Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Sheridan County Oral History Project, 2010-2011
Overview of the Collection
- Interviewer
- Knopp, Larry; ; Zahavi, Gerald
- Title
- Sheridan County Oral History Project
- Dates
- 2010-2011 (inclusive)20102011
- Quantity
-
1 online resource (16 audio files, 19 hours 57 min.), digital, MP3 files
17 interviews of 19 people; number of pages in transcripts provided in container list - Collection Number
- OH 2308
- Summary
- Sheridan County Oral History Project consists of 16 audio recordings and 19 transcripts of interviews conducted with 19 former and current residents of Sheridan County in Northeastern Montana conducted primarily in June of 2010. Includes oral history interviews with former and current residents of Sheridan County in northeastern Montana. The interviewees discuss the impact differing political stances, particularly the rise of the Farmer Labor Movement and Communism, had on the community during the 1920s and Great Depression era, how it impacted the relationship between Communist and non-Communist in the area at the time, the political beliefs of their parents during and after the movement, and how that impacted the political beliefs of the interviewees over the years. Interviews conducted by Professor Larry Knopp, University of Washington, Tacoma, Tacoma, Washington, and Professor Gerald Zahavi, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, New York.
- 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 - Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research.
- Languages
- English
Historical NoteReturn to Top
Dave Anderson, Gerda Christensen, Vernon Christensen, James A. Hansen, Ardelle Hart, Margaret Hoven, Norman Jensen, Verlaine Stoner McDonald, Orville Nash, Joe Nistler, Debra Orozco, Ricardo Orozco, Roald Selvig, Ed Smith, Emmanual States, Shorty Timmerman, Jo Anne Troxel, Bill Wagner, and Chester Wirtz were all either born and raised, or spent parts of their lives, in Sheridan County. A large number of interviewees were born prior to, or during the rise of the Communist and Farm Labor Movement in the county and can recall some memories of the movement from their child and adolescent years.
Dr. Larry Knopp is a professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Tacoma. Dr. Gerald Zahavi is a professor and Director of the Documentary Studies Program at the University of Albany.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
17 interviews of 19 people; Number of pages in transcripts provided in container list of finding aid. Sheridan County Oral History Project consists of 16 audio recordings and 19 transcripts of interviews conducted with 19 former and current residents of Sheridan County in Northeastern Montana conducted primarily in June of 2010. Please note that three of the interviews only contain transcripts please see detailed summary of collection in the Finding Aid for more information on each interview. Includes oral history interviews with former and current residents of Sheridan County in northeastern Montana.
Other Descriptive InformationReturn to Top
Researchers requesting copies of interviews should refer to the OH number and name of interviewee when ordering.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
The Montana Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Preferred Citation
[OH number][Interview title] Montana Historical Society Research Center. Archives. Helena, Montana.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
Inventory is arranged by item, with each oral history interview listed by the name of the interviewee. An abstract for each interview is provided in the inventory to allow keyword searchability. The abstract includes the number of cassettes, CDs or transcript pages for the interview, as appropriate. Researchers requesting copies of interviews should refer to the OH number and sub-number (OH 2308_xx) and the name of the interviewee when ordering.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Description |
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OH 2308_1 & OH 2308_2: MARGARET HOVEN AND DAVE ANDERSON INTERVIEW 87 minutes, 2 Transcript 17
pages total
In this interview Margaret Hoven discusses growing up in Sheridan
County in the 1950s and 60s. Topics include attending school in Antelope,
Montana; conflicts her grandfather had with the Communists during the Great
Depression, her parent's political beliefs growing up; her perception of the
region in terms of politics after spending 34 years away from home. She also
signs Norwegian songs and Farmer Unions Songs. On disc 2 Dave Anderson, who is
married to Hoven, discusses his perception of the community as an outsider.
