Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Joseph Kinsey Howard Papers, 1927-1954
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Howard, Joseph Kinsey, 1906-1951
- Title
- Joseph Kinsey Howard Papers
- Dates
- 1927-1954 (inclusive)19271954
- Quantity
- 6.3 linear feet of shelf space
- Collection Number
- MC 27
- Summary
- Joseph Kinsey Howard (1906-1951) was a Great Falls, Montana, author, newspaperman, and historian. The collection (1927-1954) consists of correspondence about the publication of his books, various subject files on professional activities such as the Montana Study, and research files for his articles and books, especially for Strange Empire about the Metis.
- Repository
-
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov - Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Joseph Kinsey Howard was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on February 28, 1906. He went with his mother to Great Falls, Montana, in 1919. After completing high school, he joined the staff of the Great Falls Leader in 1923 as a reporter. Three years later he was named news editor and continued in this job until 1944, when he resigned to become research associate for the Montana Study, a project of the Rockefeller Foundation and Montana State University in Missoula. He left this project after two years to devote full time to writing. Howard was the author of Montana: High, Wide and Handsome, a history of Montana which won wide critical acclaim and went into eight editions in its first three years. He also edited Montana Margins: A State Anthology . At the time of his death he was completing Strange Empire , a history of the Metis of the northwestern United States and Canada from 1860 to 1890. Howard wrote numerous magazine articles, most of them concerning Montana. He delivered lectures for writers throughout the East and the Midwest, and was twice recipient of Guggenheim Fellowships on creative writing. He reviewed books for the New York Times, and was editorial correspondent for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, as well as Montana news correspondent for Time and Life magazines. He was a staff member of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference held annually in Vermont and directed the annual writers' conference at the Regional Arts Roundup at Montana State University from 1948 to 1950. Joseph Kinsey Howard died August 25, 1951.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Papers. 1927-1954. 6.3 linear feet. The collection contains correspondence concerning the publication of Howard's works, various subject files about his professional activities, and research files for his several articles and books.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.
Preferred Citation
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection
Subject Files Return to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
1 / 1-6 | Agency correspondence (re work of literary agents
Bernice Baumgarter and Alma Pritchard of Brandt and Brandt agency in finding
publishers for Howard's work; includes references to many works that were never
published) |
1945-1951 |
1 / 7-8 | Biographical file (includes personal correspondence,
draft deferment application, letters with Who's Who and others, a poem by Rebecca
Osborn "Joe Howard of Montana", obituaries, testimonials, etc.) |
1945-1953 |
1 / 9 | Book reviews by Howard |
1945, undated |
1 / 10-11 | Butte materials (primarily correspondence re postwar
low cost housing projects and the Greater Butte Project of the Anaconda Copper Mining
Company; also includes drafts of articles and speech by Tom Lyon on silver mining) |
1944-1950 |
1 / 12 | Butte materials (clippings re social conditions in
Butte, low income housing projects, etc.; includes ACM Club News column from Montana
Standard) |
1947-1948 |
1 / 13 | Butte materials (miscellaneous, including drafts of
articles, statistical data, brochures, maps, and a notebook entitled "Butte Research,
July 1946") |
1947-1948 |
1 / 14 | Guggenheim Fellowship (correspondence re application
for two fellowships: one re Metis and one re exploitation of the Great Plains) |
1939, 1946 |
1 / 15 | Indian crafts and education (correspondence from Mrs.
John C. Ewers, U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, D'Arcy McNickle, Baker Brownell, Rose K.
