ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202
COLLECTION: OGL #1200
DATES: 1934-1974
SIZE: 3 folders
ACQUISITION: The Harold Shaft Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by Bruce Gjovig, Grand Forks, North Dakota on October 11, 1989 (Acc.#89-1683).
ACCESS: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.
Harold DeWitt Shaft was born March 22, 1899, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Minot, North Dakota. Following graduation, he attended the University of North Dakota.
Shaft was inducted into the United States Army on October 6, 1918. He served in the Students Army Training Corps at UND until November 11, 1918, when the war ended. He was then transferred to the Central Officers Training School, Camp Grant, Illinois. He was discharged on December 12, 1919 with the rank of private.
He graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1922 with a Bachelor of Laws degree. While at UND, Shaft served as the class secretary/treasurer from 1918-1920, was a staff member of the Dacotah annual, and was active in Phi Alpha Delta, a law fraternity, and Delta Sigma Rho, an honorary oratory and debate fraternity.
In 1922, he found work as a district court reporter in Bismarck before entering the law firm of Scott Cameron in 1925. He entered Usher Burdick's Fargo law firm in 1926. He returned to Bismarck in 1928 to accept a position as Assistant Attorney General. He served in this position until 1934, when he moved to Grand Forks to join the law firm of O.B. Burtness.
He was the city attorney for Grand Forks from 1938-1940, and from 1944-1956. He also served for many years as the attorney for the Grand Forks School Board. He was a special lecturer in contract law at the UND Law School from 1934-1937, as well as 1947-1974. He was honored by UND with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1963.
Shaft was active in the North Dakota Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Bar Foundation and the American College of Trial Lawyers, to name a few. On a local level, he served as President of the Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce and the Community Chest (United Fund). He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge, the American Legion, the Franklin Club and First Presbyterian Church.
He married Corinne Heitman of Grand Forks on June 23, 1923. The couple had three children: John, Barbara and Margaret. Harold and Corrine Shaft died in Grand Forks on February 13, 1974 at their home.
The Harold Shaft Papers consists of photocopied material, including correspondence, newspaper clippings and memorials. The correspondence dates from 1934, 1974 and 1987. Included in the 1987 letter is a copy of Harold Shaft's resume. The majority of the newspaper clippings deal with the death of Harold and Corinne Shaft in 1974. The final folder consists of memorials to Harold Shaft from the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education, the Grand Forks School Board, the American Bar Association and the University of North Dakota.
Box 1
Folder
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