ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202

JOSEPH B. BRIDSTON PAPERS

COLLECTION: OGL #53

DATES: 1937-1961

SIZE: 6.25 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Joseph B. Bridston Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection. The acquisition records are unavailable.

ACCESS: Available for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Joseph B. Bridston was born in Wahpeton, North Dakota in 1896. He was the son of Samuel and Borghild (Huss) Bridston. He was educated at a country school until through the eighth grade, before attending Lutheran Bible School in Wahpeton, Fergus Falls High School (Minnesota), and Central High School, Grand Forks, North Dakota. He later attended the State School of Science in Wahpeton, the University of North Dakota, and while in the U.S. Naval Reserve, the University of Washington.

Bridston taught for one year at Lewistown, Montana and returned to Grand Forks. He worked as a specialty salesman and entered the insurance business. He established the J.B. Bridston Co. in 1934 and organized First Federal Savings and Loan Association in 1938. Also greatly involved in politics, his political career included terms as a N. D. State Senator (1939-1956), founder of the Republican Organizing Committee, and an unsuccessful U. S. Senatorial campaign (1946).

In Grand Forks, Bridston was a former president of the University of North Dakota Alumni Association, and helped with the mill levy for the Medical Center. He also served as president of the Grand Forks Community Chest, chairman of the Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce Bridge and Airport Committee, and former director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, Iowa.

On September 1, 1920, Bridston married Anna Pederson of Grand Forks. The couple had three children: Keith, Jo Anne, and Paul. Joseph B. Bridston died on September 26, 1965, and is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Grand Forks.

Source: Grand Forks Herald: 27 September 1965

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Joseph B. Bridston Papers consist primarily of political material, dating from 1937-1961. Included is general correspondence from 1942-1955 and materials relating to various U.S. Senate bills. Also included are files on various North Dakota politicians, Bridston’s campaign material, text of speeches, and general subject files.

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

  1. 1941 Legislative Session.
  2. Langer Hearings, 1941-1942.
  3. Political, 1939-40.
  4. General Correspondence, January 13, 1942 - March 30, 1942.
  5. General Correspondence, March 30, 1942 - May 15, 1942.
  6. General Correspondence, May 15, 1942 - May 29, 1942.
  7. General Correspondence, June 1, 1942 - June 30, 1942.
  8. General Correspondence, July 1, 1942 - August 14, 1942.
  9. General Correspondence, August 14, 1942 - October 9, 1942.
  10. General Correspondence, October 9, 1942 - October 28, 1942.
  11. General Correspondence, October 28, 1942 - November 11, 1942.
  12. General Correspondence, November 12, 1942 - December 11, 1942.
  13. General Correspondence, December 11, 1942 - December 30, 1942.
  14. 1942 Miscellaneous.
  15. General Correspondence, January 11, 1943 - March 16, 1943.
  16. General Correspondence, March 16, 1943 - April 3, 1943.
  17. General Correspondence, April 7, 1943 - May 1, 1943.
  18. General Correspondence, May 3, 1943 - May 17, 1943
  19. General Correspondence, May 17, 1943 - June 30, 1943.
  20. General Correspondence, July 1, 1943 - August 13, 1943.
  21. General Correspondence, August 13, 1943 - September 21, 1943.
  22. General Correspondence, September 22, 1943 - October 31, 1943.

Box 2
Folder

  1. General Correspondence, November 1, 1943 - November 30, 1943.
  2. General Correspondence, December 3, 1943 - December 31, 1943.
  3. General Correspondence, 1943 Miscellaneous.
  4. General Correspondence, Jan. 3, 1944 - May 24, 1944.
  5. General Correspondence, May 25, 1944 - September 29, 1944.
  6. General Correspondence, October 2, 1944 - November 15, 1944.
  7. General Correspondence, November 15, 1944 - December 30, 1944.
  8. General Correspondence, 1944 Miscellaneous.
  9. General Correspondence, January 7, 1950 - Miscellaneous, 1950.
  10. General Correspondence, January 3, 1951 - February 9, 1951.
  11. General Correspondence, February 9, 1951 - March 19, 1951.
  12. General Correspondence, March 20, 1951 - May 10, 1951.
  13. General Correspondence, May 11, 1951 - September 29, 1951.
  14. General Correspondence, October 1, 1951 - December 28, 1951.
  15. General Correspondence, Miscellaneous, 1951.
  16. General Correspondence, January 2, 1952 - March 7, 1952.
  17. General Correspondence, March 8, 1952 - April 3?, 1952.
  18. General Correspondence, May 1, 1952 - May 31, 1952.
  19. General Correspondence, June 2, 1952 - June 30, 1952.
  20. General Correspondence, July 2, 1952 - September 30, 1952.
  21. General Correspondence, October 21, 1952 - December 31, 1952.
  22. General Correspondence, 1952 Miscellaneous.
  23. General Correspondence, January 6, 1953 - 1953 Miscellaneous.
  24. General Correspondence, 1955 Miscellaneous.