Topics include the viewpoints held by the pastor and congregation at the
Nathaniel Lutheran Church in Dagmar, Montana and how the political beliefs of
other religious congregations in the area compare.
|
OH 2308_3: GERDA CHRISTENSEN INTERVIEW 73 minutes, Transcript 16
pages
In this interview Gerda Christensen discusses growing up in Westby
outside Dagmar, Montana in the 1920s and 1930s, including school; church; the
Great Depression years; WPA work; and working on a farm. What restrictions
existed growing up in a predominately communist community; IWWs; her parents
who emigrated out of Denmark; co-ops in Dagmar; the Producers News; her
personal political beliefs as well as her husband's and her daughter's; and the
Farmer's Union Camp and Pioneer Camp.
|
OH 2308_4: VERNON CHRISTENSEN INTERVIEW 66 minutes, Transcript 13 pages
In this interview Vernon Christensen discusses growing up in
Sheridan County beginning in the 1920s. Topics include growing up on the farm
on Cottonwood Creek 10 miles out of Dagmar; the Communist camp on Brush Lake
put on by the Farmer Labor Party; what her remembers about communists in
Dagmar, Montana; farming equipment auction sales; Janis Salisbury's funeral;
where his political beliefs came from; his parents' political and religious
beliefs and how that impacted how they felt about communism; the Danish
language at home and at church; his World War II experience.
|
OH 2308_5: JAMES A. HANSEN INTERVIEW
152 minutes, Transcript 34
pages
In this interview James A. Hansen discusses growing up in
Plentywood, Montana in the late 1920s and 1930s. Topics include his father's
flour mill and farming around the Dagmar area; his parents' ethnic and
political backgrounds; working at his father's mill in Wolf Point, MT; studying
music at the University of Montana and UM Western and going on to teach music
in Montana and Oregon; the foreclosure of the family farm; the Holiday
Association; the Farm Labor Temple and Brush Lake. He also discusses his
mother, Marie Hansen, and her relationship with Rodney Salisbury, his
relationship with his half siblings, attending Janis Salisbury's funeral.
|
OH 2308_6: NORMAN JENSEN INTERVIEW
64 minutes, Transcript 15 pages
In this interview Norman Jensen discusses growing up in the
Dagmar, Montana area during the 1930s. He discusses how the town of Dagmar got
started, its Danish roots, co-ops, the St. Nathaniel Lutheran Church, the Happy
Danes, and the Danish Brotherhood in Dagmar and Danish customs; what he
remembers about communism (The Reds) in Dagmar; what was preached at church
(briefly); how his family came to the area, their homesteads, his own wife and
children; the Grit Newspaper; prohibition in the area; the political beliefs in
the Dagmar area following the fall of the communist movement up to current
times.
|
OH 2308_7: VERLAINE STONER MCDONALD
INTERVIEW 191 minutes, Transcript 27 pages
In this interview Verlaine Stoner McDonald discusses how she got
interested in the history of Sheridan County, which ultimately led to her
conducting research for her doctoral dissertation and book on the Bolshevik
Revolution taking place & its impact, the transformation of the
non-partisan league & the socialists & left wing socialists in Sheridan
County during the 1920s; what she discovers while conducting research including
why people came to this area in the early 20th century and from where they
emigrated; the diversity of the county in regards to ethnicity, beliefs, and
backgrounds; the Sioux Line; homesteading in the area; female homesteaders;
social outlets in the region including the Farmer Movement & other
movements in the state; the history of Charlie Taylor; opponents of the Farmer
Labor Party including Burley Bowler, Dr. Storken, and Harry Polk; the bank
robbery of 1926; Rodney Salisbury, his personal family life, the downfall of
communism in the area through the fusion of the Democrats and Republicans into
the Tax Payers Economy League in 1932; the rise of the Third Perdio Communist
ideology at the end of the 1920s & the arrival of the Erik Bert and Ruth
Bert to run the Producers News and the newspaper's demise. She ends with her
family's own personal political beliefs during the Farm Labor Movement Era.
