Exhibit - "Book Scandal of 1919": Introduction

Objections to literature have a long and complex history, even in North Dakota.

In the late 1920s, during a period of prevalent literature objects in the country, some libraries in North Dakota (joining many other libraries across the country) denounced the controversial book Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis and refused to add it to their collections. The book tells the story of a preacher who prefers to chase women, drink, and play cards over saving souls.

Leading the national charge against the book was the city of Boston, which was notorious for banning books, plays, movies, and magazines. Elmer Gantry quickly became "banned in Boston," a phrase that increased in popularity in the 1920s, and sales of the book in the city could be prosecuted. The book was also banned in Kansas City, Missouri, and Camden, New Jersey. Ultimately, these efforts backfired (even in North Dakota) because people wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and the book became a best-seller.

In 1973, a parent in Drake, North Dakota, objected to their child reading the controversial book Slaughterhouse-Five for a high school English class because of the book's obscene language. The school board agreed with the parent and all copies (roughly 30) were rounded up. The school's decision to pull the book from the classroom was not noteworthy, as many schools across the country took similar actions with this book at that time, but the method by which the books were disposed of would make the school and the town infamous.

All copies (and some other titles) were tossed into the school's furnace and burned. This created a national uproar. In response to the books being destroyed, the author (Kurt Vonnegut), having heard about the incident after it made national news, wrote a public and powerful letter to the Drake school board. In 2014, actor Benedict Cumberbatch read the letter at a "Letters Live" event.

Another objection incident occurred even earlier in 1919. The North Dakota State Library Commission, a relatively young institution, unwittingly found itself caught in the middle of the political battle between the Nonpartisan League (NPL) and the Independent Voters Association (IVA)...