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Charles A. Bovey papers, 1882-1983

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Bovey, Charles, 1907-1978
Title
Charles A. Bovey papers
Dates
1882-1983 (inclusive)
Quantity
9 linear feet of shelf space
Collection Number
MC 298 (collection)
Summary
Charles A. Bovey was a Montana legislator, Great Falls rancher, and collector of historic artifacts, records, and buildings. His interest in historic preservation eventually lead to his ownership and restoration of most of Virginia City, Montana, and the reconstruction of Nevada City. This collection consists of family correspondence; financial records (1944-1966), including Boveys' personal and ranch accounts; legal documents; subject files on Bovey's service in the Montana Legislature, and material collected by Bovey on railroads. There are subgroups for the Charles A. Bovey Estate, for the Alder Gulch Short Line Railway, for Bovey Restorations Inc., for the Historic Landmark Society of Montana, for the Virginia City Players, and for the Virginia City Trading Company.
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. Material in box 11A fragile. Use access copies in box 11.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Charles Argalis Bovey was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 1, 1907. His parents were Charles Cranston Bovey and Kate Koon Bovey, and his siblings were Martin Koon Bovey and Ruth Bovey Stevens. The Bovey family was part of the Washburn Crosby Milling Corporation, which became known as General Mills. Charles lived in Minneapolis until September 1923 when he attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Upon graduating from Phillips, Charles decided he would rather learn the milling trade than attend college. His father sent him to Great Falls, Montana, in October 1926.

In Great Falls, Charles began learning the milling trade through involvement with the Royal Milling Company, a subsidiary of the Minneapolis-based Washburn Crosby. Not long after arriving in Great Falls, Charles was introduced to (Rachael) Sue Ford who was the daughter of Great Falls National Bank President Lee Ford. Charles and Sue would eventually be married in 1933. Though Charles was involved with the Royal Milling Company for a number of years, he soon turned his focus to farming and ranching. He purchased the Sunnyside Ranch in 1929 and two other ranches, the Deep Canyon Ranch and the Cascade Ranch, in later years.

In the 1940s, Charles started to become very interested in preserving Montana's living history. He created the "Old Town" display for the Great Falls Fair in the early 1940s, a display which remained a popular attraction for nearly twenty years. "Old Town" was a recreation of what an Old West town might have been like in the 1800s. It was created using a variety of historic buildings collected from different Montana communities, as well as with items from Charles' own personal antique collection.

Around the same time as the creation of "Old Town", Charles was becoming involved in politics. In 1942, Charles ran on the Democratic ticket for a seat in the Montana House of Representatives representing Cascade County. He won the position and served until the next election, at which time he decided to run for a seat in the Montana Senate. He again won and represented Cascade County in the position through 1965. While in the legislature, Charles was concerned with the well-being of the elderly and the mentally disabled, as well as with efforts to preserve Montana's living history.

Though not funded by the state as he had hoped, the Historic Landmarks Society was incorporated by Charles Bovey in July 1944 as a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving facets of Montana's living history. Some of the Society's projects included the preservation of a sawmill in Craig, Montana and the restoration of a settler's cabin near Loma, Montana.

More significant, however, was that it was through this organization that Charles Bovey was able to begin the restoration of Virginia City, Montana. The Society's first project in Virginia City was to restore the building that had housed Montana's first newspaper press, the Montana Post. After the Post building was completed, the Society went to work restoring and preserving other buildings in Virginia City.

The restoration of Virginia City proved to be a very large and expensive project. The Historic Landmarks Society depended greatly on donations and membership dues for funding, but with the tight postwar economy, those funds were hard to come by. When the Historic Landmarks Society could no longer fund the restoration efforts, Charles invested a great deal of his own money to continue the restoration. In 1950, the Great Falls Fair Board dissolved the "Old Town" display. Charles, not wanting to dispose of the display, moved it to Nevada City and began the recreation of the little ghost town located only a couple miles from Virginia City. As with "Old Town", Charles moved in historic buildings donated or purchased from people around the state. By this point, Virginia City and Nevada City were becoming very popular tourist attractions and were starting to appeal to film makers as well.

