ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202
COLLECTION: OGL #1042
DATES: 1930-1984
SIZE: 1.5 linear feet
ACQUISITION: The John Hove Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by Sylvia Hove, Fargo, North Dakota on October 11, 1985 (Acc.# 85-1418).
ACCESS: Available for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.
John Hove Jr. was born on February 1, 1916 in Brampton, North Dakota. He was the son of Laura and John Hove Sr. He studied for three years at the high school in Brampton, before graduating from Britton (South Dakota) High School. He attended Valley City State College in 1933 and graduated in 1937.
He returned to teach at the Brampton High School after graduation. During the following summers, he took courses toward a Master's Degree in English at Stanford University. He briefly attended law school at the University of Chicago before moving to Jamestown in 1940. He taught at the Jamestown High School until 1942, when he entered the United States Navy. Hove served aboard an aircraft carrier during World War II and separated from the service in October 1945, with the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade.
John Hove and Sylvia Hagen were wed at St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church in Devils Lake on March 3, 1945. Sylvia was born April 8, 1911 in Crary, North Dakota, and was the daughter of Otto and Bertha Hagen. John and Sylvia originally met at Valley City State College, where they both were students; Sylvia was also a teacher at Jamestown High School along with John. They had three children: John III, Jeffrey and Susan. Both sons died in car accidents; John III in 1969 and Jeffrey in 1972.
After World War II, John Hove completed a Master's Degree in English from the University of North Dakota. His 1946 thesis was entitled History of Public School Legislation in North Dakota. Following graduation, he was named head of the English Department at Mayville State College. While at Mayville, he took weekend and summer classes over the course of thirteen years and earned a Ph.D in American Studies from the University of Minnesota in 1959. His doctoral dissertation was entitled A Rationale for an Industrial Society. It was also in 1959, that he left Mayville to become head of the English Department at North Dakota Agricultural College, now North Dakota State University.
Both John and Sylvia Hove were involved with the Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party. When the family moved to Fargo, John became chair of the party's organization in Cass County, while Sylvia was active with the Democratic-NPL Women for many years. In 1963, Hove was nominated to run for the United States House of Representatives. This was a special election, caused by the death of Representative Hjalmar Nygaard. Hove lost the election to Republican Mark Andrews, a farmer from Mapleton. Andrews went on to serve seventeen years in the House and one term in the Senate. During the campaign, Hove broke two ribs. He also flew to Washington D.C. to meet President John Kennedy, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson and several other members of the Kennedy Administration.
Following his defeat, Hove returned to the English Department at NDSU. He chaired the North Dakota Council on the Arts from its inception in 1967 until 1981, and was active with the North Dakota Education Association. He was also appointed to the National Advisory Council of the Higher Education Act by President Lyndon Johnson, and was active in the Modern Language Association. Sylvia Hove served as executive director of the Southeastern North Dakota Community Action Agency from 1966 until 1982.
John Hove retired from NDSU in 1981. In doing so, he declined to be named professor emeritus, saying that the English Department needed the office space that would accompany the "hollow title" more than he needed the title.
John Hove died on August 22, 1984 at his home in Fargo. Sylvia Hove died on July 29, 2000 in Moorhead.
The John Hove Papers consist primarily of materials related to Hove's life as well as his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1963. Arranged first are the campaign materials, including advertisements, correspondence, text of speeches and newspaper clippings. Also included is a document entitled "Thoughts on the Hove-Andrews Campaign." This document may have been composed by someone hired by the Hove campaign, as it highlights crucial differences between the candidates, and provides advice to Hove on how to best address these differences.
Following the campaign material are general documents related to the life of John Hove and his family. Included are newspaper clippings and correspondence, a limited edition printing of a poem by Thomas McGrath and the invitation and program from the 1965 inauguration of President Lyndon Johnson and Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. Obituaries and memorials of Hove's death in 1984 are also included.
Box 1
Folder
1963 Campaign for the House of Representatives
General
Box 2
Folder
1. One folder of oversize material, contains:
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings from the 1963 election
80 photographs were separated and added to the Orin G. Libby Photograph Collection.
