Another great item for my collection – Peter Norbeck for Lt. Governor

I probably paid more for this than I might have normally, but how often do you see campaign pieces promoting Peter Norbeck for Lt. Governor?

This is a campaign ink blotter, which is what they used to use to keep ink from being messy before the invention of ball point pens. They generally went of out existence in the 50’s. Up until that point, one side was blotter paper, and the other side would often be used for advertising messages, including political.

So, like a button or keychain, this is an honest-to-gosh Peter Norbeck campaign piece from his 1914 campaign for Lt. Governor, when he served one term before becoming South Dakota’s 9th Governor (1917-1921), and his three terms of office in the US Senate from 1921-1936.

If you’re not familiar with Peter Norbeck’s contributions to South Dakota, you should be, because he’s one of the giants of our State:

Norbeck made a number of contributions to South Dakota’s tourism industry. He worked with sculptor Gutzon Borglum to help him create his huge sculpture at Mount Rushmore, convinced presidents Calvin Coolidge and Franklin D. Roosevelt to support it, and shepherded multiple bills through Congress to provide federal funding for it.^[1] He encouraged the development of the Iron Mountain Road in the Black Hills. He also pushed for the development of Sylvan Lake, Needles Highway, Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and the Game Sanctuary in the Black Hills.^[7]

and..

Norbeck died of cancer in Redfield, South Dakota, during his third term as United States Senator in 1936. He is interred at Bloomington Church Cemetery, Platte, South Dakota.

The Peter Norbeck Summer House, in Custer State Park, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Read that here.

Literally, Western South Dakota would not be the destination it is without his contributions to our culture.

A great addition to my wall of South Dakota campaign pieces.