Title: Elmer Ward Cart Oral History Photo Collection
Dates: 1976
Collection Number: 00032-WD-01
Quantity: 2 items
Abstract: Portraits of Elmer Ward Cart taken by Larry J. Sprunk after his oral history interview on January 29, 1976 in Minot, Ward County (N.D.). Elmer Ward Cart did not provide any photographs to be copied for the project. The interview is available on Oral History Tape #1015A&B.
Provenance: The North Dakota Oral History Project was undertaken by Larry Sprunk, with the cooperation of the North Dakota American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, the North Dakota Farmers Union, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota. The primary objective of the North Dakota Oral History Project was to conduct oral tape recorded interviews with North Dakotans who lived through the state's history and who could speak of this history from a first-hand basis. Interviewees were photographed at the time of their interviews. In addition, the project borrowed over 6,000 historical photographs which were copied and added to the State Historical Society's collection. Many interviewees also donated family histories, documents, letters, ledgers, books, and artifacts.
Property Rights: The State Historical Society of North Dakota owns the property rights to this collection.
Copyrights: Copyrights to materials in this collection remain with the donor, publisher, author, or author's heirs. Researchers should consult the 1976 Copyright Act, Public Law 94-553, Title 17, U.S. Code and an archivist at this repository if clarification of copyright requirements is needed.
Access: This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Citation: Researchers are requested to cite the collection title, collection number, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota in all footnote and bibliographic references.
Related Collections:
10157 Oral History tape 1015A&B
Biographical Sketch: Elmer Ward Cart
Elmer Ward Cart was born on August 11, 1891 in Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa to Frederick and Lenora (Imel) Cart. His older sister Bertha (1887-1889) passed away in Iowa in 1889. Elmer and his siblings Wilber Garrett (1896-1988), Walter James (1889-1990), and Mabel (1894-1980) came to North Dakota with his parents in 1906. He was educated in the public schools of that area. Later he attended a course at the North Dakota Agricultural College. He married Carrie Agnette Louise “Nettie” Lawson of Luck, Polk County, Wisconsin on June 30, 1929. They settled on his 480-acre (1.9 km2) farm in Kenmare area of Burke County that he had been working since 1915. He continued farming there until 1935. Their daughter, Mary Ann was born in 1931. The family moved to Bismarck, North Dakota in 1935. Elmer was a member of the Lutheran Church. He was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives first in 1921 and served for three sessions, ending in 1926. He was elected to the North Dakota Railroad Commission in 1934 and served until 1940. The name of that commission changed to the North Dakota Public Service Commission in 1940, and he was elected as a member of the Public Service Commission serving until 1941 when he was defeated for re-election. He was once again elected to the Public Service Commission in 1948. He served for one six-year term until 1954 when he was defeated in the Republican primary. During World War II he worked in the Office of Defense Transportation in Bismarck, North Dakota and as the director of traffic for the Farmer’s Union. Nettie, his wife, died in 1952 at age 59. Elmer moved to Minot, North Dakota in 1955 working as director of traffic for the Chamber of Commerce. Elmer was elected as a delegate to the North Dakota Constitutional Convention in 1972, where he was among four delegates to cast “no” votes on the question of adopting the new charter. The question went to a vote of the people and was soundly defeated. Cart died on February 6, 1980 at the age of 88 in Minot, North Dakota. Elmer and his wife Nettie are buried in Fairview Cemetery in Bismarck, Burleigh County, North Dakota. He was survived by his daughter Mary Ann (Cart) Matson of Minneapolis, Minnesota and five grandchildren.
Sources: Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com, Bismarck Tribune, Minot Daily News.
INVENTORY
00032-WD-01-00001 Elmer Ward Cart interviewee portrait taken by Larry Sprunk on January 29, 1976 after oral history interview in Minot, Ward County (N.D.).
00032-WD-01-00002 Elmer Ward Cart interviewee portrait taken by Larry Sprunk on January 29, 1976 after oral history interview in Minot, Ward County (N.D.).
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