Archives West Finding Aid

Letters, diaries, memorabilia, and other documents produced or collected by Haynes family members. Correspondence shows the inner workings of a family brought together in a business venture, beginning with letters from Levi Haynes to F. Jay at the start-up of the Haynes Photographic Studio followed by excerpts of communication between F. J. and his wife Lily. Early letters describe F. Jay Haines' travels at the beginning of his career, and later correspondence relates to his family's ventures in Yellowstone. While in the park, F. J.'s daughter kept journals of her life living at Mammoth. Jack Haynes early life is represented through schoolwork examples spanning from elementary school until his graduation from the University of Minnesota. There is a great amount of correspondence between Jack and Isabel from the years of their marriage and thier business partnership. There is a wealth of information on the Minneapolis area, both from when the business was located in the Twin Cities and afterwards when Isabel made recruiting trips looking for seasonal workers; and about society circles of Bozeman, Montana. Also of great interest is the growth of daughter Lida Haynes, represented by her schoolwork and letters written in childhood through her brief adult years. There are descriptions of travel, luxury purchases, and accolades for community work. In most cases original order was maintained except in those instances where loose materials were topically arranged.

Correspondence files consists primarily of the business correspondence of Jack and Isabel Haynes and Haynes, Inc. Some of the letters are personal, dealing with friends and acquaintances made through the operation of the business. All of the letters document the various operations of the Haynes family in Yellowstone National Park. The first letter was written in 1886 but the majority of writings date from 1920-1990. The files consist of letters arranged by the subject and in many cases original letters include carbon copies of the Haynes' responses.

Topically titled and alphabetically arranged files of newspaper clippings representing the interests of Isabel Haynes. The clippings pertain to subjects related to Yellowstone National Park, Bozeman and Gallatin County (Mont), and other topics of interest to Mrs. Haynes.

Alphabetically arranged files of railroad memorabilia. The memorabilia pertains to the World's Fair, routes, tickets, passes, reports, time tables, etc. Locations represented include Alaska, Chicago, Yellowstone National Park, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.

Inventories in these boxes indicate that these materials were from the Isabel Haynes Office located in the MSU Library. They include framed and unframed photographs, handmade child's shoes, a pocket watch, a piece of travertine given gathered by Charles W. Cooke, academic hoods awarded to Haynes family members by Montana State University, and a leather briefcase.