Title: Oscar and Glen Nordstrom (Braddock, ND)
Dates: 1917-1988
Collection Number: MSS 11224
Quantity: 1.5 feet
Abstract: Consists of the papers of Oscar A. Nordstrom and his son Glen Allen Nordstrom,
Braddock (ND). Collection includes a Certificate of Discharge exempting Oscar Nordstrom from service in World War I because he was engaged in agricultural work; a Farmers' Pocket Ledger with handwritten notes; and 25 handmade comic books created by Nordstrom from newspaper comic strips, dating from 1932 through part of 1936.
Provenance: The Nordstrom Family (Braddock, ND) collection was donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota by Bev Staddon, granddaughter of Oscar Nordstrom and daughter of Glen Nordstrom, on July 2, 2014. Additional material was added to the collection on July 22, 2014.
Property rights: The State Historical Society of North Dakota owns the property rights to the collection.
Copyrights: Copyrights to materials in this collection remain with the donor, publisher, author, or author's heirs. Researchers should consult the 1976 Copyright Act, Public Law 94-553, Title 17, U.S. Code and an archivist at this repository if clarification of copyright requirements is needed. Permission to use any radio or television broadcast portions of the collection must be sought from the creator.
Access: This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Citation: Researchers are requested to cite the collection title, collection number, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota in all footnote and bibliographic references.
HISTORICAL OR BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Oscar Albin Nordstrom was born at Walnut Grove (MN), March 13, 1892, the first of Axel and Mathilda Nordstrom's five children. He attended school, and worked on the farm with his parents until the spring of 1914, when he moved with farming equipment, to a farm which he had purchased at Braddock (ND). On June 7, 1919, Oscar married Irene Wade of Kimball (MN). They had met while Irene taught school near Braddock. They had six children: Glen, Willard, Dorothy, Helen, Faye and Sylvia. Due to severe drought conditions in North Dakota, the family moved to Kuna (ID), where they rented a farm in 1936. In the spring of 1939, Oscar became ill with pneumonia and passed away on May 19, 1939. He was buried at Kimball (MN). Irene sold their farming equipment and returned with her family to Kimball. She was employed at Our Own Hardware in Kimball. The children resided in the surrounding communities.
INVENTORY
Box 1:
Certificate of Discharge Because Engaged in a Necessary Industrial or Agricultural Enterprise issued by the District Board for the State of North Dakota exempting Oscar A. Nordstrom,
Braddock (ND), from military service in World War I because he was engaged in agriculture, October 3, 1917
Bills and receipts from The Bismarck Hospital and Deaconess Home to Oscar Nordstrom,
Braddock (ND), January 19, 1933, March 30, 1933 and October 21, 1934. Two of the bills
(January 1993 and October 1934) are related to childbirth and are detailed as to charges
Copies of a death certificate for a stillborn baby dated January 11, 1933, and a letter from Irene (Mrs. Oscar) Nordstrom to her sister-in-law Alice detailing her recovery and how life was on the
farm, April 22, 1933
Documents related to the purchase and loss of farm land in Emmons County, ND, including: warranty deeds, Notice of Expiration of Period of Redemption (appears to be for taxes, dated 1932); mortgage and assignment of mortgage documents and other documents related to mortgage on Oscar Nordstrom's farm in Braddock, ND; insurance policy on dwelling, barn and granary dated 1922 on Nordstrom farm, payable to Mrs. Nora Sisco from whom the farm was purchased; letter from the State of North Dakota, Office of State Land Department dated March 17, 1939, to Oscar A. Nordstrom of Kuna, ID, demanding he sign a quit claim deed surrendering property in Emmons County, ND for failure to make interest payments since 1930
Farmers' Pocket Ledger with handwritten notes on costs; numbers of days, numbers of teams for various activities; and names of persons paid. The book doesn't indicate who it belonged to but it must have belonged to Oscar Nordstrom, ca. 1925-1928
25 handmade comic books created by Glen Nordstrom from newspaper comic strips, dating from 1932 through part of 1936. Books include the Wash Tubbs, Alley Oop, Salesman Sam, Boots and her Buddies, and Freckles comic series. The books measure approximately 3 1/2" by 12 1/12" and have covers made from cardboard boxes and were hand sewn to bind them. Nordstrom cut the comic series from the newspaper until he had complete stories for each series and then bound them into books. He saved unbound strips of comics, finally finishing binding them in 1988; but most of the 23 books in the collection are from the 1930s. The books are an interesting example of the ingenuity and creativity of a young man growing up in North Dakota during the Depression. One of the comic books includes a brief history of Nordstrom's comic collection that he wrote when he finished binding the last few books in 1988
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