This collection is open for research.
Arranged in thirteen folders:
Folder 1: carbon of second draft covering 1864-1866 Folders 2-7: 1934 transcript Folders 8-13: 1970s mimeographed published version
William W. Alderson was a newspaperman, Indian agent, and pioneer of Bozeman, Montana. Born in England in 1831, Alderson came to the United States with his parents and eventually settled in western Illinois, near Galena. He married Francis W. Weatherly in 1854. The couple moved to Montana Territory in 1864, along with Alderson's brother, John. The Aldersons settled in the Gallatin valley and became one of the founding families of the newly established town of Bozeman. In 1873, Alderson accepted a post as Indian agent at the Milk River Agency for the Assiniboine Indians, a position he held until 1876. In 1877, he became the editor of the Bozeman Avant Courier newspaper, and in 1886, served a term in the Montana legislature. The Aldersons had nine children: Edward, Matthew, Elizabeth, May, Anna, Margaret, Charles, William, and George.
Edward C. Alderson also kept a diary from 1875 through 1879, during which time he assisted his father at the Milk River Agency.
The William W. Alderson diary consists of a transcript of Alderson's 1864-1877 diary, with additional entries by his son, Edward, from 1875 to 1879. Entries include information on the family's 1864 overland journey across the plains from Jo Daviess County, Illinois, to the newly established Montana Territory. The route followed what was then known as "Jacob's Cut-off" via the Wind River, Graybull River, Clark's Fork River, and the Yellowstone River Valley. Further entries describe the early settlement of Bozeman, Montana; Alderson's experiences as an Indian agent to the Assiniboine at the Milk River Agency, and the purchase of the Avant Courier newspaper.
The collection contains several versions of the diary, including the first typescript prepared by Merrill G. Burlingame in 1934 from the original diary, a carbon copy of Burlingame's second draft covering the years 1864 to 1866, and a mimeographed published version, probably prepared in the early 1970s. Note that pages 11-21 are missing from the first typescript, but are retyped and present in the carbon copy second draft.
[Creator Name], [Date of Creation], [Brief Description of Object], Folder [#], Box [#], [Collection Name], [Collection #], Montana State University (MSU) Library, Bozeman, MT
This collection was processed 2009 February 10
Typed transcripts of the William W. Alderson diaries were donated to Special Collections by the Museum of the Rockies in the summer of 1969.
The original diaries of William W. Alderson were passed down to his great-grandson, Ted Alderson, who lived in Oregon during the Depression. He was contacted by Merrill G. Burlingame in the summer of 1934 for the purpose of transcribing the diary. Burlingame eventually typed nearly 180 pages from the little volumes, making pencil notations for their eventual publication. Sometime after the transcription, the original diaries were destroyed in a house fire. Burlingame began the preparation of the original transcription for publication and had the manuscript retyped incorporating his pencil notations. The final version of the diary was published in a mimeograph format and the original draft given to the Museum of the Rockies by Dr. Burlingame.