James R. Habeck was born June 3, 1932, in Ashland, Wisconsin. He received his elementary through high school education in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, graduating from high school June, 1950.
Habeck started college at University Wisconsin-Milwaukee that fall, majoring in preforestry. He spent summers of 1951, 1952 and 1953 in northern Idaho working as a seasonal employee of U.S. Forest Service, doing white pine blister rust control work plus summer firefighting. He attended the University of Montana in Missoula (then Montana State University) for the academic year 1952-1953 and switched his major to botany that year. In fall 1953, Habeck resumed studies in botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, taking a BA degree in botany in August, 1954. He began the graduate program in1954 majoring in plant ecology, minoring in wildlife biology. His dissertation research focused on ecological impacts of whitetail deer on winter range in eastern white cedar swamps in northern Wisconsin. He was awarded a PhD in plant ecology at UW-Madison in August 1959.
In September 1959, Habeck began college teaching at Oregon College of Education at Monmouth, Oregon. In September 1960, he was hired for the plant ecology professorship position at the University of Montana in Missoula (UM). During summers from 1965 to 1980, Habeck conducted research and published on interactions between wildfire and Northern Rocky Mountain forest vegetation, funded by the National Park Service, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service, resulting in about 75 publications. He taught botany and plant ecology classes at UM from 1960 to 1992 as well as directing the graduate studies of about 35 Masters and PhD graduate students.
Habeck took a three year post retirement contract starting in 1992 and retired in 1995; the University Board of Regents awarded him an Emeritus Professorship in 1992. In his post retirement years, Habeck routinely attends and participates in Missoula open space and park management committee meetings. He has also researched a number of biographic compilations on the University of Montana's early day professors of biology and botany, other professional botanists, and other topics.
The James R. Habeck Research Collection includes nine groups representing Habeck's research focus areas mostly after his retirment from The University of Montana: Glacier National Park; Frank H. Rose; the former Fort Missoula Timber Reserve in Pattee Canyon; Norman Maclean and the Mann Gulch fire; the University of Montana acquisition and use of Fort Missoula lands, Morton J. Elrod and his daughter, Mary Elrod Ferguson; Mary Hesse Hartwick; Paul Dornblaser; and Kenneth and John MacDonald. These groups have been arranged as nine series.
The materials in most series include Habeck's letters, email and other communications documenting his research process.
This collection is divided into nine series.
Series I: Glacier National Park, 0.6 linear feet, 1967-1974
Series II: Frank H. Rose, 0.1 linear feet, 1911-2000
Series III: Fort Missoula Timber Reserve in Pattee Canyon, 0.3 linear feet, 1901-2003
Series IV: Norman Maclean and the Mann Gulch Fire, 0.4 linear feet, 1949-2014
Series V: University of Montana Acquisition and Use of Fort Missoula Lands, 0.3 linear feet, 1959-2012
Series VI: Morton J. Elrod and Mary Elrod Ferguson, 1.5 linear feet, 1882-2007
Series VII: Mary Hesse Hartwick, 0.1 linear feet, 1928-2012
Series VIII: Paul Logan Dornblaser 0.5 linear feet, 1906-2012
Series IX: Kenneth and John MacDonald, 0.5 linear feet, 1941-2013
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana-Missoula.
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright transferred to The University of Montana-Missoula.
[Name of document or photograph number], James R. Habeck Research Collection, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
All collection materials were compiled and held by James R. Habeck prior to deposit in the Archives & Special Collections.
Donated by James R. Habeck, 2000-2013.
Future additions are expected.
Each group of research material was maintained as an individual series. Series I-V and VIII materials were maintained in their original binders and smaller binders were foldered for ease of identification. A single folder of loose material in Series I was refoldered in an acid free folder. Series VI (Elrod) was reboxed but maintained in its original folders. The paper diaries in Series IX were foldered and reboxed, while electronic materials are housed on the Archives and Special Collections server; please see the Archivist for access.
