or stone the
implements NEEDED in his mode of life
and sought the ones made by the man
of different civilization to his own
hence in the museum where is collect
i ed the various articles of daily life
do we read the history of his condi
ton, civilization or lack Of it. This
is what makes these collections sc
valuable and North Dakota should
| guard jealousy her unearthed treas
ures OF this nature that are SO valu
/ able and not allow other states Il
carry off these facts of the history d
life that was at one time so plenti
4 full upon her plains
The Work Of the Collectors. q
q There are many relic hunters ant
] vandals in the fields searching TO
! curious things and are sometimes find