Box 3
Folder

  1. 1947 U.S. Senate Bills: North Dakota citizens; citizenship papers; stay deportation, amending immigration, naturalization acts.
  2. 1948 U.S. Senate Bills: North Dakota citizens; stay deportation; considered lawful admissions; damage compensation; unclassified; recap private bills.
  3. 1949 U.S. Senate Bills: North Dakota citizens; stay deportation, considered as lawfully admitted; relatives, U. S. citizens; amend immigration, naturalization laws; compensation for damages; relief and rehabilitation of displaced persons.
  4. 1950 U.S. Senate Bills: North Dakota citizens; citizenship papers, considered lawful admission; relatives, U. S. citizens; refugee relief; unclassified.
  5. 1951 U.S. Senate Bills: Relatives, U.S. citizens; relating to North Dakota citizens; citizen papers, considered as sawful admission, amending of immigration laws.
  6. 1952 U.S. Senate Bills: Relatives, U.S. citizens; considered lawful admissions; stay deportation.
  7. Chamber Bridge and Highway.
  8. Clippings - general and personal, 1945.
  9. Inkster Mail Route.
  10. Politics - January, 1955.
  11. Politics - June, 1955.
  12. UND 4-year medical school.
  13. Miscellaneous papers.

Books, Magazines, and Government Documents

"In the matter of the Investigation into the various matters referred to in the Report of the Special Examining Commission as filed with the Legislature on February l, 1943"
Report of the Special Senate Committee to the Twenty-eighth Legislative Assembly: February 27, 1943
Journal of the Senate of the Twenty-Eighth Legislative Assembly in Extraordinary Session: March 20-28, 1944
Report of the Interim Investigating Committee established Chapter 29 of the Extraordinary Session of the Twenty-Eighth Legislative Assembly: 1945
List of 1946 Delegates to the R.O.C. Convention
Communism in Action: A Documented Study and Analysis of Communism in Operation in the
Soviet Union: Prepared under the direction of Representative Everett Dirksen by the
Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress, 1946
The Red Plotters by Hamilton Fish: 1947
Report: The Strategy and Tactics of World Communism: Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, 1949
Investigation of Un-American Activities in the United States: Committee on Un-American Activities, U.S. House of Representatives, 1949
Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce: U.S. Senate, October and November 1950
Third Interim Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (Kefauver Report): U.S. Senate. 1951
Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Export Controls and Policies of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce: U.S. Senate, February 1951
Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Export Controls and Policies of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce: U.S. Senate, May and June 1951
"McCarthy: A Documented Record." The Progressive: April 1954
Hearings Before the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate on H.R. 9936: An Act Making Supplemental Appropriations for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1955
Fifty-ninth Annual Insurance Report of the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of North Dakota: December 31, 1961

Box 4
Folder

  1. Political and legislative material; pamphlets, flyers, and bills.
  2. Radio addresses, by various people.
  3. Personal receipts; tax, real estate, personal, etc.
  4. Correspondence (22 items); political and insurance , 1937-49.
  5. Clippings; political and legislative.
  6. Osteopathic pamphlets and bulletins (8 items).
  7. William Langer vs. John Gray, Tax Commissioner - memo opinion, 1937-8.
  8. North Dakota News (Bismarck), Sept. 5, 1940.
  9. Clipping, editorial. "Langer Is Seated, Not Vindicated," March, 1942.
  10. Harvey H. Springer, Money Grows on Trees ( Englewood, Colo:Western Voice Publishers, 1943).
  11. Radio talk, "Corrupt Political Machines," by Bridston, May 1945.
  12. Radio-talk, "A Story of North Dakota," by Sen. William J. Braun, May 1945.
  13. Correspondence, 1946.
  14. Correspondence, 1946.
  15. Correspondence, 1948.
  16. Correspondence, 1949.
  17. Correspondence, 1951.
  18. Correspondence, 1952.
  19. Statement made by Bridston in the 1953 North Dakota legislature.
  20. Correspondence, 1957.
  21. Correspondence, 1959.
  22. Correspondence, 1960.
  23. Correspondence and papers, undated.

Box 5
Folder

  1. 1938 general election.
  2. Implement Dealers Mutual, confidential file.
  3. R.O.C., Grand Forks County - Bills and bank account, 1942-48.
  4. Interim Investigation Committee, 1944.
  5. National politics, general, 1944.
  6. State Fire and Tornado Fund, 1944.
  7. Special session, 1944.
  8. Senator Nye, 1944.
  9. Senatorial appointment, 1945.
  10. J. B. Bridston, personal policies, 1945.
  11. J. B. Bridston, personal, July-Sept., 1945.
  12. Clippings, general and personal, and correspondence., 1945.
  13. 1945 legislative session, pre-session, 1945.
  14. Legislative session, 1945.
  15. 1946 general election, advertising, Nov. 5, 1946.
  16. Bridston campaign, advertising, 1946.
  17. Bridston campaign, general, 1946.
  18. R.O.C., state convention and senate endorsement, 1946.
  19. 1947 legislature, 1946.
  20. General election, 1946.
  21. North Dakota politics, general, Jan - Jun., 1948.
  22. Politics, March, 1949.
  23. Politics, June, 1949.
  24. Politics, November, 1949.
  25. (William) Langer, 1940-48.
  26. Legislative session, 1949.
  27. County Republican Committee, 1948-49.
  28. Speeches and speech notes, nonpolitical, 1949-51.
  29. Politics, February, 1952.
  30. Fred G. Aandahl, 1952.
  31. Politics, June, 1952.
  32. Communism, 1958-60.
  33. Grand Forks Country Club, 1959-60.
 Original Donation  First Addition: 1945-1960
 Second Addition: 1941-1961  

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