William H. Reed was born in Wisconsin on March 22, 1880. He worked a variety of jobs while growing up, including lumber production and working as a cook on a Mississippi steamboat. In 1902 he attended a barber school in Wisconsin and then went to North Dakota where he worked as a barber. Reed married Rose Luella Carlisle and the couple had two daughters. In 1910, the Reeds moved to Harlem, Montana to make a homestead claim and lived the remainder of their lives in the community. Reed met M. L. Wilson of the Montana State College agricultural faculty and became influenced by the professor’s advocacy of dry farming techniques. Reed himself became an outspoken advocate of strip farming and summer fallow practices to help producers working on the arid northern great plains. He wrote a pamphlet on the topic in 1920,
One audiotape reel of an interview of William H. Reed by Herbert DeVries of the Blaine County, Montana, Extension Service conducted at Havre, Montana in October, 1967. In the interview Reed gives a description of his early life, his homesteading experiences in Montana, and his dryland farming advocacy. Also on the tape is Rose Carlisle Reed who related her own memories about the social conditions while homesteading in the Harlem area. Reed specifically mentions M. L. Wilson and his influence during the conversation. Although the tape has not been transcribed, an audio CD of the recording is included.
This collection is open for research.
An original audiotape recording of an interview with W. H. Reed of Harlem, Montana was donated to the Montana State University Library by Edward Bell of Bozeman, Montana in the fall of 1967.
This collection was processed 2018 June 19