DAKOTA TERRITORY CENTENNIAL COMMISSION
The Dakota Territory Centennial Commission was authorized by a Senate resolution in 1959. The Governor was directed to serve as chairman and was to appoint the Dakota Territory Centennial Commission consisting of 19 members "for the purpose of formulating and executing plans to appropriately observe the centennial anniversary of the creation of the Dakota Territory." The State Legislature appropriated funds in the 1961 session to support the activities of the Commission and to hire a full-time director. In the same session, the Legislature passed resolutions promoting the observance of the Dakota Territory centennial, inviting Lawrence Welk and his orchestra to visit North Dakota and participate in the celebration, and requesting the Postmaster General to issue a U.S. postage stamp to commemorate the centennial. The Dakota Territory Centennial Commission ceased to function after the centennial era and exhaustion of its 1961 appropriation.
As part of the celebration of the Dakota Territory anniversary, the Commission sponsored a special Independence Day celebration on the Capitol grounds in 1961; coordinated numerous local celebrations in the state; collected biographies of Dakota Territory pioneers; identified pioneers and awarded "Centennial Homesteaders Awards;" sold souvenirs; published Dakota Panorama in 1961; and supported publication of Dakota Portraits: A Sentimental Journal of Pictorial History in 1964. During the centennial celebration, the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award was established and awarded to a number of noteworthy North Dakotans.
CHRONOLOGY
1959 Senate authorizes the Commission. Governor serves as Chairman.
1961 Legislature appropriates funds for a director of the nineteen-member commission and promotes the observance.
1961 Lawrence Welk visits and participates in the Centennial. Postmaster General issues a commemorative stamp.
1961 Commission ceases and exhausts its appropriation.
1961 Governor inaugurates the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award.
SERIES
30064 Subject Files
30065 Unwritten Dakota Tales
30066 Homesteader Application Forms and Related Correspondence
30792 Homesteader Index File
SOURCE
Gray, David P. Guide to North Dakota State Archives, 1985.
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