1. Introduction
  2. Oral History Collections
  3. Small Collections
  4. Manuscript Collections
  5. Local Government Records
  6. Newspapers
  7. Books

Introduction

 

To many settlers of the West, the new land was a challenge, an opportunity, a second chance. As white pioneers populated the new territory, they brought with them earlier stereotyped attitudes of African Americans. African Americans who moved to Montana watched the territorial legislature struggle with legal codes that affected their lives.

 

In 1870, approximately 200 of the 20,617 Montana Territory residents were of African American descent. "African Americans settled in nearly every part of the territory, most lived in Helena (43 percent), Virginia City (10.4 percent), Fort Benton (8.9 percent), Bozeman (7.8 percent), and Deer Lodge County (7.3 percent). In these early years African Americans worked in a range of occupations. Occupations include servants and domestics (23 percent), laborers (19 percent), barbers (17 percent), cooks (14 percent), and farm or ranch workers (4 percent)." (Meredith, Scott, Montana The Magazine of Western History, Vol. 57 No. 1)

 

Oral History Collections

Genevieve Squires Adair (born 1911) discusses her family and growing up in Plainview, Nebraska; relocating to Butte, Montana, in l916; attending the Normal College in Dillon; her enlistment in the Women's Auxiliary ArmyCorps (WAAC) in l943; officers training; work classifying female recruits at Fort Des Moines WAAC training center; transfer to Fort Meade, Maryland; Black military personnel at Fort Meade and the lack of discrimination; pay scale; nursing at Warm Springs State Hospital; and life after military service.

 

Albert Clark (born 1912) discusses welding and other work for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company smelter in Anaconda, Montana, from l928 to the 1960s. He also describes an Opportunity, Montana, area ranch leased from the Anaconda Company, the depression years of the l930s, and his participation in the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers.Clark talks about the Black air line workers in the smelter and how they got the dirtiest jobs. He also discusses how Blacks and whites worked together, how the Austrian foremen were hard on the Black workers, and how the Company laid off Blacks to create jobs for white workers.

 

Mary Colley (born 1927) discusses growing up in Butte, Montana, in the l930s and l940s as part of a Black family; her father's work as a podiatrist and as editor of The New Age, a Black newspaper in Butte; her mother's volunteer work, including membership in the Montana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs; her parents hosting students of color from the Butte School of Mines; how her community sheltered her from racism; differences between her experiences with race and that of her brothers and sisters(Walter, Perdita, and John Duncan); making the transition from the all-white culture of Butte to an all-Black college; and her views on why the Black community dwindled in the years following World War II. See also Oral History 483, an interview with Colley's brother and sister, Walter and Perdita Duncan.

 

  • Walter Duncan, Perdita Duncan, Elmo Fortune, and William Fenter interview, 1983 Mar. 24 (Oral History 483)

Walter Duncan, Perdita Duncan (died 1985), Elmo Fortune, and William Fenter discuss the Black community in Butte, Montana, from 1910 to 1940s, particularly employment, social life, churches, clubs, and white attitudes towards Blacks. See also Oral History 1812, an interview with the Duncans' sister, Mary Duncan Colley.

 

Mother Amata Dunne discusses her life, including religion and being a nun, and her experiences as a teacher, including teaching Black children.Note: The sound quality on this tape is poor and the interview is difficult to understand.

 

  • Hugo Kenck and Margaret McMann Kenck interview, 1982 Dec. 8 (Oral History 417)

Hugo Kenck (b. 1892) and Margaret Kenck (b. 1907) discuss music teachers, musical groups, and performers in Butte, Montana, for 1900 to 1940.They also describe Butte's ethnic groups and neighborhoods, German clubs, the California Brewery, prohibition, and the Miner's Bank.Hugo Kenck describes one of his best friends, Bob Logan, a Black man with an exceptional singing ability. Kenck also describes Logan's wife and the difficulties they faced because of color.

 

Eldora McBride (born 1923) discusses her childhood; attending Northern Montana College in Havre, Montana; medical secretary training; enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1944; military training at Hunter College in New York; racial discrimination and how it affected men versus women regarding promotions, etc.; women and promotions in the military; uniforms; living conditions; transfer to the Medical center in Bethesda, Maryland, and later to the naval facility at Corvallis, Oregon; war; transferring to the Naval Air base in Seattle, Washington; GI bill educational benefits; and life after military service.

 

In this interview Lena Slausen discusses African-American life in Butte; discrimination; and her involvement in the Pearl Club.

 

  • Thompson, Alan M.

Public presentation, 1997 (Oral History 1772)

Alan Thompson gave a presentation at the Montana Historical Society on November 19, 1997, on Black cowboys Brooks and Wilson.His paper explores African-American cowboy traditions on the northern range by discussing aspects of the lifestyles of Joe H. Proctor, his daughter Sarah Proctor Beebe, Sam and Adrian Wilson, and Jim Brooks, five individuals who used horsemanship and cowboy skills to make their living in southeastern Montana.

 

FrankZogarts (born 1899) discusses his work as a foreman for various operations at the Anaconda Copper Mining Company smelter in Anaconda, Montana, from the 1920s to the l950s. Zogarts talks about Blacks in the smelter and the jobs they had. The Black workers were given the jobs the white workers did not want. Zogarts describes these jobs, including the air line job. He says the Black workers were segregated because the whites would not work with them.

