Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
James V. Bennett diaries, 1929-1951
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Bennett, James V., 1875-1951
- Title
- James V. Bennett diaries
- Dates
- 1929-1951 (inclusive)19291951
- Quantity
- 1 linear feet of shelf space
- Collection Number
- MC 236 (collection)
- Summary
- James Bennett was a Scobey, Montana, area farmer. His diaries describe farming activities, family matters, weather, and a few topics of wider interest, such as the beginning and progress of World War II.
- 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 open for research. .
- 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
James Vincent Bennett, one of nine children born to Tom and Alice Brennan Bennett, was born September 15, 1875. His parents settled on a homestead near Collis, Traverse County, Minnesota. James attended school in Graceville, Big Stone County, Minnesota, and continued his education at St. John's College in Collegeville, Minnesota. Following college he worked for his brother-in-law on an eastern South Dakota ranch near Sissiton until 1910.
In 1911 Bennett moved to Deer Lodge, Montana, and established a real estate business. Four years later he moved to Daniels County, Montana, where the railhead town and county seat of Scobey was being established. At two sites near Scobey, Bennett established dryland wheat farms encompassing some 7,000 acres, which he operated until his death. He also assisted in building the Northern Railroad from Scobey to Opheim, and served as a locator for the line, assisting homesteaders in establishing their farms. Bennett worked at various times as a lobbyist, as an auditor, and as a representative for several state agencies, including the State Land Office and the Soil Conservation Board. On January 16, 1918, Bennett married Isetta (Tess) Stetson, a school teacher from Deer Lodge. The couple made their home in Scobey and raised four children; Peyton, born 1922; James, born 1921; Gordon, born 1922; and Judith, born 1928. In 1936 when the children were ready for high school, Isetta Bennett moved to Eugene, Oregon. The boys returned to Montana each summer to help their father in the farming operation.
Five years later, in 1941, the family established a home in Helena, Montana, where Gordon and Judith attended high school. Throughout his life, James Bennett enjoyed reading, bridge, golf, hunting and fishing trips to Canada, politics, traveling, visiting museums, cooking, and movies. Bennett spent the last four years of his life in Saybrook, Connecticut. While on a hunting trip in Saskatchewan, he became ill and was taken to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he died on November 33, 1951.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Diaries. 1929-1951. 1 linear foot. James V. Bennett began his diaries in 1929, and continued making entries on a regular basis until his death in 1951. The earliest diaries were Bennett's daily records of weather as related to dryland farming in Daniels County; financial accounts; ranching operations; maintenance of farm equipment; wheat, barley, and rye market futures; his stock market investments; and miscellany. In the later diaries, he wrote about his wider political interests and activities, as well as his social and recreational activities such as golf, bridge, hunting, fishing, sightseeing, movies, etc. Entries include the names of movies and plays he attended, titles of books he enjoyed reading, and gourmet food dishes he prepared. Many entries include famous quotes to which Bennett provides commentary. In addition, the diaries detail family activities and accounts of local and national events such as elections, the depression of the 1930s, World War I, the New Deal, and labor strikes.
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
Diaries Return to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1 / 1 | Diary (re New Year's resolutions, grain and hog
prices, employee wages, weather, visits to state legislature, stock market, trip to
Glacier, poor fall harvest, bridge and golf lessons, recession prediction, dry
conditions, oil and gas development, Elks charity balls, summary of year, family
activities, etc.) |
1929 |
| 1 / 2a | Diary (re stocks owned, government seed loan, visit
to Fargo, North Dakota, wheat, mustard in wheat crop, poor business conditions,
Democratic landslide, high tariffs, gall stone attack, low Chicago grain prices,
movies seen, family activities, social activities, etc.) |
1930 |
| 1 / 2b | Diary (re "Russian menace on Wheat", New York stock
market closure, visit to state legislature, Einstein's theory of space, visit to West
Coast, prices, office work, loss of summer fallow, the Depression, golf and bridge
games, recipes, ranch worker wages, family activities, social activities, summary of
the year, etc.) |
1931 |
| 1 / 3a | Diary (re wedding anniversary party, county Red Cross
expenses, political candidates, family activities, the bombing of Japan, trip to the
Helena Land Office concerning land leases, trip to prison in Deer Lodge, prices for
goods, Lindbergh kidnapping, conference in Helena on the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation, grasshopper population, ranch work, poor wheat crop, stock market and
grains shares, Roosevelt's tariff proposal, social activities.) |
1932 |
| 1 / 3b | Diary (re unemployment, labor strikes, business and
financial conditions, seed loan, Burton K. Wheeler's silver amendment, hope for
Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, bank moratorium, Scobey bank reopening, leaving
the gold standard, hail damage, family activities, weather, crops, markets, wheat
prices, etc.) |
1933 |
