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

THE SHAFT

COLLECTION: OGL #545

DATES: 1935-1938

SIZE: .25 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Shaft was deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by Sam S. Silverman on June 6, 1979 (Acc. #79-617). Additional copies of The Shaft were transferred from University Publications.

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

HISTORICAL SKETCH

The Quill Club was formed in 1928 to encourage and stimulate interest in writing and literature. Membership was open to any student at the University of North Dakota. Interested persons were required to submit a writing sample, which could consist of a story, poem, or any other form of literature. Membership was very selective; in 1928, only five out of a total of 31 students who sought membership were granted it.

The Quill Club published The Shaft, UND’s first literary magazine in 1935. The Shaft was devoted to the contemporary thought and writing of the students on campus. All students were invited to submit material, and the members of the Quill Club were responsible for selecting and editing the articles published in the magazine. The Shaft was published on an annual basis from 1935-1938. The Quill Club appears to have ended in 1938.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Shaft collection includes four editions of the literary magazine, published from 1935-1938. Each issue was published in the Spring, and contained prose, poetry, illustrations, and advertising. Each issue was approximately 30 pages in length. Also included is one letter written from Robert Nathan to Sam Silverman, who was the business manager for The Shaft from 1935-1936. The letter regards a book review of Nathan’s Road of Ages which appeared in the 1935 edition of The Shaft.

The Shaft also contains some of the earliest work of Thomas McGrath, the famed North Dakota poet. McGrath was an active member of the Quill Club who contributed selections to The Shaft in 1936, 1937, and 1938. He also served on the editorial board of The Shaft in 1937, and acted as the Quill Club’s President in 1938.

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

1. The Shaft: 1935
2. Correspondence from Robert Nathan to Sam Silverman regarding a book review of Nathan’s Road of Ages which appeared in the 1935 edition of The Shaft
3. The Shaft: 1936
4. The Shaft: 1937
5. The Shaft 1938

Return to: Literary
Return to: UND Student Organizations