60th Anniversary of Presentation College Featured at the Museum
(September 1 - October 30, 2011)

The Dacotah Prairie Museum announced the opening of a new exhibit that celebrated the 60 years of Presentation College.

The Presentation Sisters were invited to Dakota Territory in the late 1800s to establish educational options in the area. By 1942, they had opened the Presentation School of Nursing. Students received clinical experience from four area hospitals and attended science classes at Northern State College.

By 1951, Notre Dame Junior College in Mitchell was closed and the Sisters reorganized it and moved it to Aberdeen under the name “Presentation Junior College”. It was located next to St.Luke’s Hospital at 307 South State Street in Aberdeen. There were 33 full time students, 127 part time students and 11 faculty and staff. In 1954, the school moved again, this time to a beautiful new facility at 1500 North Main Street, their current location.

Many improvements and additions have occurred over the years. New degrees, like the first Associate of Nursing Degree in 1968, have been added. New programs, like the Presentation College-Lakota Campus at Eagle Butte in 1980, were established. Extra-curricular activities like the Shalom Singers and Men and Women’s basketball in 1995, are now part of the College. Currently there are 800 students and 150 faculty and staff on three campuses.

The exhibit stared on 1st floor as you entered the Museum in the window. Four nursing uniforms of various times in history were on exhibit. As you passed the 1st floor landing, a nurse in white uniform dress, hat and navy, wool cape which all nursing student wore in the winter from mid 1940s to 1950s, could be seen.

On 2nd floor, in the Dacotah Gallery, the story of the Presentation College was told. From the people who first inspired its beginnings down to its present day identity, artifacts, pictures and copy fill in the background.

Whether you were a student, an alumni or an interested visitor, this exhibit told  the exciting story of a school which in countless ways has been an essential part of Area history.

For information on past exhibits in the Dacotah Gallery, please click here.