FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 11, 2007

CONTACT: Jeff Mammenga, (605) 773-6000, Jeff.Mammenga@state.sd.us

 

 

PIERRE, S.D. – Aberdeen historian Dr. Arthur R. Buntin will receive the Robinson Award from the South Dakota State Historical Society on Saturday, April 14, at its annual history conference in Pierre.

 

Dr. Buntin is being recognized for his ongoing leadership in promoting historic preservation and heritage awareness in Aberdeen and Brown County since 1972. As of July 1, Buntin will be retiring from the Aberdeen/Brown County Landmarks Commission. He has been a member of the commission since 1978, the date of its official founding. He has served as chair, project manager and treasurer for many years.

 

The Robinson Award is named for South Dakota’s first state historian, Doane Robinson, and his son, Will G. Robinson, who followed in his father’s footsteps and was the third director of the State Historical Society. It is the highest and most prestigious of the annual Governor’s Awards for History. The award recognizes a lifetime of historical achievements and contributions.

 

Governor’s Awards for History are chosen by special committees and are awarded both to individuals and organizations who demonstrate excellence in the sharing, collection, preservation and interpretation of South Dakota history.

 

The Herbert S. Schell Award winner this year is Pierre native Joshua Garrett-Davis, now of New York City. The individual winners are Garvin Bertsch of Mitchell and Paul Horsted of Custer. The organizational winners are the Glueckstal Colonies Research Association of Redondo Beach, Calif., and the South Dakota Division of Parks and Recreation in Pierre. The Elementary History Teacher of the Year is Connie Mickelson of Enning School in Enning, and the Secondary History Teacher of the Year is Scott Thorson of Conde High School in Conde.

 

“These individuals and organizations all deserve our thanks and gratitude for helping to preserve the history of South Dakota,” said Gov. Mike Rounds. “Through their work, our state’s history will be available for future generations. They serve as examples of what is being accomplished through South Dakota’s 2010 Initiative goal of enhancing history as a tool for economic development and cultural tourism.”

 

The Schell Award is given annually to the author of the best article published in South Dakota History, the society’s award-winning quarterly journal. Garrett-Davis’ article, “The Red Power Movement and the Yankton Sioux Industries Pork-processing Plant Takeovers of 1975,” appeared in Volume 36, Number 2, the Summer 2006 issue. The article describes how, in March and again in May of 1975, small groups of Yankton Sioux tribal members forcibly occupied the pork-processing plant in the small reservation town of Wagner.

 

Bertsch is being recognized for his dedication to researching and recording the history of Mitchell by covering selected historical topics in great detail. A pharmacist by trade, Bertsch’s “second career” has made him an invaluable resource to the Mitchell area.

 

Horsted has excelled in the sharing, collection, preservation and interpretation of South Dakota’s past and present through his award-winning photography and talks on the history of the Black Hills. His two most recent books are Exploring with Custer: The 1874 Black Hills Expedition and The Black Hills Yesterday & Today.

 

Members of the Glueckstal Colonies Research Association are being recognized for their contributions to South Dakota history in the territorial and pioneer periods. Commonly referred to as the “Germans from Russia,” these researchers document the ancestry and lives of the many South Dakotans who descend from a group of ethnic Germans who colonized the Glueckstal Colonies in South Russia before coming to America.

 

The Division of Parks and Recreation is being recognized for the dedication of its employees in preserving, protecting and educating the public statewide about South Dakota’s historical resources. Among the large list of places in the state park system the public can learn the history of South Dakota are the Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve, Bear Butte, Blood Run, Custer State Park, Fort Sisseton and Spirit Mound.

 

Mickelson displays her dedication to teaching through her portrayal of historical figures, such as Harriet Tubman and Sacagawea. Mickelson, part of the Meade School District, even travels to other school districts to portray her historical characters for the betterment or understanding of other students.

 

Thorson is known not only for attacking the information in textbooks with enthusiasm and energy, but he incorporates stories, primary resources, educational videos, movies and field trips to such faraway places as Little Big Horn, Mont., to help breathe life into the black and white text found in the history books.

-30-