Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Ash Family Papers, circa 1971
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- McElfresh, Beth
- Title
- Ash Family Papers
- Dates
- circa 197119711971
- Quantity
- 1 reel microfilm
- Collection Number
- Collection 0996, MtBC, us (collection)
- Summary
- The Ash Family Papers consist of typed manuscripts created by Beth McElfresh and her sisters Joy and Jessie. They describe ranching experiences and life near Baker, Montana, along with memories of their father and mother, Frank and Mary Ash. Also included are a number of family photographs.
- 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
Elisabeth "Beth" Ash McElfresh (1888-1982) was one of three daughters of Mary Hedgepeth Ash. Their stepfather, Frank L. Ash, moved the family to southwest North Dakota in 1902 where he operated a sheep ranch. Beth married Waitman Wiley "Scout" McElfresh in 1905, and served as a chuckwagon cook for cattle and sheep herds in Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas and the couple lived on a ranch near Baker Montana. When her husband died in 1948, Beth joined her sisters at her mother's home in Sheridan, Wyoming, where she published her Chuckwagon Cookbook (Denver: Sage Press, 1960). She, along with her sisters, Jessie Ash Shenenfelt and Joy Ash, wrote a number of reminiscences and newspaper articles regarding their family's history in North Dakota and eastern Montana around the turn of the nineteenth century.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The microfilmed Ash family papers consist of typed manuscripts created by Beth McElfresh and her sisters Joy and Jessie. They describe ranching experiences and life near Baker, Montana, along with memories of their father and mother, Frank and Mary Ash. Also included are a number of family photographs. Most of this material was subsequently published in O'Fallon Flashbacks (Baker, Montana: O'Fallon Historical Society, 1975), pp. 187-192.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Acquisition Information
Original typed reminiscences and family photographs donated by Elizabeth Ash McElfresh to the O'Fallon Historical Museum of Baker, Montana were loaned to Special Collections for copying through the efforts of Sara Kerr of Baker in 1971. The materials were returned to the museum after they were microfilmed.
Processing Note
This collection was processed 2017 January 11