 

Small Collections

 

This collection consists of a bill of sale, August 25, 1858, transferring ownership of a seven-year-old Black slave from Thomas F. Smith to Joseph and Priscilla Aiken, pioneer Montana Territory residents.The transaction took place at Independence, Missouri.

 

The Community Council of Cascade County, Montana, developed from the American Association of University Women's Great Falls Branch Social Studies Committee.It was organized to promote cooperation between various groups working for social change in Cascade County.Records consist of general correspondence, minutes and bylaws, constitutions, membership lists, reports, and subject files.

 

The Council had a Negro Affairs Committee, later the inter-racial Committee, which was to receive for study and recommendation all matters pertaining to inter-racial programs which may be presented before the Council; and to bring to the attention of the Council matters of inter-racial importance. In 1954-55, the Council reviewed the presented plans to make the public aware of House Bill 52, regarding Negro acceptance in public places.

 

The Dutrieuille family was a pioneer Black family that lived in Helena, Belt, and Great Falls, Montana. The collection is primarily related to John Lambert Duke Dutrieuille, a barber, and his wife, Maria Adams Dutrieuille. Included are photocopies of a newspaper editorial, dated September 25, l892, that Dutdrieuille wrote explaining his conversion to the Democratic Party; a letter, dated March 15, l857, of recommendation from a barber school in Philadelphia; and miscellaneous biographical materials concerning the family. No inventory is available for this collection.

 

John W. Haskins was a Buckingham County, Virginia, resident and slave owner.This collection consists of an announcement of the sale of a plantation and slaves, 1827; an agreement to hire a male slave 1850; and a receipt for the sale of a slave, 1853.

 

  • David Kirkpatrick Deed Of Trust, 1821

Kirkpatrick, David, Of Somerset, Ky. (Small Collection 938)

David Kirkpatrick was a Somerset, Kentucky, slave owner.This collection consists of a handwritten deed of trust, dated September 20, 1821, placing a seven-year-old Black slave named Lewis as security for a loan made by Fielding Kenley to David Kirkpatrick.

 

Edwin W. Knight (born 1838) served as chairman of the Helena, Montana Territory, school board.The collection consists of a photocopy of a letter, February 1882, from Knight to the U.S. attorney general requesting a decision on the constitutionality of a Helena law requiring separate schools for Black children.There also are photocopies of Martin Maginnis' letter of transmittal and the attorney general's reply declining to rule on the law. The photocopies were made for the originals in the National Archives.

 

The Manhattan Club was a social organization for Helena's Black community during the period 1895-1911. Records consist of account books, 1905-1912, for members and visitors.

 

This collection consists of manumission papers, dated July 20, 1817, by Mary Stephenson, of Harrison County, Kentucky, freeing her slave Polly and Polly's four year old child. No inventory is available for this collection.

Manuscript Collections

 

Fort Assiniboine was a military post located near present-day Havre, Montana. It was established in 1879 and was the largest military installation built in Montana. The fort was established primarily to control the movements of the northern Indian tribes and to police their movement across the Canadian border.In 1896 a Black regiment, the 10th Cavalry, was stationed there and remained until the fort was decommissioned in 1911.

 

Taylor Gordon was a Black singer and author who grew up in White Sulphur Springs, Montana.The collection includes letters, writings, financial records, and clippings about Taylor, his sister Rose Gordon, a White Sulphur Springs business woman and physical therapist: and other members of the Gordon family; the Florence Mining Company; and the Democratic Party in Montana. A large collection of photographs was transferred to the Photograph Archives and a few artifacts were transferred to the Museum.

 

The Montana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, originally the Montana Federation Negro Women's Clubs, was a coordinating organization for local clubs of Black women around Montana. Records include minute books, 1936-1952; correspondence; and miscellaneous reports and correspondence of the Dunbar Art and Study Club (Great Falls), the Phyllis Wheatley Club (Billings), the Pearl Club (Butte), and the Pleasant Hour Club (Helena). Materials of the state federation include Legislative Committee reports, correspondence, clippings, bills concerned with state civil rights legislation; Claudia Bivens Scholarship material; state convention programs, 1921-1978; a constitution and bylaws; notes; clippings; and miscellaneous other material.

 

Martha Plassman (1850-1936) was a Montana pioneer, historian, and journalist. The collection consists of her autobiography and over 500 historical articles written for the Great Falls Tribune and the Montana News Association during the 1920s and l930s.The articles, based on her own memories and on research, cover a wide range of topics, especially fur trappers, explorers, and vigilantes. One of her articles, How It Chanced, concerns Black fur trapper Jim Beckwourth.

Local Government Records

 

This collection consists of records filed with the City Clerk of the City of Helena, Montana.The largest segment of the records consists of monthly reports of city officials and committees. In addition there are correspondence/petition files, employee records, financial records, legal documents, specifications, and subject files. The collection contains a petition, signed by 55 African-American voters in 1896, favoring the appointment of Isaac Hayes as a policeman.

Newspapers

 

  • Helena Colored Citizens (September 3, 1894 through November 5, 1894)
  • Butte New Age (May 30, 1892 through February 7, 1903)
  • Helena Plaindealer (March 16, 1906 through September 8, 1911)

Books

 

 


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