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Jeff Safford papers, 1985-2021

Overview of the Collection

Ctb
Safford, Jeffery J., 1934-; Rydell, Robert W.
Title
Jeff Safford papers
Dates
1985-2021 (inclusive)
Quantity
13.6 linear feet, (34 boxes)
Collection Number
2364
Summary
Montana State University history professor. Research files documenting Safford's portion of the MSU centennial history; the Red Bluff mining district near Norris, MT; and the four music symposia that he directed in Bozeman, MT.
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

Both Series 1 and Series 2 contain audio recordings of oral history interviews that do not have releases. Accordingly, the audio recordings are not available for use, but transcriptions of and notes on those interviews are available.

Languages
Collection materials are in English.
Sponsor
Initial funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Jeffrey J. Safford was born May 14, 1934 to Hildegard Anna Clara Jaeger and Raymond Maurice Safford. He grew up on Staten Island, NY. He received his A.B. in Music from Wagner College, 1956; an M.S. in Secondary Education (English), Wagner College, 1959; and his PhD in History from Rutgers University in 1968. He married June Safford, whom he met at Wagner College, in 1957. They had four children: Hugh, Meredith, Alexander, and Brooke. He died January 1, 2021.

In 1968 he joined the faculty of the Montana State University History Department as an Assistant Professor. He served as an Associate Professor from 1972-1977. From 1977 until his retirement in 1991, he was a Professor in History. He was given the rank of Professor Emeritus of History and Philosophy for his distinguished career at MSU.

Safford began his career with a focus on maritime history and published his dissertation as Wilsonian Maritime Diplomacy, 1913-1921 in 1978 and America and the Sea with other faculty of the Mystic Seaport Museum in 1998. After settling in Montana, he turned his interest to nineteenth century mining and published The Mechanics of Optimism: The Hot Spring Gold Rush, 1864-1868. Along with fellow MSU faculty Pierce Mullen and Robert Rydell, he also co-authored In the People's Interest: A Centennial History of Montana State University in 1992. He also published numerous articles and reviews in professional journals and was an expert witness for the Salish-Kootenai Confederate Tribe's suit against the Atlantic Richfield Company for environmental damage caused by nineteenth century mining and smelting in and around Butte, MT.

Safford had numerous interests outside of his academic appointment, including European travel, bird watching, fly fishing, Bobcat sports, golf, slow-pitch softball, and music. Both he and June sang in the Bozeman Symphony Choir for twenty-five years. He directed four multidisciplinary 3-day symposia in Bozeman that focused on Bach (1985), Mozart (1991), Brahms (1998), and Mendelssohn (2009).

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Content Description

The collection consists of research material for the MSU centennial history; research material on the Red Bluff mining district near Norris, MT; and materials created over the course of the four music symposia that Safford directed.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Series 1: MSU Centennial History

Series 2: Red Bluff

Series 3: Music Symposia

Acquisition Information

Research materials, student papers, and oral histories assembled by Dr. Jeffery J. Safford during the Centennial History Project were donated to Special Collections by Safford in March 1997. Materials on Red Bluff and the music symposia were donated by June Safford in 2021.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2009 May 18. In 2021-2022, the two additional series were processed and the finding aid revised.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • College teachers--Montana--Bozeman
  • Gold mines and mining--Montana
  • History teachers--Montana--Bozeman
  • Mines and Mineral Resources--Montana
  • Music--Congresses
  • Universities and colleges--Montana--Bozeman

Personal Names

  • Safford, Jeffery J., 1934---Archives

Corporate Names

  • Montana State University--Bozeman--Alumni and alumnae
  • Montana State University--Bozeman--Centennial celebrations, etc.
  • Montana State University--Bozeman--Faculty
  • Montana State University--Bozeman--History

Geographical Names

  • Montana--History
  • Red Bluff Mine (Madison County, Mont.)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Interviews
  • Interviews--Montana
  • Oral histories
  • Photographs
  • Records (Documents)
  • Sound recordings

Titles within the Collection

  • In the people's interest

Kim Allen Scott, 2009; Emily O'Brien, Courtney Mahoney, Jodi Allison-Bunnell, 2022.
2022

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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