Anaconda Smoke Case Defense Negatives

Anaconda Smoke Case Defense Negatives, 1910

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Burke, Edmund (Frank Edmund), 1865-1948
Title: Anaconda Smoke Case Defense Negatives
Dates: 1910
19101910
Quantity: .6 linear feet
Collection Number: Collection 0437, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary: The Anaconda Smoke Case Defense Negatives consist of sixty-eight glass plate negatives in this collection created by Burke or attributed to him by the library staff that initially accessioned the material. Most of the images are of rural scenery presumably in the Deer Lodge valley, although several images of the town of Anaconda, along with two of the Willow Glen Stock Farm can be easily identified.
Repository: Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research.
Languages: English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Frank Edmund Burke was born in Michigan in 1865. He moved to Montana in 1888 and in 1898 began his education at the Montana College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (later Montana State University). He also studied at Cornell and Michigan State College. Burke eventually became head of the chemistry department of the experiment station at Bozeman and served in that capacity until 1939. He married Sarah Mariah Lowe on December 26, 1905 and the couple had one son. Professor Burke died in Bozeman, Montana on May 15, 1948.

By 1910, the Anaconda Copper Company had already successfully defended its smelting operation in Montana from a lawsuit filed by Deer Lodge valley agriculturalists, but a new challenge, this time from the federal government, claimed that the smoke from the company’s smelters was damaging the national forest as well as the valley’s domestic plant and animal life. As they had done before, the Anaconda Company hired a team of expert witnesses to gather evidence to refute the charges, among whom was Professor Burke. Burke took a number of photographic images of the Deer Lodge valley on behalf of the Company, presumably to provide evidence that there was little to no environmental damage as a result of the area smelter.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The sixty-eight glass plate negatives in this collection were created by Burke or attributed to him by the library staff that initially accessioned the material. Most of the images are of rural scenery presumably in the Deer Lodge valley, although several images of the town of Anaconda, along with two of the Willow Glen Stock Farm can be easily identified. No inventory or description of the plates created by Burke are available, but images numbered 1 through 44 bear his name as photographer and have the date etched on the negative. Many gaps can be seen in this numbering sequence and it is unknown where the missing images can be located. Images numbered 46a through 55b have no dates, attributions, or even numbers on the negatives themselves and were likely arbitrarily added to the original numbering sequence by library personnel after accessioning. A second series of twelve stereoviews which bear numbers and dates of exposure (but no photographer attribution) can be found in box three.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Original glass plate negatives created by Frank Edmund Burke in 1910 were discovered in the office of Montana State College chemistry professor Birger Lars Johnson in 1965 on the eve of his acceptance of an emeritus appointment. Johnson then donated them to the Special Collections department of the college library.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2016 June 1

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
box-negative
1/1-2	Hillside with immature trees	July 16, 1910
1/3	Man in crop field	July 16, 1910
1/4	Anaconda residential street	July 19, 1910
1/5	Anaconda business street	July 19, 1910
1/6	Anaconda residential street	July 19, 1910
1/7	Government building in Anaconda	July 19, 1910
1/8	Two men in crop field	July 21, 1910
1/9	Man in field with haystack	July 21, 1910
1/10	Man in fenced field	July 21, 1910
1/11	Crop field with furrows	July 21, 1910
1/14	Woodland with immature trees	July 22, 1910
1/15	Beaverslide hay stacker	July 23, 1910
1/17	Haystack with pole loader	July 24, 1910
1/19	Hayfield with haystacks	July 24, 1910
1/20-21	Man in wheat field	July 25, 1910
1/22	Wheat field	July 25, 1910
1/23	Cows in pasture	July 25, 1910
1/24	Hay field	July 25, 1910
2/25	Anaconda residential street	July 27, 1910
2/26	Wheat field	July 27, 1910
2/27	Man in wheat field	July 27, 1910
2/28	Man in crop field	July 27, 1910
2/29	Horse team in field	July 26, 1910
2/30-31	Man in wheat field	July 26, 1910
2/33	Man in crop field	July 26, 1910
2/34	Man in wheat field	July 26, 1910
2/35	Haystacks with smelter smokestack in background	July 27, 1910
2/37-38	Haystacks in field	July 28, 1910
2/39	Cows at rest (Photo marked as #40)	July 28, 1910
2/40	Cows at rest	July 28, 1910
2/41	Cows standing	July 28, 1910
2/44	Hay stacking crew and haystack	July 28, 1910
2/46a-46c	Farm and outbuildings	Undated
3/47a-47c	Farm and outbuildings	Undated
3/48a-48b	Willow Glen Stock Farm house and barn	Undated
3/49a-49b	Forest	Undated
3/50	Two trees on hillside	Undated
3/51-52	Forested hillside	Undated
3/53a-53b	Wheat field stereoview	Undated
3/53c	Four trees	Undated
3/54a	Trees on hillside stereoview	Undated
3/54b	Crop field steroview	Undated
3/55a-55b	Apartment building in Anaconda stereoview	Undated
	“Series 2" stereoview images
box-negative
3/1	Mountains, stereoview	August 16, 1910
3/2	Haystacks and mountains, stereoview	August 16, 1910
3/3-10	Pasture with railroad tracks, stereoview	August 16, 1910
3/101	Man in wheat field
3/113	Pasture and farm

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Arsenic -- Toxicology -- Montana -- Deer Lodge Valley -- Photographs
Arsenic -- Toxicology -- Montana -- Deer Lodge Valley -- Photographs
Industrial buildings -- Montana -- Anaconda -- Photographs
Smelting -- Environmental aspects -- Montana -- Deer Lodge Valley -- Photographs
Smelting furnaces -- Environmental aspects -- Montana -- Deer Lodge Valley -- Photographs
Sulfur dioxide -- Physiological effect -- Photographs

Corporate Names

Washoe Smelter (Anaconda, Mont.) -- Photographs

Geographical Names

Deer Lodge Valley (Mont.) -- Photographs

Other Creators

Corporate Names
- Amalgamated Copper Mining Company
- Anaconda Copper Mining Company

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