Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without the assistance of librarians and archivists, without serendipitous moments in their wonderful storehouses of knowledge. A wealth of resources was made available to us within the archives of Carleton College, the State Historical Society of North Dakota, the Minnesota State Historical Society, the Minneapolis History Collection and Special Collections, the St. Paul Public Library, Harvard University, Brown University, the University of North Dakota, North Dakota State University, and Hamline University. Archivists and government employees in Kansas City assisted us as did those in Rochester, NY, and the Ohio Historical Society and Delaware Ohio Historical Society (in the search of information from Miriam's last place of residence when she died). We also conducted extensive correspondence and interviews with interested parties including his surviving relative, Thomas L. Hughes and Hughes's sister, Marianne Hughes Nordholm, as well as Irene Hause and Agnes Hunt, the daughters of Bliss's mother's housekeeper in Irene's last months. We placed advertisements in the newspaper in the Ohio community where his sister, Miriam, was living upon her death and in the Williston Herald; made queries to the Girl Scouts and to the Delaware (Ohio) County Historical Society; reviewed legal records in Adams County, ND, St. Paul, MN, and Kansas City, MO; reviewed the microfilm records of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Civil Works Administration (CWA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA) in North Dakota held at UND (many North Dakota WPA records have been discarded and are thus, sadly, not held by SHSND); searched records of the Kansas City YMCA and looked for people who would have been living there during Bliss's time; reached out via social media to people who might have knowledge of Bliss and made unsuccessful attempts to contact the descendants of Harold Matthews, who illustrated most of Bliss's books; corresponded and interviewed residents of the Scoria Lily Ranch in the years after Bliss's death; searched Ancestry.com; visited the Maple Lawn Cemetery in Faribault, MN and interviewed the sextant (who kindly probed the gravesite to ensure that a monument might not have sunken out of view); reviewed Bliss's military and other records from the National Archives; made multiple visits to the Scoria Lily Ranch in Adams County; and corresponded with and interviewed many other parties who have knowledge of, and interest in, Bliss.

Particular thanks to Jim Davis of SHSND (now retired). You are our hero and a champion for North Dakota history, toiling away tirelessly at the North Dakota Heritage Center. You always greeted us with a smile, and the interest you showed in our topic was much appreciated. Your friendship means the world to us. Congratulations on your retirement. Well-earned, faithful friend.

Thank you also to Sarah Walker, Davis' successor at the SHSND. Oddly enough, the North Dakota History journal carries no articles on Bliss. We hope this book corrects that omission.

Tom Lamb, College Archivist and Head of Special Collections at the Gould Library, Carleton College, was unfailingly helpful and Lillian's shared connection of Vanderbilt University with him was a unique delight.

The librarians at the Bismarck Public Library and the North Dakota State Library were also crucial by putting primary resources in our hands we would otherwise have had to do without. Sarah Deveraux, Troy Hamre, and Shari Mosser deserve praise for their diligence and cheerfulness.

In the winter of 2013, we visited the Minnesota History Center and spent the better part of two days there reading Bliss's 1935–36 papers, as excited as two little children. We came home with hundreds of copied pages, and new inspiration to learn more about this man, Paul Southworth Bliss, however, these letters only represented a short time period in his life and we knew we needed more. Lillian kept digging and unearthed hundreds of newspaper articles and, in the spring of 2018, we learned that Bliss's papers, which his sister Miriam had held upon his death, were then passed on upon Miriam's death in 1978 by her companion, Mary Snyder (Daphne Savage preceded Miriam in death), to her second-cousin, Thomas L. Hughes, who had the foresight to include these in the aforementioned collections he donated to Carleton College. This was just the rich lode of letters and photographs we had been hoping to find, many of which are represented in this biography. The only item we never found was the suicide note, which we believe Raymond Hughes or Miriam Bliss discarded or the Kansas City authorities lost.

Professor Lawrence Moe of Metropolitan State University in Minnesota, Plains Folk's legendary Dr. Tom Isern, Distinguished Professor of History at NDSU, and his wife, Dr. Suzanne Kelly, director of the NDSU Press, were also encouraging beyond measure.

A special blessing was the personal interview with Sharon and Dennis Seifert of Dickinson, long-time friends. To all our friends who frequently listened to us talk of this project, we thank you for your forbearance.

Lillian's aunt, T. Junette Henke (one of the authors of The Slope Saga), also regularly encouraged us to write this book! Her lifelong example has built our character.

This book would likely never have been written had it not been for the Sisters of Annunciation Monastery, who provided a serene and salvific space for Lillian's writing retreat in January of 2018, along with endless cheer, encouragement, prayers, and support. Here she could focus on the pile of research that had been accumulated — and just start writing. For good reason, architect Marcel Breuer called this place his "gem of the prairie."

Many thanks to personal friends who encouraged us on this journey including Clay Jenkinson, who made so many useful suggestions, and Kevin Carvell who shared a wealth of nuggets and his thoughts, and also connected us to John Dvorak and LeAnn Zimmerman, who greatly assisted us in our effort to leave no stone unturned, searching, in vain, in Kansas City for the suicide note (Dvorak is a retired investigative reporter living in Kansas City).

Thanks also to local historians Loren Luckow and Bonnie Smith at the Dakota Buttes Museum in Hettinger, ND, for their assistance in locating historical records of Bliss's time in Adams County, and to Deb Markegard and her staff at the Adams County Courthouse for valuable assistance in finding real estate records.

Back issues of the Adams County Record in Hettinger contained a deep treasure of information about the Scoria Lily Ranch and Bliss's time in Adams County. The papers are bound in large leather books, done obviously at some expense to the paper's publishers over the years, and provide a comprehensive history of the area. They are stored at the Dakota Buttes Museum and are open to anyone who wishes to learn about the history of Hettinger since its incorporation in 1907.

Hettinger-area rancher Roger Wilson, who owned the land on which the Scoria Lily ranch house was built and remains today, graciously allowed us to open the gate and access the property numerous times during our work on this book, and shared with us his knowledge of the history of the house. Roger passed away in January 2021. We are grateful for his assistance. Thank you, Roger.

The incredible editing skills of Mike Jacobs, who read an early manuscript and did a first edit, made this a much better book than the draft we provided him. We are deeply grateful for his willingness to give of his time in the midst of his own writing projects, and for his lifelong friendship and amazing patience. And thank you to Suezette for sharing him with us when we needed him.

To the people of North Dakota we say, our state has a rich lode of poetry, history, art, and literature, along with an inspiring landscape. We hope this little book contributes to the appreciation of this landscape, this heritage — and this poet, Paul Southworth Bliss.