| 1 / 4a | Diary (re crops, progress of New Deal, ranch records,
prices, end of drought, movies, stock market, harvest records, family activities,
etc.) |
1934 |
| 1 / 4b | Diary (re state legislature, lobbying efforts,
appraisal work for State Lands Office, rain, harvest records, wheat prices, health,
Democratic Party conventions in Wolf Point, Helena area earthquakes, death of Governor
Cooney, taxes, family activities, bridge and golf games, etc.) RESTRICTED
|
1935 |
| 2 / 1a | Diary (re New Year's resolutions, state and national
elections, progress of the New Deal, movies, weather, wheat prices, Franklin
Roosevelt's campaign, meeting with Governor Holt, family activities, hunting trip,
winter in Oregon, assessment of financial situation, death of brother, etc.) |
1936 |
| 2 / 1b | Diary (re winter in Oregon, fishing trip, weather,
books read, movies, lobbying efforts in Helena, gas war in Scobey, the "dust bowl"
conditions, family activities, stock market crash, golf games, his work for the
government, health, etc.) |
1937 |
| 2 / 2a | Diary (re trip to Helena for legislative session,
auditing work, movies, farm work, soil conservation work, weather, records of monies
sent to Isetta, his trip to Oregon and California, state and national election, wheat
prices, income and budget, family activities, etc.) |
1938 |
| 2 / 2b | Diary (re business trip to Helena and Deer Lodge,
poisoning of grasshoppers, weather, family activities, work for Montana Trade
Commission, Peyton working on farm, auditing work, traveling around Montana, taxes,
World War II, health, prices, financial status, bridge games, summary of the year,
etc.) RESTRICTED
|
1939 |
| 2 / 3a | Diary (re crop prices, stock market, movies, World
War II, work for the Montana Fair Trade Commission, traveling around Montana, farm
work, weather, wages, wheat prices, family reunion in Minnesota, hunting trip to
Canada, Franklin Roosevelt's re-election, coal prices, studying mustard in crops,
health, family activities, summary of the year, etc.) |
1940 |
| 2 / 3b | Diary (re World War II, purchase of new auto, visit
to Helena and the legislative session, soil conservation, charity ball, movies, social
activities, visit with Governor Ford, work for State Land Office, weather, hunting
trip to Canada, move to Helena, health, mustard seed study, U.S. entry into World War
II, etc.) |
1941 |
| 2 / 4a | Diary (re Helena, wheat prices, World War II, movies,
books read, business trip to Chicago and New York, visit with Burton K. Wheeler in
Washington, D.C., trip to Canada, planting of crops, rationing, flax crop, traveling
around Montana, elections, defeat of Jeannette Rankin, selling scrap iron, purchasing
war bonds, social activities, summary of the year, etc.) |
1942 |
| 2 / 4b | Diary (re Helena, legislative session, World War II,
rationing, movies, planting crops, flax crop, social activities, Gordon Bennett's
induction into army, shortage of labor, hog market, family activities, etc.) |
1943 |
| 2 / 5a | Diary (re World War II, grain prices, health, meeting
with Wellington Rankin, planting crops, D-Day invasion, elections, hail losses, duck
hunting in Canada, social activities, family activities, election of Governor Ford,
Gordon Bennett home on leave, etc.) |
1944 |
| 2 / 5b | Diary (re World War II, trip to Minneapolis to sell
flax, rationing, death of President Roosevelt, planting crops, celebration of
armistice, social activities, family activities, fishing trip, surrender of Japan,
weather, insects, hunting trip to Canada, possible land sale, etc) |
1945 |
| 3 / 1a | Diary (re highway claims, decline in stocks, shortage
of grain cars, income tax, strikes, health, gravel business, farm work, flour
shortages, social activities, family activities, weather, insect infestations travels
around Montana, flax prices, elections, President Truman and the Fair Deal, etc.) RESTRICTED
|
1946 |
| 3 / 1b | Diary (re stock market, trip to Chicago and New York,
sightseeing, movies, family activities, visit with Senator Wheeler in Washington,
D.C., promotion of pulp mill, health, Gordon's graduation, hail damage, surgery and
hospitalization, wheat prices, movies, spread of Communism, etc.) |
1947 |
| 3 / 2a | Diary (re cooking, reading, health, wheat market,
trip to Princeton and Washington, visit with Senator Wheeler, trip to Florida and
Cuba, sightseeing, farm work, weather, high water in Missouri River, visit with
Wellington Rankin, political situation, hunt for Communists, hail losses, fishing
trips, elections, movies, liver disease, family activities, etc.) |
1948 |
| 3 / 2b | Diary (re summary of 1948, health, support of
President Truman, social activities, books read, wheat market, family activities,
organization of gun club, trip to New England, etc.) |
1949 |
| 3 / 3a | Diary (re anniversary celebration, movies, coal
strike, trip to New York and Washington, health, weather, social activities, family
activities, war in Korea, hunting trip to Canada, harvest, trip to Nevada and
California, etc.) |
1950 |
| 3 / 3b | Diary (re trip from New Mexico to Florida, family
activities, land leases, social activities, cooking, investments, farm work, weather,
visit with political leaders in Helena, hail losses, harvest, hospitalization, etc.) |
1951 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Depressions--1929--Montana
- Dry farming--Montana
- Investments--Montana
- Motion pictures--Montana
- Wheat farmers--Montana
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons--Montana
Personal Names
- Bennett, James V., 1875-1951 (creator)
Geographical Names
- Scobey (Mont.)
- Scobey (Mont.)
Finding aid prepared by Laura Nicholson, 1992
2005
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