|
OH 2308_8: JOE NISTLER INTERVIEW 69 minutes, Transcript 15 pages
In this interview Joe Nistler discusses moving to Plentywood,
Montana as a teenager in the 1960s, working as the editor of the Sheridan
County News and the research he has done about the Red Era; the Young Pioneer
camps at Brush Lake; bootlegging in the area; the 1926 bank robbery and his
speculations on its link to communism; the Plentywood Herald and Producers
News; the funeral for Janis Salisbury; Sherif Rodney Salisbury, Charlie Taylor,
and his son Carl & their political beliefs during and after the Red
movement; what ended communism in the county; Sheridan County politics today;
how the decendants of the communists in the area have changed politically; the
role religion in politics have affected the county; the National Socialist and
Montana Socialist meeting in Plentywood in 1960; the history of the Farm Labor
Temple and who has occupied the building over the years.
|
OH 2308_9: DEBRA AND RICARDO OROZCO INTERVIEW
61 minutes, Transcript 16 pages
In this interview Debra Orozco discusses growing up outside
Plentywood during the 1960s and 1970s; her family's history in the area;
hearing stories about communism from the elders in the community; what impact
she believes Franklin Roosevelt had on politics; she and her husband, Ricardo
Orozco's personal political beliefs throughout their lives, living both in and
out of Montana; how their political beliefs have shifted since the 1980s and
how livign outside the states and traveling the globe as a part of their
military careers has impacted their politics. They then analyze if the radical
past had any lasting effects on modern political beliefs of Sheridan County
residents.
|
OH 2308_10: ROALD SELVIG INTERVIEW 30 minutes, Transcript 7 pages
In this interview Roald Selvig discusses how his family came to
this area from Norway; growing up in Outlook, Montana during the 1930s; what he
remembers about the communist movement in the area; IWW workers on his father's
farm; his personal political beliefs & how he got them.
|
OH 2308_11: ED SMITH INTERVIEW 89 minutes, Transcript 19 pages
In this interview Ed Smith explains how religion kept his family
from joining the communist movement; how divided the town of Dagmar was
(community activies of non-communists vs. communists); communists baseball
team; the funeral of Janis Salisbury; his personal memories of the communists
in the 1930s; the Young Pioneers; the joining fo the Democrats and Republicans
to kick the communists out of the region after the Salisbury funeral; the
Farmers Union; the Jim Ostby family; the outside influence on communism in the
area including Mother Bloor; the impact of the press; his own political career
(running for state representative in the 1960s, for governor in 1972, and for
senate in the 1970s); his modern day political beliefs & national politics
impact on Sheridan County; how farming in the area has evolved since the
1930s.
|
OH 2308_12: EMANUAL STATES INTERVIEW
61 minutes, Transcript 10 pages
In this interview Emanual States discusses growing up in the
Redstone, Montana area during the 1920s and 1930s; how communism wasn't
prevalent in the Redstone area; prohibition, alcohol runners & the brothel
know as the Chicken House; Sherif Rodney Salisbury; why certain areas like
Dagmar, Montana had more communists than Redstone; Charlie Taylor & the
Producers News; his parents' political beliefs; his own political view; how
Republicans and Democrats have evolved since the communist movement; his time
as an election board member in Redstone beginning in the late 1960s; what he
knows about the IWW workers in when his father came to the region in 1910.
|
OH 2308_13: SHORTY TIMMERMAN INTERVIEW
69 minutes, Transcript 16 pages
In this interview Shorty Timmerman discusses growing up outside
Plentywood, Montana during the 1920s and 1930s; what he remembers about
prohibition, stills, bootlegging; Jim Pobescue, his restaurant, and the
controversy with a mouse allegedly being found in a bowl of soup served at the
restaurant; farm equipment and reposessions; Charlie Taylor and his son Carl
(whom he was friends with); the Producers News vs. the Plentywood Herald;
tension between communists and non-communists in the neighborhood; the
Salisbury family; coal mining in the area; IWW workers; the Great Depression
and his experience in the Civil Conservation Corps; the concentration of
communists close to the Sioux Line (near Dagmar); his personal political
beliefs throughout the years (running non-partisan for mayor); the political
beliefs of others in the area over the years; the family farm & house; the
Marie Hansen, her husband, Andy, and their children; the DeSilva family.
