Bernice Britton Fleckten papers
Collection
Call Number: WA MSS S-2566
Scope and Contents
The Bernice Britton Fleckten Papers document social and family life in North Dakota and Saskatchewan in the early twentieth century. The papers consist primarily of Fleckten's personal correspondence with her father, with other family members, and with friends, as well as business correspondence, third-party correspondence addressed to her first and second husbands, financial and legal papers, receipts, and printed ephemera.
Series I. Bernice Britton Fleckten Correspondence includes thirty-six letters from Judge Niederriter to Fleckten, spanning 1907-1928, documenting Judge Niederriter's concern for his daughter and his interest in horticulture. His letters relay news about Kenmare, noting the sale of local property, town scandals including a suicide, his care of Kenmare parks, and social events with neighbors and friends. Fleckten's 19 letters to her father and his wife Malvina date between 1928 and 1929; the first five are written from Moose Jaw and apprise her father of monetary difficulties following Detlefson's departure. Letters written after Fleckten's divorce and return to North Dakota carry news of her personal life, including details of the accident and her hospitalization after she and Senator Fleckten were struck by a speeding driver in Bismark, North Dakota.
The papers include 65 other letters, spanning from 1900 to 1937. These are primarily from Fleckten's female friends in Saskatchewan and North Dakota, relaying personal news, marriage and birth announcements, and opinions about local happenings. One letter includes a reference to North Dakota Ku Klux Klan leadership. Business correspondence documents Fleckten's struggles to pay off debts in Moose Jaw.
Series II. Third Party Correspondence consists of letters to Fleckten's husbands, Fred R. Detfelson and John E. Fleckten.
Series III. Other Papers contains legal and financial papers, including assessment notices and a 1917 insurance policy for a property in Neville, Saskatchewan. Printed ephemera in the collection includes a map of the 1925 Provincial Exhibition in Regina, Saskatchewan; a map of the "Willow Bunch Constituency"; a handbill for a public speech in Kenmare; and copies of Fleckten's Conciliation Court business card.
Series I. Bernice Britton Fleckten Correspondence includes thirty-six letters from Judge Niederriter to Fleckten, spanning 1907-1928, documenting Judge Niederriter's concern for his daughter and his interest in horticulture. His letters relay news about Kenmare, noting the sale of local property, town scandals including a suicide, his care of Kenmare parks, and social events with neighbors and friends. Fleckten's 19 letters to her father and his wife Malvina date between 1928 and 1929; the first five are written from Moose Jaw and apprise her father of monetary difficulties following Detlefson's departure. Letters written after Fleckten's divorce and return to North Dakota carry news of her personal life, including details of the accident and her hospitalization after she and Senator Fleckten were struck by a speeding driver in Bismark, North Dakota.
The papers include 65 other letters, spanning from 1900 to 1937. These are primarily from Fleckten's female friends in Saskatchewan and North Dakota, relaying personal news, marriage and birth announcements, and opinions about local happenings. One letter includes a reference to North Dakota Ku Klux Klan leadership. Business correspondence documents Fleckten's struggles to pay off debts in Moose Jaw.
Series II. Third Party Correspondence consists of letters to Fleckten's husbands, Fred R. Detfelson and John E. Fleckten.
Series III. Other Papers contains legal and financial papers, including assessment notices and a 1917 insurance policy for a property in Neville, Saskatchewan. Printed ephemera in the collection includes a map of the 1925 Provincial Exhibition in Regina, Saskatchewan; a map of the "Willow Bunch Constituency"; a handbill for a public speech in Kenmare; and copies of Fleckten's Conciliation Court business card.
Dates
- 1900-1938 1919-1930
- Majority of material found within 1919 - 1930
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Bernice Britton Fleckten Papers are the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Carmen D. Valentino on the Arthur Corbitt Hoskins Memorial Fund, 2006.
Extent
0.42 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The papers document social and family life in North Dakota and Saskatchewan in the early twentieth century. They consist primarily of Fleckten's personal correspondence with her father, with other family members, and with friends, as well as business correspondence, third-party correspondence addressed to her first and second husbands, financial and legal papers, receipts, and printed ephemera. Thirty-six letters from Judge Niederriter to Fleckten, spanning 1907-1928, document Niederriter's concern for his daughter and his interest in horticulture. His letters relay news about Kenmare, noting the sale of local property, town scandals including a suicide, his care of Kenmare parks, and social events with neighbors and friends. Fleckten's 19 letters to her father and his wife Malvina date between 1928 and 1929; the first five are written from Moose Jaw and apprise her father of monetary difficulties following Detlefson's departure. Letters written after Fleckten's divorce and return to North Dakota carry news of her personal life, including details of the accident and her hospitalization after she and Senator Fleckten were struck by a speeding driver in Bismark, North Dakota.
