Carved by Peter Toth, the Whispering Giant, in Mandan, was just one of the many sculptures Toth produced throughout the states. It is one of the many landmarks in which we will be documenting for a new project. Dustin White photo

Dustin White
Editor

Over the last year, I’ve worked hard to get the Midwestern Scout off the ground. It has been a thrill to create such a publication, and get back to serving the community as a local newspaper. 

It has been more of a thrill though to see the amount of community support that has been given to this endeavor. I believe that is because this paper is offering something that people want, yet aren’t getting elsewhere. 

That support has come in a big way this month. It began with a generous donor who offered to match donations and funds from subscriptions. He made the offer on behalf of his mother, who had been a long time resident of Mandan, and enjoyed the work that I did. 

His support of the paper is now going one step further, as he has extended his offer throughout the rest of February and into March. The offer comes with a few conditions though, which will have a positive effect on this publication. 

The first, which I’m quite excited about, is a new project which will seek to document Mandan, both through video and photographs, as it stands today. Mandan is continually changing, and the purpose of this project is to allow future generations to look back over the city’s history and see what it once looked like. 

This project to document Mandan will be an ongoing project. The results of the work will be published in the Midwestern Scout, and will be featured on a new website that I’m creating. In order to help preserve the results of this project, both the film negatives in which the photos are captured on, and the printed material will eventually be turned over to the public. 

The second condition will be leveraged into a new branch of the Midwestern Scout. Specifically, it will be focused on historical research. To begin with, this research will be focused on compiling of history of Bismarck and Mandan, which has been one of our main goals for this year. It also means that we will soon be taking research requests and commissions. 

Because of this offer, and conditions, Midwestern Scout will have to slightly restructure, which will cause a bit of inconvenience. There will be a slight disruption in distribution, but I will work hard to clear that up. 

What does that mean for our subscribers? Not much as our subscriptions are based on issues. All subscribers will still be getting every issue for their subscription rate, as well as a couple of special issues throughout the year. 

I appreciate all the support this endeavor has been given, and I look forward to moving forward with this publication.

If you would like to help with this new project, you can go to Documenting Mandan.