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

NORTH DAKOTA HYMN COLLECTION

COLLECTION: OGL #528

DATES: 1927

SIZE: 1 item

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The North Dakota Hymn Collection was deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection as a gift of John E. Bye, Institute for Regional Studies, Fargo, North Dakota, on March 29, 1979 (Acc. #79-579).

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

HISTORICAL SKETCH

In 1926, Minnie J. Nielson, North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction, asked poet James Foley of Bismarck to write the lyrics for a song about North Dakota. He created a poem that could be sung to the tune The Austrian Hymn. Dr. C. S. Putnam, conductor of the North Dakota Agricultural College Band in Fargo, composed the music for the lyrics. The first public presentation of the "North Dakota Hymn" was in the Bismarck City Auditorium in 1927.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The North Dakota Hymn Collection contains one copy of "North Dakota Hymn," the official state song of North Dakota, copyright 1927. The copy was produced for a mixed chorus.

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