|
OH 2308_14 & OH2308_15: JO ANNE TROXEL INTERVIEW
211 minutes, 2 Transcripts 45 pages total
In this interview Jo Anne Troxel discusses her parent, Marie
hansen and Rodney Salisbury; what she remembers about her father before his
death; the relationship between Marie and Rodney; her parents' belief in
politics & marriage; her siblings and half-siblings; her memories from
living in the Montana towns of Billings, Arless, Missoula, and Wolf Point;
family dynamics throughout her life. On disc 2 she covers the early years of
her parents' relationship & their beliefs about communism; her relationship
with her half-siblings later in life; her schooling from elementary on; working
as a live-in nanny/maid as a young teenager in the Missoula area; living with
her sister's fmaily with her younger brother in Wolf Point; her political
beliefs throughout her life; her college experience & teaching English in
White Sulpher Springs, Montana and Bozeman, Montana; her mother later in
life.
|
OH 2308_16: CHESTER WIRTZ INTERVIEW
30 minutes, Transcript 7 pages
In this interview Chester Wirtz discusses growing up and farming
in Plentywood, Montana during the 1930s and 1940s; religion and politics in his
family; his understanding of communism in the area based on what he has read in
books; outlaws in the area including Dutch Henry; Franklin Roosevelt's
influence on politics; his modern day political beliefs.
|
OH 2308_17: ARDELLE HART INTERVIEW Transcript 7 pages
In this interview discusses growing up in the Outlook, Montana,
her grandfather ranching around the Judith Basin at the turn of the 20th
century; her parents and their political beliefs; what she remembers about the
Young Pioneers and what she heard from others about the funeral for Janis
Salisbury. What she remembers about Sherif Rodney Salisbury from Plentywood,
Montana and his possible linkage to the court house robberies; her thoughts on
the Producer News and its editor, Charlie Taylor; how political actions of
leaders have affected the stance of ranchers and farmers differently. She ends
with discussing her current political beliefs and how cap and trade has
impacted her.
|
OH 2308_18: ORVILLE NASH INTERVIEW Transcript 23 pages
In this interview Orville Nash discusses growing up outside
Delview, Montana; the "Red Years" in the Outlook, Montana area, including the
arrival of Mrs. Bill Hass and Mother Bloor; farm equipment auctions put on by
the Holiday Association; communist conventions in Plentywood, Montana;
communist cells in the area, including the communities of Chewlex, Raymond, and
Dagmar, Montana; the funeral of Janis Salisbury; what he thinks pushes people
to communism; bootlegging out of Canada and Scobey, Montana; the IWW's; the
downfall of communism in the area and people's political beliefs/tendencies
immediately following & throughout the decades including modern times;
modern day communists in the area; the community during the Great Depression
and the farming and ranching families' experiences during it; the non-partisan
league; Elmer "Homing" Thompson; the John Birch Society; Mr. Nash's personal
political beliefs & how he got them.
|
OH 2308_19: BILL WAGNER INTERVIEW Transcript 11 pages
In this interview Bill Wagner discusses growing up in the
Plentywood area during the 1920s and 1930s; the animosity between the
communists & everyone else; offers a direct account of the funeral for
Janis Salisbury (stood outside the Farmer Labor Temple); Sherif Rodney
Salisbury; the IWW workers; the cases his father took as a lawyer; religion in
the region; Dutch Henry; Charlie Taylor; why he believes people turned to
communism; teacher Bernadine Logan; coal mining & mines in the area;
experiences with Native Americans in the area & leasing reservation
land.
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Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Communism--Montana--Sheridan County--History--20th century
- Labor unions and communism--Montana
- Radicalism--Montana--Sheridan County--History--20th century
- Social conflict--Montana--Sheridan County--History--20th century
Personal Names
- Knopp, Larry; (interviewer)
Corporate Names
- Farmer-Labor Party
Geographical Names
- Montana
- Sheridan County (Mont.)--Politics and government--20th century
Form or Genre Terms
- Oral history
- Sound recordings
Other Creators
-
Personal Names
- Zahavi, Gerald. (interviewer)