FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 1, 2008
CONTACT:  Chelle Somsen, (605) 773-5521, Chelle.Somsen@state.sd.us

Woonsocket film footage to be shown during Archives Month

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Mike Rounds has proclaimed October as “Archives Month” in South Dakota. Archives Month is a collaborative effort by professional organizations and repositories around the nation to highlight the importance of records of enduring value.

In 1997, the South Dakota State Historical Society-Archives at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre received four 16mm film reels of the Rufus and Elsie Hollingsworth family, who lived in Woonsocket. The films date from the late 1930s to the 1950s.

The films will be shown on Sunday Oct. 5, at 2 p.m. at the Railroad Depot in Woonsocket. The event is free to the public.

Various scenes show events in Woonsocket and Alpena, along with scenes on the James River, parades, Lake Pryor, farm scenes and family images. Most (but not all) of the filming was done in Woonsocket and the immediate area. 

Matthew T. Reitzel, manuscript archivist with the South Dakota State Archives, will be showing the films and discussing them.

 “Most people know about the State Historical Society’s goals of preserving and collecting historical information, but another of our goals is to make that information accessible,” Reitzel said. “Archives Month is one way in which we do that.”

The State Archives is open Monday through Friday and the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Contact the archives by phone at (605) 773-3804 or e-mail at archref@state.sd.us