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

N. JOHANNA KILDAHL PAPERS

COLLECTION: OGL #73

DATES: 1895-1936

SIZE: .25 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The N. Johanna Kildahl Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by N. Johanna Kildahl, 1951.

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

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

N. Johanna Kildahl was born in Wastedo, Minnesota, in 1868. Her family moved to Towner County, Dakota Territory, in August 1883. They homesteaded in the Mauvais Coulee Valley near Lac aux Morts. She taught schools at rural schools in Towner County and then attended the University of North Dakota, graduating in 1898. She earned a Masters Degree in Biology from UND in 1900. From 1900 to 1905 she was an instructor in the Biology Department and Assistant Curator of the Museum. She graduated from the University of Chicago, in 1909, with a Doctor of Philosophy. She was the first female graduate of the University of North Dakota to receive a Doctorate. She remained in Chicago and became a Biology teacher in their school system. Following World War I, Miss Kildahl became a vocal supporter of the League of Nations and the World Court. She died on June 5, 1967.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The N. Johanna Kildahl Papers contain the writings of Miss Kildahl. A few of them are about her life and childhood, but most of them are about politics. Her writings about politics ("Letter to President Woodrow Wilson," "Letter to the Hon. W. G. Harding," "International Law," "League of Nations," "Practical Plan for World Peace," and "World Court") focused on the League of Nations and international law. She Believed that the League of Nations should have been formed more carefully and composed of as many nations as possible. Each of those nations would have equal rights on within the League. The League would create laws which would be enforced by something other than force. Her "World Court", a completely impartial group of arbitrators, would then pass judgement upon the nations that broke those laws.

The folder titled "Selfhelp" contains an essay of sorts that Miss Kildahl wrote while at the University of North Dakota about the struggles she went through to pay for college and the cornucopia of benefits she gained from doing so.

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

  1. "Selfhelp" (read in chapel at The University of North Dakota, 1895). 3pp.
  2. Letter to President Woodrow Wilson, Versailles, France, January 15, 1919 from Maza, ND, typewritten copy, 6pp.
  3. Letter to the Hon. W. G. Harding, Marion, Ohio, December 30, 1920 from Minneapolis, MN, typewritten copy, 7 pp.
  4. "International Law," 1924, 18 pp.
  5. "League of Nations," 1924, 14 pp.
  6. "Practical Plan for World Peace," 1924, 17 pp. And "Five Fundamental Slogans for World Peace", 1 p.
  7. "World Court," 1924, 24 pp.
  8. Newspaper clippings from Minneapolis newspapers regarding Kildahl's League of Nations activities.
 Original Donation  First Addition: undated

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