The papers include 65 other letters, spanning from 1900 to 1937. These are primarily from Fleckten's female friends in Saskatchewan and North Dakota, relaying personal news, marriage and birth announcements, and opinions about local happenings. One letter includes a reference to North Dakota Ku Klux Klan leadership. Business correspondence documents Fleckten's struggles to pay off debts in Moose Jaw. Legal and financial papers include assessment notices and a 1917 insurance policy for a property in Neville, Saskatchewan. Printed ephemera in the collection includes a map of the 1925 Provincial Exhibition in Regina, Saskatchewan; a map of the "Willow Bunch Constituency"; a handbill for a public speech in Kenmare; and copies of Fleckten's Conciliation Court business card.
The papers include 65 other letters, spanning from 1900 to 1937. These are primarily from Fleckten's female friends in Saskatchewan and North Dakota, relaying personal news, marriage and birth announcements, and opinions about local happenings. One letter includes a reference to North Dakota Ku Klux Klan leadership. Business correspondence documents Fleckten's struggles to pay off debts in Moose Jaw. Legal and financial papers include assessment notices and a 1917 insurance policy for a property in Neville, Saskatchewan. Printed ephemera in the collection includes a map of the 1925 Provincial Exhibition in Regina, Saskatchewan; a map of the "Willow Bunch Constituency"; a handbill for a public speech in Kenmare; and copies of Fleckten's Conciliation Court business card.
BERNICE BRITTON FLECKTEN (b. 1884)
Bernice Britton ("Birdie") Fleckten, born circa 1884, was the daughter of Judge William F. Niederriter of Kenmare, North Dakota. Niederriter was a gardener, nurseryman, real estate speculator and public park promoter who corresponded regularly with his daughter after she married Canadian Fred R. Detlefson circa 1917 and moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in 1920. After eight years in Moose Jaw, Detlefson abandoned Fleckten. The couple divorced in 1928, and Fleckten returned to Kenmare where she briefly assumed the name "Bernice B. Britton." She married North Dakota State Senator John E. Fleckten in 1929, the same year her father passed away. Fleckten, who supported herslef in Moose Jaw by painting scarves, leasing property and assisting local lawyers with defense cases, later became a judge in the Ward County Conciliation Court in Kenmare, North Dakota.
- Detlefson, Fred R.
- Divorced women -- North Dakota -- 20th Century
- Fathers and daughters -- North Dakota -- Kenmare -- 20th Century
- Female friendship -- North Dakota -- 20th Century
- Female friendship -- Saskatchewan -- 20th Century
- Fleckten, Bernice Britton, 1883-
- Fleckten, John E.
- Gardeners -- North Dakota -- Kenmare -- 20th Century
- Gardeners -- North Dakota -- Kenmare -- 20th Century
- Judges -- North Dakota -- Kenmare -- 20th Century
- Judges -- North Dakota -- Kenmare -- 20th Century
- Kenmare (N.D.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th Century
- Ku Klux Klan (1915- ) -- North Dakota -- Grand Forks
- Legislators -- North Dakota -- 20th Century
- Legislators -- North Dakota -- 20th Century
- Maps (documents) -- 20th Century
- Moose Jaw (Sask.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th Century
- Neville (Sask.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th Century
- Niederriter, Malvina
- Niederriter, William F., ca. 1848-1929
- Parks -- North Dakota -- Kenmare -- 20th Century
- Receipts (financial records) -- 20th Century
- Regina Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition -- 1925 -- Maps
- Tax assessment -- Saskatchewan -- Neville -- 20th Century
- Willow Bunch (Sask.) -- Maps
- Willow Bunch (Sask.) -- Politics and government -- 20th Century
- Women -- North Dakota -- Kenmare -- Social conditions -- 20th Century
- Title
- Guide to the Bernice Britton Fleckten Papers
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- by Kathleen T. Burns
- Date
- July 2006
- Description rules
- Beinecke Manuscript Unit Archival Processing Manual
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
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