Charles Bovey dedicated nearly thirty years of his life to the preservation and restoration of Virginia City and the recreation and preservation of Nevada City. After his death on June 9, 1978, his efforts continued first through his wife, Sue, and then through his son Ford. In 1997, Ford Bovey sold the properties at Virginia City and Nevada City to the State of Montana. After the sale, the state created the Montana Heritage Preservation Commission through the Montana Historical Society to continue preservation and restoration efforts in Virginia City and Nevada City.

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Content Description

Collection consists of Bovey family correspondence, a diary, financial records legal documents, subject files, and several subgroups.

Correspondence includes incoming correspondence (1909-1978) arranged chronologically by the earliest letter in each folder; outgoing correspondence (1909-1927, undated) to various family members; and miscellaneous correspondence (1882-1964) of various Bovey family members.

There is a diary (1935); miscellaneous financial records, including journals and ledgers (1942-1975) covering both Bovey's personal finances and records of his Sunnyside Ranch; and legal documents, including an agreement with an architect for construction of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) building in Great Falls, an oil and gas lease, and the Charles C. Bovey Trust.

A major portion of the collection consists of subject files. There are two major subdivisions of these files. One consists of files kept by Bovey during his service in the state legislature (1945-1965), including caricatures by the artist James M. Haughey. The second subdivision consists of materials Bovey collected concerning railroads. For the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway ("Milwaukee Road") there are a variety of reports from the Grass Range, Salem, and Tiegan stations. for the Great Northern Railway there are locomotive diagrams, and work equipment diagrams. For the Northern Pacific Railway there are track profiles from Livingston to Paradise on the main line, plus profiles for the Bitterroot Branch, the Butte Branch, the Camp Creek Branch, the Flathead Valley Branch, the Park Branch, the Red Bluff Branch, and the Sunset Branch in Idaho. There are also reports on recommended repairs to bridges and buildings. For the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway there are blueprints of buildings, equipment, etc. [These last were in a fire and are in extremely fragile condition--RESTRICTED]. Among miscellaneous items are typescript copies of minutes (1883-1895) of the Choteau Fire Company; and a proposal to build a tourist railway along Belt Creek from Riceville to Logging Creek through what later became Sluice Boxes State Park.

The Charles A. Bovey Estate subgroup includes correspondence, financial records, and miscellany. The Alder Gulch Short Line Railway subgroup includes correspondence (1962-1976), and miscellany, including a timetable, layout of a sleeping car, and work logs (1960-1963). The Bovey Restorations Inc. subgroup includes correspondence (1969-1978), financial records, and a visitor register. The Historic Landmark Society of Montana0 subgroup includes correspondence (1944-1947); financial records; organizational records, including articles of incorporation, bylaws, membership lists, etc.; a subject file on the Montana Bicentennial Administration contract; and miscellany. The Virginia City Players\b0 subgroup contains correspondence (1954-1966) and miscellany. The \b Virginia City Trading Company\b0 subgroup consists of financial records, including a daybook, journals (1947-1948), ledgers (1948-1953) and payroll records (1949-1950).

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Use of the Collection

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.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged by subgroup and series. Some material housed in Archives Map Case, Manuscript Volumes, and oversize boxes. See Location of Collection information above and inventory below for more information.

Location of Collection

15:3-5

Location of Collection

14:1-5 [Oversize Boxes 8-9]

Location of Collection

14:1-5 [Oversize Boxes 10-11A]

Location of Collection

150:2-4 [Volumes 1-9]

Location of Collection

150:2-7 [Volumes 10-18]

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

Separated Materials

Photographs have been transferred to the Photo Archives.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Caricatures and cartoons
  • Historic sites
  • Railroad bridges
  • Railroad stations
  • Railroads--Design and construction
  • Railroads--Employees
  • Railroads--Grades
  • Railroads--Montana
  • Scenic railways
  • Theater

Personal Names

  • Bovey, Charles, 1907-1978 (creator)

Geographical Names

  • Grass Range (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Salem (Mont.)
  • Sluice Box State Park (Mont.)
  • Sunnyside Ranch (Mont.)
  • Tiegan (Mont.)
  • Virginia City (Mont.)--buildings, Structures, Etc.
  • Virginia City (Mont.)--commerce

Finding aid prepared by MHS Staff
2004

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

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