Tag Archives: Springfield Normal School

A Slumber Party at “The Bee Hive”

The Bee Hive, Yankton County, South Dakota, ca. 1918; digital image 2014, privately held by [personal information withheld].

Slumber parties, as it turns out, have a long history among teenage girls. The caption, “They look happy don’t they? No wonder for they are just going home from a slumber party at ‘The Bee Hive,'” is penned on the back of this South Dakota snapshot, dated circa 1918.

In the photograph, a gaggle of girls crowds together on the porch of a clapboard building, located in or near Yankton County, South Dakota. All are dressed informally in simple cotton dresses. Several wear sailor-style neckerchiefs, a nod to the ongoing war abroad, and one dons a cap. Their short sleeves suggest warm weather; in southeastern South Dakota, this may have been anytime from May through September. Two squirming kittens can be spotted on the girls’ laps as they all lean together, their eyes on the camera.

From left to right sit Helena Nelson, Marguerite Miller, Andrea Nelson, Louise Nelson, Edith Nelson, and Mary Nelson. Helena, Andrea, Louise, and Mary were sisters; Edith was their cousin, and Marguerite was a close friend and neighbor in Township 93, near present-day Tabor. At some point, all attended the Southern State Normal School in nearby Springfield, where they gained the credentials needed to teach at the local country schools.¹

What, exactly, was the Bee Hive? In September 1918, Andrea Nelson wrote in her diary that, following a barn dance held in honor of a local soldier home on furlough, “Jim, Anne, little ones, Helena, Mary, and I stayed at the Beehive from three till morning.” Although Andrea’s guest list indicated that all present in the photograph were guests at this particular dance, it must not have been the same occasion, as, “About five Jim took Helena on to town, as she was to start by car with Kecks at six for the fair at Huron. The rest of us had a late breakfast. Then went to church.”²

She made one more mention of the Bee Hive in her diary when, several weeks later, she wrote, “Julia called up from Yankton after school. She said that a lady would be at the Beehive tomorrow night to demonstrate the preparation of sugar beets. She wanted us to come up.”³ This suggests to me that the Bee Hive may not merely have been a clever nickname for a friend’s home, but may actually have been a sort of social club or church-based organization – a place where one might stay the night but also take part in educational programs. I wonder if any locals still recall the name.

This photograph most likely dates to the summer of 1918. Mary, the youngest of the girls, pictured at far right, was fourteen that summer,⁴ and although her skirts still seem a tad shorter than those of the others, her hair is in the same style of twist as that of her seventeen-year-old sister, Helena.⁵ Andrea, the eldest at twenty-one, died unexpectedly late that year.⁶ This photograph was likely tucked away as a memento of a happy time when all were together for a lighthearted slumber party.

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‘Round the Maypole

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Helen Nelson was a student at the rural Southern State Normal School in Springfield, Bon Homme County, South Dakota, or perhaps a recent graduate, when she pasted this series of photographs in her scrapbook.¹ A group of young girls dance ’round a Maypole twined with ribbons, certainly in celebration of the first of May. They were likely students at a local one-room schoolhouse, perhaps from a teaching assignment near Helen’s home in Yankton County, South Dakota, or from the “practice school” near Springfield.²

: Maypole celebration, South Dakota, ca. 1920; digital image 2013, privately held by [personal information withheld].

: Maypole celebration, South Dakota, ca. 1920; digital image 2013, privately held by [personal information withheld].

: Maypole celebration, South Dakota, ca. 1920; digital image 2013, privately held by [personal information withheld].

Raising a Maypole for a May Day celebration seems just the type of thing that an enthusiastic young teacher would have arranged to brighten a typical school day. Andrea Nelson, Helen’s elder sister, wrote in her diary of spontaneous recess games such as “Pump Pump Pull Away,” as well as moving class outdoors in good weather.³ This Maypole must have been a planned affair; the ten or so girls, ranging in age from perhaps six to twelve, seem to be dressed in their best summer dresses, with most in white or pastels. Several wear bows in their hair as well as sashes at their waists. In the final photograph, they bow to each other as their dance concludes.

Although this celebration took place near 1920, Maypoles were certainly nothing new. The American Girls Handy Book, originally published in 1887, mentions the ancient origins of the day and gives the following instructions for a Maypole dance:

“An even number of persons are required for this dance; half the number take the end of a ribbon in the right hand and half in the left; they then stand facing alternately right and left. When the dance commences, each dancer facing the right passes under the ribbon held by the one opposite facing the left; she then allows the next person going to the left to pass under her ribbon, and so, tripping in and out, under and over, the ribbons are woven around the pole.”⁴

The dance goes on, including variations to weave the ribbons together, and all the while, according to the Handybook, “An appropriate song, with words set to a dancing air, should be sung by those taking part in the May-pole dance.”⁵

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A Yearbook from the Southern State Normal School, Springfield, South Dakota, 1916

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The Southern State Normal School in Springfield, South Dakota, also called the Springfield Normal School, offered a college education for those who had completed high school. A First Grade Teaching Certificate could be acquired in just one year of study, while a State Certificate and Life Diploma could be acquired in two years.¹ If your ancestor was a teacher in South Dakota, he or she may have attended the Southern State Normal School or a similar institution of higher learning.

The Echo, Vol. 1 (Springfield, South Dakota: Southern State Normal School, 1916); private collection of Melanie Frick. This volume was generously shared with the author by a relative.

I am fortunate to have a copy of The Echo, a yearbook put forth by the Southern State Normal School in 1916. The Echo offers a treasure trove of information about those who were affiliated with the school from 1915-1916, as it includes photographs of most of the students and faculty as well as details about everything from an individual’s year of study, to school clubs and organizations, to inside jokes among classmates shared in the form of clever poems and quotations.²

For example, I learned that when sisters Andrea and Louise Nelson attended college there, they were both members of the Y.W.C.A. and the Southern Normal Literary Society, where Andrea served a term as Secretary.³ What startled me, however, was a class poem that named, “Louise, so dumpy and fat.”⁴ I do hope that was a joke well taken, because while Louise didn’t necessarily have a willowy figure, she was quite pretty and stylish! The Echo shared that she also played on the girls’ basketball team.⁵

As copies of The Echo are likely not accessible to most researchers, I would like to offer look-ups for anyone seeking information about the individuals listed below, who were named in The Echo as faculty, students, or graduates of the Southern State Normal School at Springfield, Bon Homme County, South Dakota:

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