Meeting Archives

The South Dakota Academy of Science held its first proceedings on November 22 – 23, 1915 in Aberdeen. The president was Dr. Hilton Ira Jones. In Dr. Jones’s presidential address he told about why the academy was formed and how the academy came to be.

Dr. Jones had first noticed that the South Dakota science teachers had very little organization at the time and the Teachers Association had even less organization . Since Dr. Jones had just come from a Okolahoma where an Academy of Science was just established he thought it was what South Dakota science teachers needed. The first meeting to organize the Academy was held in Sioux Falls. Dr. Jones sent out a circular letter to urge all science teachers to come to Sioux Falls and help organize in any way. At the Sioux Falls meeting, many people spoke out against the idea, but a greater majority voted in favor of the Academy of Science.

The first proceedings were to be held in Deadwood but, were canceled at the last moment. So the first proceeding were held on November 22 – 23, 1915 in Aberdeen. At this meeting, the first constitution and by-laws were adopted.

The second proceeding were held on November 27 – 28, 1916 in Watertown. At these proceedings, Dr. Jones was still president. On motion, it was decided that future meetings of the academy would be held at the various colleges and normal schools of the state at times when school was in session. The first meeting to be held on a college campus was at at South Dakota State College(SDSU) in 1917.