Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Isaac Schultz family letters, 1880-1931
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Schultz, Isaac, 1851-1931
- Title
- Isaac Schultz family letters
- Dates
- 1880-1931 (inclusive)18801931
- Quantity
- 0.2 linear feet and 1 electronic file
- Collection Number
- Mss 391
- Summary
- Isaac Schultz was a farmer, sheep rancher, and oil man in Florida, Montana, and Wyoming respectively. This collection includes letters to and from Isaac Schultz and various friends and family, including his brothers Alfred and Benneville, dated 1880 to 1931.
- Repository
-
University of Montana, Mansfield Library, Archives and Special Collections
Archives and Special Collections
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library
University of Montana
32 Campus Dr. #9936
59812-9936
Missoula, MT
Telephone: 406-243-2053
library.archives@umontana.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana--Missoula. Electronic files are currently in processing and require prior notice for access, please contact Archives and Special Collections for more information.
- Additional Reference Guides
-
Finding aid in the repository.
- Languages
- English
Historical NoteReturn to Top
Isaac Schultz was born in 1851 in Pennsylvania. He attended Dartmouth College and taught school in the east before poor health forced him to Florida around 1875. Isaac Schultz was a pioneer in Florida, where he obtained a homestead and later planted and cultivated an orange grove near Crooked Lake with his brothers Henry H. and John. In 1881, Isaac and his brother, Alfred, sold their interest in the groves and invested in a sheep ranch, the Custer Creek Ranch, near Miles City, Montana, in 1883. The sheep business prospered until the severe winter of 1886-87 when Isaac Schultz lost much of his flock and was forced to sell the remainder and find new work. He moved to San Francisco, California, and bought an employment agency in the fall of 1887. From then until 1931 his brother Alfred heard nothing from him.
Isaac Schultz lived in Wyoming for thirty years, where he was a small time oil man. In 1931, during the last months of his life, his wife, an artist and writer, began corresponding with family members in letters that partially accounted for the intervening years. Isaac Schultz died on February 26,1931 in Thermopolis, Wyoming.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The collection includes twenty-two letters between Isaac Schultz and his brother, Alfred, from Miles City, Montana, dated 1884 to 1887; together with four letters (1931) from Mrs. Isaac Schultz to Alfred Schultz; a letter (1987) from the Schwenkfelder Library to Professor H. Duane Hampton and two additional letters from Mrs. Isaac Schultz to Dr. O.S. Kreiber and from Jerome K. Schultz, a nephew, to Dr. O.S. Kreibel, dated 1931. Electronic records added to the collection include: seven letters written by Isaac Schultz from 1880 to 1931; a telegram from Oscar Kriebel, dated 1931; two letters from Jerome Schultz, dated 1931; and one letter written by Alfred Schultz, dated 1931.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to the University of Montana.
Preferred Citation
[Name of document or photograph number], Isaac Schultz Family Letters, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Bibliography
Many of the letters appear in H. Duane Hampton’s article "Promise in the West: The Letters of Isaac Schultz," published in Montana: the Magazine of Western History (Autumn 1986), in addition to The Schultz Cousins in Florida, Including John’s Diary and Isaac’s Search (Schwenkfelder Library, 1989) and Darlene Della Schneck's book Letters From a Montana Sheep Man.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Paul S. Martin (Alfred Schultz's grandson), 1981, and of Professor H. Duane Hampton, 1987. Digital materials were donated by Darlene Della Schneck in 2013.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
1/1 | Typed copies of Isaac Schultz's letters | 1884-1887 |
1/2 | Typed copies of Mrs. Isaac Schultz's letters | 1931 |
1/3 | Letter | 1884 May 2 |
1/4 | Letter | 1884 June 25 |
1/5 | Letter | 1884 July 28 |
1/6 | Letter | 1884 September 17 |
1/7 | Letter | 1884 October 15 |
1/8 | Letter | 1885 February 2 |
1/9 | Letter | 1885 February 14 |
1/10 | Letter | 1885 February 18 |
1/11 | Letter | 1885 April 12 |
1/12 | Letter | 1885 July 27 |
1/13 | Letter | 1885 September 12 |
1/14 | Letter | 1886 May 29 |
1/15 | Letter | 1886 July 24 |
1/16 | Letter | 1886 September 5 |
1/17 | Letter | 1886 November 18 |
1/18 | Letter | 1887 January 22 |
1/19 | Letter | 1887 February 23 |
1/20 | Letter | 1887 April 4 |
1/21 | Letter | 1887 May 24 |
1/22 | Letter | 1887 July 11 |
1/23 | Letter | 1887 August 25 |
1/24 | Letter | 1887 September 25 |
1/25 | Letter | 1931 January 16 |
1/26 | Letter | 1931 February 12 |
1/27 | Letter | 1931 February 27 |
1/28 | Letter | 1931 March 27 |
1/29 | Letter | 1931 May 3 |
1/30 | Letters | 1931-1987 |
electronic_file | ||
Electronic File | Letters | 1880-1931 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Ranch life--Montana--Custer County
- Sheep ranchers--Montana--Custer County--Correspondence
- Sheep ranches--Montana--Custer County
- Winter--Montana--1887
Corporate Names
- Schwenkfelder Library
Family Names
- Hampton, H. Duane (Harold Duane), b. 1932--Correspondence
- Schultz family--Correspondence
- Schultz, Alfred, b. 1853--Correspondence
- Schultz, Isaac, Mrs.--Correspondence
- Schultz, Jerome K.--Correspondence
Geographical Names
- Custer Creek Ranch (Mont.)
Form or Genre Terms
- Family papers