Archives West Finding Aid

This series consists of several Who's Who in America biographical abstracts regarding Walter McLeod, one sheet of notes on McLeod family geneological notes, a newspaper clipping regarding the forestry career of George B. McLeod (a cousin and business associate of Walter), an extensive family tree tracking the Hammond, Beckwith, Fenwick, and McLeod families, a sampling of World War II ration reciepts, and several drawings (signed and priced) of bronze figures created by C.J. Swedblom.

This series contains general correspondence written and received by Walter H. McLeod spanning five decades as a prominent Montana businessman and member of the extended McLeod family. The letters in this series relating to Walter McLeod's professional endeavors document both mundane and significant business decisions ranging from the Missoula Mercantile Company to the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Materials also document many of the commercial, political, and community organizations in which McLeod served as a member and/or leader.

This series also contains extensive sequences of correspondence between Walter and members of the extended McLeod family. Many of Walter McLeod's closest business and professional associates were relatives (direct and by marriage). These correspondence sequences provide significant insights into the depth and breadth McLeod family relations--often seamlessly transitioning back and forth between business and personal matters. Walter McLeod's daughters and female relatives constitute a major portion of this correspondence material and, thus, present an unusually concentrated source of mid-twentieth century feminine perspectives on family, business, and life in the American west. Researchers may be particularly interested in a sequence of correspondence between Walter McLeod and doctors at the Mercywood Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Olive McLeod, Walter's wife, was admitted for a period of several months. These exchanges document specific treatment methods and standard practices at the hospital as well as lend some insights into perceptions of mental illness at mid-century.

This series contains interoffice correspondence, financial records, legal documents, and company management papers generated and/or collected by employees of the Missoula Mercantile Company. The materials in this series add significant detail to the Missoula Mercantile Company records contained in Mss 1. Together, the materials in these collections constitute one of the Pacific Northwest's most detailed record assemblages of rural general merchandising practices, organizational adjustments, and distribution networks.

This series consists of financial and organizational records generated by the Beckwith Mercantile Company, a general merchandise business in St. Ignatius, Montana, managed by McLeod family relatives. Materials include account balance sheets, income statements, and stockholder notices.

This series consists of financial records and Board of Directors minutes generated by the Bozeman Feed and Grain company, a commercial agricultural supply subsidiary of the Missoula Mercantile Company in Bozeman, Montana.

This series consists of a stockholder notice and Board of Directors meeting minutes for the Business Properties Securities Company, a commercial real estate firm in Missoula, under the direction of Frank Thomas.

This series consists of stockholder notices and Board of Directors meeting minutes for the Demers Mercantile, a general merchandise outlet in Arlee, Montana.

This series consists of stockholder information and a corporate reorganization plan related to the Eddy, Hammond Company, a commercial holding company with offices in Missoula, Montana. The corporate reorganization plan establishes the process for dissolving the Eddy, Hammond Company into the Missoula Mercantile Company.

This series contains financial reports (and some correspondence directly attached to such reports) collected by Walter McLeod during his tenure as a Director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials in this series relates to the extensive correspondence sequences in Series I regarding the Federal Reserve Bank and its Board of Directors. Walter McLeod played a primary role in securing and organizing the Board's 1949 annual meeting in Missoula, during a significant period of post-war economic transformation and development within western Montana.

This series contains extensive materials generated by the Florence Hotel in Missoula, Montana, particularly regarding reconstruction projects following the catastrophic 1938 structural fire and the 1941 grand re-opening. Materials include general correspondence, research files regarding reconstruction subjects, financial records, legal documents, management records, and pamphlets/printed materials related to the grand reopening, including reference materials regarding comparable hotels in the Pacific Northwest. Collectively, these materials lend significant insights into the expectations that directed reconstruction efforts, detail aspects of the hotel's daily operations, and suggest the relative importance of the hotel within Missoula economic and cultural development during the 1940s and 1950s.

This series consists of one account balance from the Garden City Block Company, a Missoula, Montana, construction supply operation.

This series contains financial and organizational records generated by Hamilton Feed and Grain, a commercial agricultural supply and distribution operation in Hamilton, Montana. Records include balance sheets, profit and loss statements, stockholder lists, and corporate meeting minutes.

This series contains financial and organizational records generated by the A.B. Hammond Company, a commercial holding company with the sole asset of the Hammond Lumber Company. Corporate offices were located in Missoula, Montana. Materials include stockholder information and an account balance sheet.

