Scientist Emil O. Deere
Deere's Old Main Office
~ SVHA secretary Mrs. Jaderborg in charge of cleaning it out
Deere's Old Main Office
~ SVHA secretary Mrs. Jaderborg in charge of cleaning it out
Secretary of the Smoky Valley Historical Association, 1963-1969
(The Deere Papers Responsibility & Their Loss Later On)
(The Deere Papers Responsibility & Their Loss Later On)
Mrs. Jaderborg's work and leadership as the Secretary of the Smoky Valley Historical Association also known as the SVHA had to be extraordinary. It is not at all surprising that she join the SVHA due to her ongoing researching and writing on the community. She reports from the 1969, The Smoky Valley in the After Years, on page 220 under the topic: "Elizabeth Jaderborg" that she "was secretary of the Smoky Valley Historical Association from its reorganization in October, 1963, until February, 1969." Her research and writings especially are of great value to the piecing together of the very beginnings of this most important historical organization in the Smoky Valley region. She was the "first" woman to become Secretary of the SVHA, a position in of her era that required many responsibilities.
One of those was that of historical preservation significance that required the clearing out of the late Dr. Emil O. Deere's 5th floor Old Main office at Bethany College before it was demolished in 1968. He had occupied that office for perhaps as long as 60 years or more. She had truckloads of papers and artifacts driven to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum for safe storage. Today, there is hardly a "banker box" full of his lifetime work there, and his most important work on Coronado Heights was reported lost to me in a email in June of 2022. This was the 1907 Dr. E. O. Deere's Master's Thesis, "Geology of the Smoky Buttes." That document laid the foundational information for the work to begin on Coronado Heights and for the beginning of the Lindsborg Historical Society, today's Smoky Valley Historical Association. The loss of Dr. Deere's thesis as well as the loss of the life-time evidence of his work contained in those truck loads being driven to the Old Mill Museum is one of the known greatest historical losses for Lindsborg and for Bethany College.
Here is the letter she mailed to me as a CC regarding the cleaning out of Dr. Deere's office in Old Main.
One of those was that of historical preservation significance that required the clearing out of the late Dr. Emil O. Deere's 5th floor Old Main office at Bethany College before it was demolished in 1968. He had occupied that office for perhaps as long as 60 years or more. She had truckloads of papers and artifacts driven to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum for safe storage. Today, there is hardly a "banker box" full of his lifetime work there, and his most important work on Coronado Heights was reported lost to me in a email in June of 2022. This was the 1907 Dr. E. O. Deere's Master's Thesis, "Geology of the Smoky Buttes." That document laid the foundational information for the work to begin on Coronado Heights and for the beginning of the Lindsborg Historical Society, today's Smoky Valley Historical Association. The loss of Dr. Deere's thesis as well as the loss of the life-time evidence of his work contained in those truck loads being driven to the Old Mill Museum is one of the known greatest historical losses for Lindsborg and for Bethany College.
Here is the letter she mailed to me as a CC regarding the cleaning out of Dr. Deere's office in Old Main.
July 7th, 2004
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
The Smoky Valley Historical Association was asked by the Bethany College administration to clean out Dr. Deere's office in Old Main building and see that the materials there were taken to the McPherson County Museum for storage. As secretary of that organization, I was given this task. Abner Lundquist, another member of the association, offered the use of his pickup to move it, but the materials were disordered and had to be moved in boxes. I went to the building and packed up boxes every day, but every day the place was a mess again. I was told that there were students who were frantically going through things looking for old letters to Dr. Deere from his wife, Lydia. Personally, I never saw any in all the packing I did, but it certainly was discouraging to go there every day and have to clean up after the scavengers before I could proceed. But every day, Abnar took a load or two down to the museum. When I resigned from the Association, a group of women from the College continued to clear out the office. Before abandoning the project, they had a sale of things from old Main. I was in the state of Maine at the time. As far as I know everything from that office went to the Old Mill Museum.
Signed,
Elizabeth Jaderborg
Copies Fran Cochran
Smoky Valley Historical Association
BETHANY COLLEGE
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
The Smoky Valley Historical Association was asked by the Bethany College administration to clean out Dr. Deere's office in Old Main building and see that the materials there were taken to the McPherson County Museum for storage. As secretary of that organization, I was given this task. Abner Lundquist, another member of the association, offered the use of his pickup to move it, but the materials were disordered and had to be moved in boxes. I went to the building and packed up boxes every day, but every day the place was a mess again. I was told that there were students who were frantically going through things looking for old letters to Dr. Deere from his wife, Lydia. Personally, I never saw any in all the packing I did, but it certainly was discouraging to go there every day and have to clean up after the scavengers before I could proceed. But every day, Abnar took a load or two down to the museum. When I resigned from the Association, a group of women from the College continued to clear out the office. Before abandoning the project, they had a sale of things from old Main. I was in the state of Maine at the time. As far as I know everything from that office went to the Old Mill Museum.
Signed,
Elizabeth Jaderborg
Copies Fran Cochran
Smoky Valley Historical Association
BETHANY COLLEGE
The Original Copy
OLD MAIN
The Home of Dr. Emil O. Deere's Office of 50 years
The Home of Dr. Emil O. Deere's Office of 50 years
* * *
"Let Us Celebrate Them"
* * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © 2022 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
"Let Us Celebrate Them"
* * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © 2022 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