Brandt, Northern Plains Indians Crafts Association, F.A. Asbury; also includes Senate
report "Survey of Conditions among the Indians of the United States", 1943) |
1944-1945 |
1 / 16 | Indian crafts and education (publications, including
"Indians At Work"; Denver Art Museum leaflets; "Tongue River Indian Reservation,
Montana, Economic Survey and Program of Development, March 1944"; "Rocky Boy's
Reservation" and "Fort Belknap Indian Arts and Crafts" both by Mabel Morrow; etc.) |
1931-1945 |
2 / 1-2 | Lectures (correspondence from clubs and organizations
inviting Howard to speak) |
1944-1950 |
2 / 3 | Lectures (includes radio talk on proposed civic
center in Great Falls; "New Vistas for Education"; "New Frontiers for Montanans";
"Missouri--Valley of Opportunity"; "On Montana Education" [2 copies]; "New Concepts of
Plains History"; "Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw" [a Great Books lecture;
"University Fund Allocation"; untitled convocation speech to Missoula high school
students; "The Rocky Mountain Region, 1900-1950" [Voice of America broadcast];
untitled radio address for the Cascade County Trades and Labor Assembly) |
1939-1950 |
2 / 4 | Lectures (clippings) |
1943-1951 |
2 / 5 | Memberships (includes brochures, programs, etc.) |
1939-1951 |
2 / 6 | Miscellaneous correspondence, outgoing (re Great
Falls Newspaper Guild, resignation from Great Falls Leader, article on Associated
Press, site of destroyed buffalo pichkun, World War II displaced persons, naming of
holes at Meadow Lark Country Club, et al.) |
1942-1951 |
2 / 7 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes
Gerald W. Johnson, Educational Cooperative Publishing Company, Ralph C. Works, United
Publishers Inc of Havre) |
1936-1941 |
2 / 8 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes John
E. Blair, Schubert Dyche, Great Falls Tribune, Harpers Magazine, Associated Press,
Warren S. Blauvelt, Common Sense magazine, Elizabeth Turner, Harold F. Smith, Montana
Historical Society Library) |
1944 |
2 / 9 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes
Tennessee Valley Authority, J.R. Howard, Phyllis H. Meitzler, Peter Rorvik) |
1945 |
2 / 10 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes A.L
Strand, Robert S. Allen, Vanguard Press, T.C. Gandy, Ray B. West re Butte article,
H.G. Merriam) |
1946 |
2 / 11 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes
Western Review re article on Coeur d'Alene area, Alf C. Kremer, Ken Cooper, Carma R.
Zimmerman, and various publishers and letters from readers) |
1947 |
2 / 12 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes
Rocky Mountain Grange #2, Hamilton; letters re Pacific Speculator article on
Hutterites; notes on a conversation with a German prisoner of war; letters re Harper's
article on Butte; Charles Burke re historical letters written by his uncle Frank
Burke; The Progressive re proposed Missouri Valley Authority [MVA]) |
1948 |
2 / 13 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes
League for CVA [Columbia Valley Authority]; Harper's Magazine article on Tom Campbell;
Arthur Maass re water projects; Missouri Valley Authority [MVA]; Dee Linford; Dan
Whetstone; Tom Campbell; appointment to board of Montana Historical Society; letters
re Montana High Wide and Handsome; letters re speech on Montana education fund
situation; incorporation of Great Plains Foundation; United World Federalists) |
1949 |
2 / 14 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes
Baker Brownell; Helen Ruggles; Pacific Speculator article on timber sustained yield;
Robert P. Armstrong; Norman J. Holter; Ernest O. Melby; Else Byhan re German edition
of his work) |
1950 |
2 / 15 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes
Bernard DeVoto re Lewis and Clark Expedition research; Lawrence F. Florek re
manuscript on Johnson Flying Service; includes two posthumous letters) |
1951-1954 |
2 / 16 | Miscellaneous correspondence, incoming (includes
Geneva Combes re Newlon; Laura Z. Hobson; Ruth Lease re Seattle creative dramatics
program; Marcae Power; also includes telegram re Montana Power Company, "Rocky
Mountain Cities" proposal, clipping re Buffalo Hump gold rush, notes re May Arkwright
Hutton of Spokane) |
undated |
3 / 1-6 | Montana: High, Wide and Handsome: incoming
correspondence |
1943-1954, undated |
3 / 7 | Montana: High, Wide and Handsome: permissions |
1943 |
3 / 8 | Montana: High, Wide and Handsome: scrapbook |
1943-1944 |
3 / 9 | Montana: High, Wide and Handsome: research notes and
synopsis |
circa 1942 |
4 / 1 | Montana Institute of the Arts: general correspondence
and miscellaneous publications [additional material in OVERSIZE] |
1948-1950 |
4 / 2 | Montana Margins: incoming correspondence |
1945-1948 |
4 / 3 | Montana Margins: typewritten manuscripts |
undated |
4 / 4 | Montana Margins: research notes |
undated |
4 / 5 | Montana Margins: bibliographical notes |
undated |
4 / 6 | Montana Margins: contract arrangements correspondence |
1946 |
4 / 7 | Montana Margins: contract arrangements scrapbook |
1944-1948 |
5 / 1-6 | Montana Study: general correspondence (includes Baker
Brownell, Ernest O. Melby, Rockefeller Foundation, Morris L. Cooke, K.W. Bergen, G.M.
