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Orson N. Newman Papers, 1879-1920

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Newman, Orson N., 1835-1921
Title
Orson N. Newman Papers
Dates
1879-1920
Quantity
.2 linear feet
Collection Number
Collection 408, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary
The Orson N. Newman Papers consists of positive photocopies and typed transcriptions of two diaries kept by Orson Newman in 1879 and 1884 which discuss daily life and farming operations in Coulson, Montana Territory; positive photocopy of an account book listing garden truck sold to W.A. Perry, purchasing agent for the Northern Pacific during its construction; 27 copy photographs of: the Newman and Scott families and their residences in the Billings area; Scott business buildings in Billings and a Billings street scene, circa 1900-1920.
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

This collection is open for research.

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

Orson Nixon Newman (1835-1921) was born in Orleans County, New York. After completing his education he settled in Michigan where he operated a lumbering business. In 1863, he arrived in Bannack, Montana Territory where he worked briefly in mining before taking up farming in the Madison Valley. He and his family left for California in 1869 and then returned to Montana in 1875 where they lived briefly in Gallatin County. The Newman family moved again in 1878 to Coulson in the Yellowstone Valley and again took up farming. The location of their farm was about two and one half miles from the depot at Billings, and during the 1880s they sold garden truck to W.A. Perry, the purchasing agent for the newly constructed Northern Pacific railway. The Newman farm was near a ford on the river and many Indians camped near the area as a result. In this context, Orson met Plenty Coups with whom he maintained a long friendship. In 1858 Newman married Elizabeth Matilda Tripp and the couple had 11 children: Burton Lyon; Asa Dow; Edwin M.; William Marvin; Albert Alonzo; Charles Henry; Abe Benton; Sarah Jane, and Mary A. Newman. Mary married William J. Scott, an early resident of Billings and the owner of several businesses in the city during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their son, William N. Scott, is the donor of these papers.

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Content Description

Positive photocopies and typed transcriptions of two diaries kept by Orson Newman in 1879 and 1884 which discuss daily life and farming operations in Coulson, Montana Territory; positive photocopy of an account book listing garden truck sold to W.A. Perry, purchasing agent for the Northern Pacific during its construction; 27 copy photographs of: the Newman and Scott families and their residences in the Billings area; Scott business buildings in Billings and a Billings street scene, circa 1900-1920. Included are images of Scott family friends C.M. Bair and Fred Hawthorn. None of the photographs are dated but all were taken in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Original diaries, papers, and photographs created or collected by Orson N. Newman were loaned to Special Collections for copying by William N. Scott of Billings, Montana in 1966.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2009 February 6

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Kim Allen Scott, 2009
March 7, 2016

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

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