Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Life of Rudy Christianson, 1978
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Koenker, Hazel N.
- Title
- Life of Rudy Christianson
- Dates
- 197819781978
- Quantity
- 1 item; 53 pages
- Collection Number
- Collection 1267, MtBC, us (collection)
- Summary
- The Life of Rudy Christianson is a photocopy of an original typescript. The narration based on a series of unrecorded personal interviews with Christianson by Koenker, is in the third person with many literary embellishments. The narrative describes Rudy's childhood in Norway, his years homesteading and working in Wolf Point, his brief army service, and his work for the Great Northern. In a separate section of the manuscript is a biography of his wife, Carolyn. She homesteaded as a girl near Perma, Montana, attended high school in Missoula, and attended university studies in Wisconsin where she performed on the violin. After the death of her first husband, she married Christianson in Wenatchee, Washington in 1954.
- 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
Rudolf "Rudy" Christianson was born in Norway in 1886, the son of a store keeper. He joined an uncle in North Dakota when he was 20. In 1906 he took up a homestead on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation near Wolf Point, Montana. In 1914 he proved up on the homestead and got his citizenship papers. Rudy managed a lumber business in Oswego, Montana, before joining the army in World War I and from 1920 to 1951 he worked for the Great Northern Railroad. He retired in Wenatchee, Washington where he married Carolyn Friauf, the widow of a friend. Rudy died on August 15, 1978.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The Life of Rudy Christianson is a 53 page photocopy of an original typescript. The narration, which is based on a series of unrecorded personal interviews with Christianson by Koenker, is in the third person with many literary embellishments. The narrative describes Rudy's childhood in Norway, his years homesteading and working in Wolf Point, his brief army service, and his work for the Great Northern. In a separate section of the manuscript is a biography of his wife, Carolyn. She homesteaded as a girl near Perma, Montana, attended high school in Missoula, and attended university studies in Wisconsin where she performed on the violin. After the death of her first husband, she married Christianson in Wenatchee, Washington in 1954.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Frontier and pioneer life -- Montana -- Biography
Personal Names
- Christianson, Rudy, 1886-1978
Kim Allen Scott, 2013
January 18, 2017
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
