FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 20, 2007

Contact: Merl Paaverud

(701) 328-2666

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MAKES STAFF CHANGES

BISMARCK – The state’s history agency, the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND), has recently made some staff changes at the agency’s headquarters, the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck.

The following changes have occurred:

•         Bonnie Johnson began work August 28 as assistant editor for the State Historical Society. Since 2000, she has been an adjunct history instructor at Dickinson State University, teaching U.S. and North Dakota history, sociology, and museum-related classes. She created and directed the award-winning Footsteps Into Medora’s Past, which features a walking tour of old Medora and a professional theater production reenacting the 1885 murder trial of the Marquis de Mores. Since 1998 until September 2007, Johnson was an interpretive ranger at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. She has also worked as a copy editor and graphic designer. She earned a master of arts degree in teaching history and journalism from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and a bachelor of arts degree, also from Drake, in journalism.

•         Loren Jechort retired effective August 31 as cataloguer, a position he had held since joining the SHSND in 1992. He was responsible for accessioning, cataloguing, filing, labeling, and preparing published materials for use in the State Archives and Historical Research Library. Prior to his agency employment, he was a professional musician, including playing principal trumpet in the Devils Lake Community Orchestra from 1982-91.

•         Amy Bleier began work September 1 as research archaeologist. Previously, she worked for the SHSND as a geographic information services technician. She was employed with Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc., of Bismarck. She also worked as a geographer at Navigation Technologies in Fargo. A native of Fargo, she earned a master of arts degree in archaeology from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

•         Scott Rose began work October 9 as a security officer. A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, he recently completed a four-year enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving in Iraq. He is working toward a bachelor of arts degree in

            communications/marketing at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

•         Gerald Newborg will retire effective November 9 as the SHSND’s State Archivist, a position he has held since coming to the agency in 1981. During the past few years, he has been at the center of planning and overseeing the $5.7 million archives addition to the North Dakota Heritage Center, supervised the development of the North Dakota Veterans History Project, edited the annual series of interviews with the state’s most recent governors in the North Dakota History journal, and helped secure a $1 million grant to plan and organize the digitization of records in North Dakota. For these accomplishments and more, Newborg was presented with the Governor’s Award for Excellent in Public Service in 2006. He also co-authored the book, North Dakota: A Pictorial History, in 1988, honoring the state’s centennial.

•         Ann Jenks will begin work January 2, 2008 as State Archivist. She is University Archivist and Head of the Center for Archival Collections at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where she has been employed since 1996. Prior to that, she was state historian at the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre, where she worked in the archives division. Her work has included appraising and accessioning county, municipal and state records in Ohio and South Dakota. Jenks has earned master of arts and bachelor of arts degrees in history from Bowling Green State University.

•          Jim Davis, in the interim between Newborg’s retirement and Jenks’ arrival, will be the acting director of the State Archives and Historical Research Library. The SHSND’s head of reference services, Davis has been with the agency since October 1980.

            The State Historical Society of North Dakota manages 55 state historic sites and two state museums, operating as North Dakota’s department of history, archaeology and archives since 1895. The agency has 60 full-time employees and some 200 volunteers working in its four divisions statewide. For more information about the Society, contact the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck, call (701) 328-2666 or visit the Society’s web site at www.nd.gov/hist.

 – 30 –