This Archives & Special Collections also holds Mss 486, the Morton J. Elrod Papers.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
This series contains correspondence, professional papers, reports, and articles compiled by Habeck as he worked to ensure that environmental impact issues in Glacier National Park received appropriate attention in the 1960s and 1970s. Some problems were brought to light by ranger and "whistle-blower" B.R. "Riley" McClelland and challenged the work of Park Superintendent William Briggle. The problems included use of dangerous herbicides, dumping raw sewage in the park, snowmobile use, severe mismanagement of a Logan Pass boardwalk and the ecology of the area. The correspondents range from fellow botanists, environmentalists, U. S. legislators, and various other government officials. A small and randomly organized amount of material on Yellowstone National Park is included.
This series is subtitled "Early-Day Range Manager and Conservationist, Visionary Refuge Manager: National Bison Range, Pioneer Montana Native Plant Collector and Landscaper." It includes a summary time line of Rose's life; photos; notes from conversations with his son, Robert Rose; with Mike Chessin, a retired University of Montana professor of Botany; with Dr. Gertrud Lackschewitz, a retired University of Montana language professor whose husband worked with Rose; newspaper articles; a professional article; and a small quantity of Rose's correspondence.
This series contains materials that document the history of the former Fort Missoula Timber Reserve from 1901 to 2004. The papers include copies of USGS survey maps and other maps, as well as reports explaining sources of tree scarring, describing public use from skiing to target practice, fire history, fire impact, fuel management, and logging. Also included is a "Compilation Content Highlights."
This series contains materials gathered by James R. Habeck as he documented Norman Maclean's research on the Mann Gulch Fire. The materials include photocopies of Maclean's papers located at the Intermountain Fire Laboratory in Missoula, Montana, as well as other materials relevant to the topics of Maclean and Mann Gulch. Habeck also includes a chronological outline of the contents.
This series includes materials that Habeck began gathering in the early 1960s when he was invited to join a campus committee to inspect the Fort Missoula property and to decide on possible UM research and educational uses. The compiled papers begin with documenting the original purchase process, and include some early suggestions for care, maintenance, use, and access to some sections of land. Some later materials describe field trips to the bottom-land pine cotton forest, access controversies, specific use of buildings by varous university departments and, by the 1980s, possible sale of the property and significant controversy regarding the sale and subsequent buyback process in the 1990s. Also included are some slides of the pine cotton forest and land use.
This series begins with Habeck's typed narrative compilation listing and commenting on materials that he gathered regarding the Morton J. Elrod, an early University of Montana professor, and his daughter, Mary Elrod Ferguson. Those materials include Elrod's early personal history, education, early professional history, arrival and positions held at the University of Montana, published papers, and his university, community, state and national activities. Habeck also includes his own relevant email correspondence and images related to the Elrods.
This series begins with Habeck's list of contents and explanation of his research focuses on Mary Hesse Hartwick. The materials gathered include information about her biographical background, the Hartwick Homestead in the Swan Valley of Montana, her troubled marriages with Robert Hartwick, her prize winning short story and other writings, and her correspondence, espeically with Professor H.G. Merriam, her writing mentor at Montana State University (now The University of Montana - Missoula.)
This series begins with Habeck's list of contents and explanation of his research focuses on Paul Logan Dornblaser. The materials gathered include information about his biographical background, his career on and off the football field at Montana State University (now The University of Montana - Missoula.), his early law career, his tremendous impact on the university and town of Missoula, Montana; and Habeck's correspondence piecing together aspects of Dornblaser's life and family
This series begins with Habeck's correspondence concerning his acquistion of copies of Kenneth MacDonald's diary and his research into the MacDonald family. There are two transcribed versions of Reverend Kenneth MacDonald's two volume diary he kept as a missionary in the Philippines during World War II.. It also contains an electronic version of the most recent transcription of the diary, typed and edited by Kenneth MacDonald's son, John. There is also a an audio recording of John MacDonald's talk on his family's experiences in the Philippines during World War II as well as a DVD with a powerpoint presentation he gave on the same topic.
This series consists of unprocessed content accessioned in April of 2021. The accession includes a notebook of Habeck's research on William R. "Bud" Moore, a notebook of his research about the removal of the Milltown Dam east of Missoula and the subsequent development of Two Rivers State Park at the site, and nine notebooks of content related to the family of Reverend John N. Maclean including information about his wife, Clara, and his sons, Norman and Paul.