Robin MacNab Papers, 1944-1985

Personal and professional correspondence received or written by Robin MacNab. Incoming letters refer to MacNab's radio program, his historical research, his acquisition of Edgar Paxon's painting, "The Death of John Bozeman," his bridge playing, and personal letters. Of particular interest regarding his research on John Bozeman and nineteenth century Montana are the letters from historians Dan Thrapp and Merrill G. Burlingame. Of significance regarding the Paxon painting are the letters from and to William Edgar Paxon as well as those from Carl and Ella Gottschalck. MacNab's record of outgoing letters are scant until the 1970s and reflect his continuing interests in history, bridge, fishing and his personal life. Incoming letters are arranged alphabetically. Photocopies of MacNab's outgoing letters are arranged chronologically.

MacNab's history of John Bozeman and nineteenth century Montana, his journal and stories of bridge competitions, his personal journal often in short story format, his fishing stories, and one short history entitled, "The Gallatin Canyon" of unidentifiable authorship. MacNab's writings on John Bozeman are found in four drafts. The first three drafts are titled "High Noon at Mission Creek," MacNab considered changing the title of his third draft to "Incident at Cady Coulee." However, this title appears only on excerpts of his text, Chapters 35 & 71 which he sent to friends and historians requesting feedback and criticism. His fourth and final draft, "Execution at Cady Coulee" is over 1,000 pages long and is nearly 3 times the length of his original draft. "Bridge--Garden of Verse" is MacNab's record of his participation in bridge competitions outside of and throughout the United States. Folders 14-18 of Box 10 contain MacNab's speeches, poetry and short story ideas. The folders containing MacNab's short stories are labeled according to story titles unless otherwise indicated by the general label, "Various Titles." MacNab's detective novel, "The Case of the Discouraged Snake" is separated into folders by page numbers. Each file contains approximately 30 pages. Manuscripts are arranged according to genre. MacNab's historical writings are found in boxes 3-8, his bridge stories and personal notes are arranged chronologically in boxes 9-10, his short stories and detective novel are in box 11.