Archives West Finding Aid

This series divided into two parts, Incoming and Outgoing Correspondence. The incoming contains professional correspondence, with very few personal letters. The outgoing contains both professional and personal. Many of the letters in the incoming correspondence are legal matters that Duncan was handling or presiding over. A few letters are business, relating to the many real estate ventures that Duncan was involved in. He was in correspondence with many state senators and representatives for his professional and private business deals. There are some letters in the series with his wife Gertrude. Outgoing correspondence consists of copies placed in bound volumes. The volumes are divided into years, with both personal and professional correspondence in them. The majority of the letters, though, come from Duncan's law office.

The series contains business and personal financial records for Duncan and his offices. The business records consist of an account book containing the names of Duncan's clients, a collection docket of persons who owed attorney's fees to Duncan and the amount owed. An accounts payable ledger and a correspondence ledger dealing with accounts of Duncan are also included in the series. There are also numerous daily cashbooks dealing with Duncan's law offices, including Duncan and Wilber, Duncan and Dixon, and Duncan and Myers. The series also contains checkbook stubs and copies of checks written for Duncan's law offices. A city clerk's finance book is also included. The ledger contains monthly warrant collections, including the date, name, and amount of warrant. The series also consists of Duncan's personal daily cashbooks. The ledgers contain the amounts and the items that Duncan bought, such as groceries and house payments.

The series contains copies of letters that Duncan wrote while he was the State Statistical Agent for Montana Department of Agriculture. Many of the letters are to other Department of Agriculture agents in the United States, including the secretary of the department. While Statistical Agent, Duncan duties included keeping records of Montana crops, harvest information, and weather to report to the Secretary of Agriculture.

This series consists of Missoula School Census Ledger for 1909. The ledger includes the name of the child, age, date of birth, gender, name of father and mother, and address. Bids for painting of the Missoula schools from local painting companies is also in the collection. L.N. Simons submitted three bids to cover the four Missoula schools.

This series contains correspondence the Duncan sent to other attorneys and judges concerning the cases that he worked on. Many of the correspondences begin with the case number and names. The series also consists of Duncan's notes that he had on certain cases. The notes would include a working copy of the motion, or notes on a deposition. Copies of a few motions are in the series that Duncan drew up to be filed in the courts. A personal daily journal is also in the series.