Nick Manring Collection, 1880-2005

This collection contains historical materials from the towns of Garfield and Elberton, Washington, as well as other Whitman County locations. The collection primarily consists of photographs and negatives, newspaper articles and clippings, correspondence, artifacts from Whitman County businesses, school and regional memorabilia, as well as published and unpublished histories.

This collection includes correspondence with Benjamin F. Manring, author of The Conquest of the Coeur D'Alenes, Spokanes and Palouses: The Expeditions of Colonels E. J. Steptoe and George Wright (1912). In some letters, Manring responds to inquiries about his book and regional Native American history. Included are exchanges with Lucullus V. McWhorter (1860-1944), a rancher and activist who documented histories of Plateau peoples in the Pacific Northwest. Manring also interacted with members of the Ku Klux Klan in Colfax and Vancouver, WA. In correspondence, he identifies as a Klansman with an interest in supporting white supremacists in state and regional politics.