This online calendar of events emphasizes educational, archaeological, preservation, and history related programs throughout the year across South Dakota. Green entries denote activities at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. Blue entries denote off-site activities sponsored by the SD State Historical Society and/or the Heritage Fund. If you would like to submit an event to be included on the calendar, please complete and submit the following form: Events form, PDF or Events form, Word.

March 2011

Event: SD State Archives Open
Description: The State Archives is open every 1st Saturday of the month. Staff will be available to assist with research. The State Archives manages a collection of photographs, films, maps, books, newspapers, state and county records, as well as personal and organizational records.
Location:  Cultural Heritage Center, 900 Governors Dr., Pierre
Date/Time: March 5, 2011; 9 a.m to 4:30 p.m. CT
Admission:  Free
Sponsor: South Dakota State Historical Society
Contact:Archives (e-mail or web), 605-773-3804

Event: Free admittance to the Museum of the SD State Historical Society
Description: Admittance to the museum is free the 1st Sunday of the month. The Museum has 15,000 square feet of exhibition space with exhibits divided into five galleries.
Location: Cultural Heritage Center, 900 Governors Dr., Pierre
Date/Time: March 6, 2011; 1- 4:30 p.m. CT
Admission:  Free
Sponsor: South Dakota State Historical Society
Contact: 605-773-3458

Event: The Great Beer & History Session, 2011
Description: Come hear an informative session on the history of beer brewing in South Dakota and taste samples from four Pierre area home brewers. Beer artifacts from the State Historical Society’s museum and archives collections will be on display.
Location: Cultural Heritage Center, 900 Governors Dr., Pierre
Date/Time: March 6, 2011; 2-4 p.m. CT
Admission:  Free
Sponsor: La Minestra - primary sponsor; also South Dakota State Historical Society & The Crossing Casino
Contact: 605-773-6000
Photos of the event available on the museum's flickr site
Video of program presentation is available on the museum's YouTube channel

Event: Waterlily by Ella Cara Deloria - History & Heritage Book Club
Description: Deloria was a Sioux Indian and an ethnologist who worked with anthropologist Franz Boas. Written in the early 1940s, this culturally detailed novel of 19th century Sioux life focuses on a young girl named Waterlily.
Location:  Cultural Heritage Center, 900 Governors Dr., Pierre
Date/Time: March 8, 2011; 7 p.m. CT
Admission: Free
Sponsor: South Dakota State Historical Society & the South Dakota Heritage Fund
Contact: Dorinda Daniel 605-773-6006, dorinda.daniel@state.sd.us
Additional Comments: The History & Heritage Book Club is open to everyone. People who want to join the discussion by telephone are welcome to do so by making arrangements in advance with Dorinda (see above).

Event: Program to be announced - Preservation Wednesday
Description: Program to be announced. The public is encouraged to attend.
Location: Vermillion Public Library, 18 Church St., Vermillion
Date/Time: March 16, 2011; 7 p.m. CT
Admission: Free
Sponsor: Clay County Historic Preservation Commission
Contact: Jim Wilson (e-mail or web), 605-624-4579
Additional Comments: Preservation Wednesdays are held every 3rd Wednesday of the month September through May.

Event: South Dakota's First Woman Pilot - Minnehaha County Historical Society monthly meeting
Description: Norma Kramer, historian and pilot, will present a program on Nellie Zabel Willhite, a pioneer aviatrix born in Box Elder, SD. While working as an airfield typist-stenographer, it was suggested she learn to fly. In 1927, at the age of 35, she became the first deaf woman to fly solo. Willhite worked with Amelia Earhart to plan the first women's national flying derby. She barnstormed, did aerial stunts, and worked as a commercial pilot until 1944. This free program is open to the public. Bring a friend.
Location: Old Courthouse Museum, 200 W. 6th St., Sioux Falls
Date/Time: March 18, 2011; 7 p.m. CT
Admission: Free
Sponsor: Minnehaha County Historical Society
Contact: Jim Carlson, 605-366-8403

Event: Thundering Herds: The Great Buffalo Hunts of the Northern Plains - part of the Third Sunday Archeology Presentation Series
Speaker: Jack Brink, Ph.D., Curator of Archaeology, Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton
Description: Jack Brink has a long history of involvement with the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump archeological site, including many years of research excavation at the site and development of a $10-million-dollar interpretive center. Head-Smashed-In, located near Ft. Macleod, Alberta, was designated a World Heritage Site in 1981. The oldest level of bison bones and stone tools at the site dates back to 5800 years before present. The site represents one type of what are commonly called communal bison kills, events that brought groups of people together to work cooperatively on these great hunts. Bison hunting strategies documented at archeological sites throughout the Northern Plains will be discussed.
Location: Augustana College, Gilbert Science Center Auditorium, 33rd & Summit Ave., Sioux Falls
Date/Time: March 20, 2011, 2 p.m. CT
Admission: free
Sponsor: Augustana College Archeology Lab and Sioux Falls Chapter of the SD Archaeological Society
Contact: Lynette Rossum (e-mail), 605-274-5493

Event: Artist Reception: Endless Visions
Description: Join us for an artists’ reception for Endless Visions: The South
Dakota Governor’s Fourth Biennial Art Exhibition. The juried exhibit consists of 47 pieces from artists living and working in South Dakota.
Location: Cultural Heritage Center, 900 Governors Dr., Pierre
Date/Time: March 27, 2011; 2-4 p.m. CT
Admission: Free
Sponsor: South Dakota State Historical Society & the South Dakota Heritage Fund
Contact: 605-773-6000

Event: Seventy-Five Years of Fassbender Photography - Preservation Thursday
Description: Local writer and historian Paul Higbee will present an engaging lecture on the lives and work of Joseph and George Fassbender, father and son, who photographed western South Dakotans from the 1920s until the 1990s. Subjects included Lakota life, Mount Rushmore's development, rodeos, railroading, generations of Black Hills teenagers posing for senior portraits and much more. These photos, as well as early glass plate negatives Joseph purchased, make up an important historical resource that is currently being secured and organized. The public is encouraged to attend.
Location: Deadwood City Hall, 102 Sherman St., Deadwood
Date/Time: March 31, 2011; Noon MT
Admission: Donations welcomed
Sponsor: Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission; Adam-Mastrovich Family Foundation, Mary Adams Balmat; Rapid City Journal; Black Hills Pioneer; Celebrity Hotel; Chubby Chipmunk Hand-Dipped Chocolates; The Historic Bullock Hotel; Saloon No. 10; TDG Communications

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