Brandborg, George A. Selke, James A. McCain, Richard Poston; also includes copies of
outgoing Brownell letters, "A Proposal for Continuation of the Montana Study") [see
also MC 270] |
1944-1950 |
5 / 7 | Montana Study: writings and miscellany (includes
"Community Facilities under Montana Law" and "Missouri--Valley of Opportunity"
statement before Senate Irrigation and Reclamation Committee subcommittee, by Joseph
Kinsey Howard; "The Bitterroot: the Story of a Montana Valley" [outline];
"Community-Centered Education for Montana Adults" by Ruth W. Robinson; "Population
Trends, National, State, Local" by Baker Brownell; "When Our Boys Come Home" by F.A.
Halverson; "Why People Are Moving to Town" by Richard L. Neuberger; also includes
bibliography, lists of conferences and lectures; mailing list; newspaper editorial;
etc.) |
undated |
5 / 8 | Montana Study: miscellaneous publications |
undated |
5 / 9 | Montana Study: clippings |
undated |
6 / 1 | Newspaper articles: clippings |
undated |
6 / 2 | Northwest Institute of International Relations:
incoming correspondence |
1947-1948 |
6 / 3 | Northwest Institute of International Relations:
miscellaneous publications |
undated |
6 / 4 | Northwest Institute of International Relations:
miscellaneous notes |
undated |
6 / 5 | Northwest Institute of International Relations:
clippings |
undated |
6 / 6 | Notes: handwritten research notes |
undated |
6 / 7-9 | Published manuscripts: typewritten manuscripts |
undated |
6 / 10 | Published manuscripts: general correspondence |
1947, 1949 |
7-8 / | Published manuscripts: magazine articles |
undated |
9 / 1 | Regional Arts Roundup: incoming correspondence |
1949-1951 |
9 / 2 | Regional Arts Roundup: miscellany |
undated |
9 / 3 | Reviews of Howard's work |
undated |
9 / 4-10 | Strange Empire: incoming correspondence |
1939-1954 |
10 / 1 - 12 / 1 | Strange Empire: typed manuscript |
undated |
13 / 1 - 14 / 1 | Strange Empire: galley proof |
undated |
15 / 1 | Strange Empire: scrapbook of ads, letters, reviews |
undated |
16 / 1-2 | Strange Empire: typewritten research notes |
undated |
16 / 3-6 | Strange Empire: handwritten research notes |
undated |
16 / 7 | Strange Empire: maps |
undated |
16 / 8 | Strange Empire: miscellaneous printed materials |
undated |
17 / 1-2 | Strange Empire: research clippings |
undated |
17 / 3 | Strange Empire: photocopies of research materials |
undated |
17 / 4 | Strange Empire: description of research microfilm
transferred to Library |
|
17 / 5 | Strange Empire: research notes |
undated |
18 / 1 | Tributes: correspondence to Mrs. Josephine Howard |
1945, 1951-1954 |
18 / 2 | Tributes: miscellaneous |
undated |
18 / 3 | Burton K. Wheeler: general correspondence |
1937-1944 |
18 / 4 | Burton K. Wheeler: research notes |
undated |
18 / 5-10 | Yale University Press: general correspondence |
1937-1951 |
Miscellany Return to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
18 / 11 | List of photographs and printed material transferred
to Photo Archives and Library respectively |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Art--Societies--Montana
- Authors--Montana
- Blackfeet Indians
- Cheyenne Indians
- Copper Mines and Mining--Montana
- Hutterite Brethren
- Indians OF North America--Art
- Indians OF North America--Education
- Labor and Laboring Classes--Montana
- Metis
- Red River Rebellion, 1869-1870
- Riel Rebellion, 1885
Personal Names
- Howard, Joseph Kinsey, 1906-1951 (creator)
Geographical Names
- Butte (Mont.)
- Canada