This series contains financial and organizational records from the Hammond Lumber Company, headquartered in San Francisco, California, during the period of these records. The series also includes two files of transcripts and notes generated by a project to write a history of the company. Titled "History of the Hammond Lumber Company," these materials document George B. McLeod's recollections on A.B. Hammond's business activities throughout the Pacific Northwest and range from operating lumber mills to influencing state/Federal land management decisions, from building and managing railroads to establishing general merchandise outlets. George B. McLeod was Charles McLeod's brother and manager of the Hammond Lumber Company. This history is a lightly edited transcript of oral history interviews with George McLeod that does not follow a coherent chronological or thematic order; however, it offers significant insights into business practices and rivalries among the Pacific Northwest's most visible resource tycoons and augments existing genealogical accounts of the relationships between the Hammond, McLeod, and Beckwith families.

This series consists of one account ballance sheet from the Kalispell Feed and Grain Company, which operated in Kalispell, Montana.

This series contains financial records generated by the Kalispell Grocery Company in Kalispell, Montana. Accounts receivable records and cash books in this series document the business's regular clientele and indicate seasonal fluctuations in product types and sales volume.

This series contains financial records generated by the Kalispell Mercantile Company, the Missoula Mercantile Company's sister operation in the Flathead valley of Montana. These records document sales volumes (both cumulatively and by department) as well as clientele lists for the "Merc," the largest general merchandise operation in northwest Montana for much of the 20th Century.

This series contains financial records and stockholder information from the Missoula Feed and Grain Company, a commercial agricultural outlet. Financial records consist of operating balance sheets and stockholder information includes a meeting notice and meeting minutes.

This series contains financial and organizational records generated by the Montana Mercantile Company, successor to the Missoula Mercantile Company after the Board of Directors completed sale of the Missoula store in 1959.

This series contains financial and organizational records from the Montana Power Company from the years Walter McLeod served on the company's Board of Directors. The Montana Power Company, based in Butte, was the primary producer and distributor of electric power in Montana and played a central role in Montana's economy throughout the twentieth century. Financial records primarily consist of annual reports and projected budgets. Organizational records consist of reports to stockholders, a Board of Directors governance manual, and investment assessments, and investor promotional materials.

This series contains a 1946 operating statement from the New Finlen Hotel Company in Butte, Montana. The Finlen was comparable to the Florence Hotel in Missoula, Montana, in terms of style and cultural importance to their respective cities.

This series contains financial and organizational records generated by the Northern Pacific Railroad during Walter McLeod's tenure on the company's Board of Directors. Additionally, this series contains financial records from the Northwestern Improvement Company, then a subsidiary of the railroad. The Northern Pacific Railroad was one of the primary methods for transportation of goods and passengers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Materials in this series provide insights into the railroad's role in the economy of western Montana and the larger region as well as management procedures/expectations obscured within larger archival collections from the company itself. As a member of the Board of Directors, Walter McLeod served a central role in defining company goals and procedures during the railroad industry's most dramatic transformation period since the completion of cross-continental networks. From the late 1940s through the early 1960s construction of the federal interstate highway system and expanded state routes fundamentally changed the role of railroads in mass transportation of goods and passengers. These concerns are prevalent throughout the annual reports, market assessments, and inspection tour documents contained in this series.

This series contains one profit and loss statement from the South Missoula Land Company, a real estate subsidiary of the Missoula Mercantile Company that, for a portion of the early twentieth century, owned or held leases for much of the residential real estate in the Missoula valley south of the Clark Fork River.

This series contains newspaper clippings regarding Walter H. McLeod, other members of the McLeod family (both direct and extended family), and topics of interest to Walter McLeod.

This series contains extensive personal research files collected by Walter McLeod over the course of his professional career. These materials primarily consist of magazine articles, general reports, and promotional materials organized into general topics. Subject headings and the general organizational structure appears to be McLeod's own system; thus, these materials have been preserved following the structure present at donation to the K. Ross Toole Archives. The nature and structure of these materials present the most direct evidence of Walter McLeod's economic, social, and political views present in this collection--even the correspondence series tends not to reveal much about McLeod's beliefs beyond the specifics of business transactions or personal exchanges.

This series contains photographic prints and negatives collected by Walter McLeod capturing members of his family, many friends, and some of his professional activities including the Missoula Mercantile. Materials in this series extensively document the members of the extended McLeod family involved in their Missoula-based business activities.