ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, ND 58202

FRANCES KANNOWSKI PAPERS

COLLECTION: OGL #1454

DATES: 1933-1978

SIZE: .75 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Frances Kannowski Papers was deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection on October 8, 2002, by Paul Kannowski, Corpus Christi, Texas (Acc.#2003-2606).

ACCESS: Available for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.

RELATED COLLECTIONS:

OGL#566, Grand Forks Park Board Papers
OGL#1476, Max Kannowski Papers
OGL#683, Paul Kannowski Papers

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Frances Eleanor (Burdick) Kannowski was born on January 4, 1896, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was the youngest of three children. She graduated from high school in 1916 from Fairmont, Minnesota. She attended Russell-Sage College in Troy, New York. She also attended the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and studied biology and commerce.

Frances Burdick met Max Kannowski in Mitchell, South Dakota. He took a job as the Superintendent of Parks in Grand Forks in 1921 and she worked in Chicago until their marriage in 1923. Following Max Kannowski's death in 1933, Frances Kannowski was appointed to the position and continued working until 1953. She was the first woman Superintendent of Parks and Recreation in the United States. After stepping down from her position as Superintendent, she was a realtor for Severson Real Estate Company for 28 years. She was the first woman Realtor in Grand Forks.

Kannowski was an active member and held offices in many organizations including: the Horticulture Committee of the American Institute of Park Executives, the National Shade Tree Conference, North Dakota Horticultural Society, the Chamber of Commerce Beautification Committee, and the North Dakota Peony Society. She was also an active volunteer with the Grand Forks Girl Scout Council, Grand Forks National Victory Gardens, and the Women's Army Corps. She organized the Grand Forks Women's Outdoor Sports Club in 1934 and was a strong supporter of the youth ice hockey programs in Grand Forks and North Dakota.

Kannowski received many honors and awards. She was the Grand Forks' Woman of the Year in 1952, the Grand Forks Realtor of the Year in 1973, and a member of the North Dakota Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1983 the Grand Forks Park Board named Kannowski Park in honor of Max and Frances Kannowski in downtown Grand Forks. She also received the Alexander Griggs awards in 1987 and the Sioux Award from the University of North Dakota Alumni Association in 1995. In 2001 at the age of 103, Frances was inducted into the North Dakota Recreation and Park Association Hall of Fame.

She had two sons, two grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She died in Grand Forks on November 20, 2004, at the age of 106.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Frances Kannowski Papers date from 1933-1978 and are divided into three sections: Grand Forks Park Board, North Dakota Peony Society and the Prairie Rose Garden Club.

Frances Kannowski began her career as the Superintendent of Parks in 1933. The Grand Forks Park Board materials contain several notebooks dating from 1933-1954. One notebook contains personal records including financial records and a daily log of her activities when Kannowski began her career. There are four notebooks containing information about trees, shrubs, flowers, and grass and how to care for them. In these notebooks are also women's and men's softball team names. Lastly, there is a small notebook containing notes and records of activities in the Parks in 1953, and a larger notebook containing miscellaneous notes.

The North Dakota Peony Society documents date from 1957-1978 and contain information about different peony shows and how to care for peonies. Kannowski was an active and long time member of the society.

There is also one folder containing membership booklets from 1975 and 1976 of the Prairie Rose Garden Club of which she was also a member.

Seventy-five photographs were separated and placed in the Orin G. Libby Photograph Collection.

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

Grand Forks Park Board

1. Park Board Publications
2. Greater Grand Forks hockey album
3. Personal Records: 7/31/33-1941
4. Notes and records of activities in the Parks: 1953
5. Miscellaneous notes: date unavailable
6. Notes and correspondence on trees, shrubs, and flowers planted in North Dakota
7. Cultural information on growth of flowers and plants
8. Information on flowers for Parks, records of men's softball leagues, snowmodeling, and miscellaneous records
9. Information on growth of trees, shrubs and grass. List of women's softball teams

ND Peony Society

10. Membership
11. Membership card into The American Peony Society
12. Correspondence: 1949-1981
13. Meeting notes
14. Newspaper articles, press release, and Peony Prattle
15. Brochures for ND Peony Show: 1957-1964
16. Registration Blanks: 1959 & 1964
17. Peony Show Schedule: 1978, Peony show winners: 1973 & 1975
18. Peony color classification and group E artistic division rules
19. Donations to ND Peony Society: 1973
20. Planting and care directions for peonies
21. Guest book
22. ND shelterbelt information

Prairie Rose Garden Club

23. Prairie Rose Garden Club: 1975 &1976

SEPARATIONS RECORD

75 photographs were separated and placed in the Orin G. Libby Photograph Collection.

OGL#1454-

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