1.0 Welcome to the project
Welcome!
These digitized WWII letters are a public resource that lets students, scholars, and the general public explore the social ties and connections that defined rural life in the upper Midwest from 1941 to 1944. The Minot State University History Department is particularly grateful to the Reiten family for donating use of these digitized materials.
The collection point for the letters was Chester (Chet) Reiten, who we see move from the farm in Hastings, ND to the State Agricultural College (now NDSU) in Fargo, to a summer job in Seattle, and then to flight training for the Navy in Northfield, MN, Iowa City, IA, and briefly, Olathe Kansas.
On exploring the collection readers will discover almost no letters from Chet, but a wide range of correspondence addressed to him, plus indications that he was a regular and prolific letter writer. The letters he received range greatly and came from his parents Lars and Carrie, always signed "Ma" and "Pa," younger brother Donald, sister Lenora, relatives, college friends, and high-school friends from the area around Hastings, Litchville, and Valley City, ND.
As you explore these letters, please remember that this site is a work in progress. More themes and "tags" will be added connecting letters together and the occasional scanning error are being corrected. Finally, there are additional materials still to be added concerning the Navy career of Chester Reiten's future wife, Joy, and materials about his career as a media owner, as Mayor of Minot, as a ND State Senator, and as the founder of the Nørsk Høstfest.
If you have questions, suggestions, or would like to donate use of even more letters from this period please contact:
Dan Ringrose, Professor and Chair of the Division of Social Science
daniel.ringrose@minotstateu.edu | 701.858.3037
Notes on dates:
Dates in this digital collection are coded as follows:
1. Year, Month, Date: yyyy-mm-dd, with leading zeros to ensure correct sorting.
2. Any date information in the written document, such as indication of a month or date at the start of a written letter, is prioritized, followed by information from postmark dates.
3. If a written letter begins an incomplete date, such as June 23, or Monday evening, then information from the Postmark date is used to complete the date. Undated written letters are filed using the earliest postmark date on the envelope.