Political Photographs
1042-1 President John Kennedy, with local Democratic-NPL leaders, undated
1042-2 John Kennedy, John Hove and Joe Polk (?), December 1960
1042-3 John Kennedy and John Hove, September 18, 1963 at the White House
1042-4 John Kennedy and John Hove, September 18, 1963 at the White House
1042-5 Vice President Lyndon Johnson and John Hove, September 18, 1963 at the
White House (pictured in front of a portrait of Robert LaFollette)
1042-6 Lyndon Johnson and John Hove, September 18, 1963 at the White House
1042-7 Lyndon Johnson and John Hove, September 18, 1963 at the White House
1042-8 Lyndon Johnson and John Hove, September 18, 1963 at the White House
1042-9 Hubert Humphrey Speech, undated (inscribed and given to Hove as a gift
from Humphrey)
1042-10 Senator Quentin Burdick, undated (inscribed and given to John and
Sylvia Hove from Burdick)
1042-11 Quentin Burdick, Democratic National Campaign Committee Head Rhoades
and John Hove, 1963
1042-12 Quentin Burdick and John Hove, undated
1042-13 Quentin Burdick, Edward Kennedy, John and Sylvia Hove, undated
1042-14 John Hove, unidentified (probably member of Kennedy administration)
1042-15 John Hove, unidentified (probably member of Kennedy administration)
1042-16 Proof sheet: John Hove with unidentified members of the Kennedy
administration
1042-17 Proof sheet: John Hove with unidentified members of the Kennedy
administration
1042-18 Proof sheet: John Hove with unidentified members of the Kennedy
administration
1042-19 John Hove and North Dakota Governor William Guy: 1967
1042-20 John Hove and North Dakota Governor William Guy: 1967
1042-21 John Hove campaigning: 1963
1042-22 John Hove supporters at a parade: 1963
Personal Photographs
Laura and John Hove Sr.
1042-23 John and Laura Hove; Mr. And Mrs. Leo Olson, undated
1042-24 Laura Hove, undated
1042-25 Unidentified (probably John and Laura Hove) undated
Otto and Bertha Hagen
1042-26 Otto and Bertha Hagen, undated
1042-27 Otto and Bertha Hagen, undated
John Hove Jr.
1042-28 John Hove in Navy uniform
1042-29 John Hove in Navy uniform
1042-30 John Hove in Navy uniform (group photo)
1042-31 John Hove, July 1963
1042-32 John Hove, July 1963
1042-33 John Hove, undated (group shot in front of a library)
1042-34 Cynthia Selland, John Hove, Mayor Jon Lundgren, undated
1042-35 John Hove, Phyllis (?) and Craig (?), undated
1042-36 John Hove, undated
1042-37 John Hove, undated (outside the family home in Fargo)
Sylvia Hove
1042-38 Sylvia Hagen, undated
1042-39 Sylvia Hagen, undated (but from time at Jamestown High School)
1042-40 Sylvia Hove, undated
1042-41 Sylvia Hove, June 1981
1042-42 Sylvia Hove, undated
1042-43 Sylvia Hove, undated (outside the family home in Fargo)
John and Sylvia Hove (together)
1042-44 John and Sylvia Hove, undated
1042-45 John and Sylvia Hove, March 1945
1042-46 John and Sylvia Hove, March 1945
1042-47 John and Sylvia Hove, undated (outside the family home in Fargo)
1042-48 John and Sylvia Hove, undated (on vacation in Devils Lake)
1042-49 John and Sylvia Hove, undated
1042-50 John and Sylvia Hove, undated (on vacation in International Falls,
Minnesota)
1042-51 John and Sylvia Hove, Phyllis and Gerry Hunter, undated (on vacation in
International Falls, Minnesota)
1042-52 John and Sylvia Hove, undated
1042-53 John and Sylvia Hove, undated
John III, Jeffrey and Susan Hove
1042-54 John Hove III, undated (photo taken at 4.5 years of age)
1042-55 John Hove III, undated (photo taken Senior year at Fargo Central High
School)
1042-56 John Hove III and John Hove Jr., undated
1042-57 Jeffrey Hove, undated (photo taken at 2 years of age)
1042-58 Susan Hove, 1972
1042-59 Susan Hove, undated (graduation photo)
1042-60 John, Sylvia and Susan Hove, 1975 wedding
1042-61 John III and Jeffrey Hove, undated (John 4.5 years, Jeff 2 years)
1042-62 John III, Jeffrey and Susan Hove, undated
1042-63 John III, Jeffrey and Susan Hove, undated
Other family members and friends
1042-64 Bob and Johanna Marshall (sister), 1979
1042-65 Maxine and Oliver Hove (brother), undated
1042-66 Margaret and Lance Hove (brother), undated
1042-67 Dr. Gerry and Phyllis Hunter, 1970
1042-68 Dr. Gerry and Phyllis Hunter, 1981
1042-69 Dr. Gerry, Phyllis, Craig, Blair and Andrea Hunter, undated
1042-70 Marg and Dave Scott, undated
Houses
1042-71 Hagen home, 824 4th Avenue North, Devils Lake
1042-72 1314 Eight Street North Fargo (John and Sylvia Hove's first home in
Fargo)
1042-73 Interior - 31 Woodland Drive, Fargo
1042-74 Sandbaggers, 31 Woodland Drive, Fargo
1042-75 1st flood, 31 Woodland Drive, Fargo
1042-76 1st flood, 31 Woodland Drive, Fargo
1042-77 1st flood, 31 Woodland Drive, Fargo
1042-78 2nd flood, 31 Woodland Drive, Fargo
1042-79 2nd flood, 31 Woodland Drive, Fargo
1042-80 John and Sylvia Hove (This photograph was placed in the Oversize collection)
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