Jerome James Day, the youngest son of Henry and Ellen Day, was born in Truckee, California in 1876, and was working as a union miner when his wealth from the Hercules thrust him into business and politics. He studied at Gonzaga College and the University of Idaho, taking an accelerated program in mining when the Hercules began to turn a profit. He married Lucy Mix of Moscow, Idaho, in 1902 and fathered one son, Jerome James, Jr., b. 1911, and one daughter, Bernice Eugenia, b. 1904. He and his wife lived in Moscow for approximately fourteen years, and he became president of the Moscow State Bank, and president and major stockholder of the Idaho National Harvester Company, a venture with his in-laws. He was state senator from Latah County for three terms, 1909-1912.
Although the most socially active of the Days, he never cast off the sorrow of his son's drowning death at seventeen, the result of a boating accident while at prep school in the Seattle area. His daughter was married twice; the first time in 1925 to an Alaskan by the name of John Fuller Malony, the second time to a man named Sharkey about whom little is known.
Jerome remained closely connected with the Day mining companies, and in 1912 became president of the Tamarack & Custer Consolidated Co. When the Days bought the old Northport smelter Jerome moved from Moscow to be its president, and organized a bank at Northport. He was president of the Idaho Mining Association, 1919-1922, and for twenty years a leading spokesman for the Idaho mining industry.
He was prominent in the Idaho Democratic party and served on the Idaho State Board of Education and as regent of the university from 1933 until his death in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 9, 1941. He established several scholarships at the University of Idaho and his library of English classics and western Americana was donated to the University.
The papers of Jerome J. Day span the years 1905 to 1941. Included are correspondence, both personal and business, and financial records.
The papers of Jerome J. Day were in no discernible order when received; therefore a series order was imposed during processing.
The first series contains correspondence and two miscellaneous items. At least two alphabetical groups and two loose-leaf note books were found during the initial processing of this group, therefore there are three subseries for the correspondence. The first spans the years 1905 to 1941 and appears to be remnants of several filing systems, probably merged by Henry in an incomplete attempt to create a subject arrangement; these folders were placed in alphabetical order during processing. It contains personal as well as some business correspondence. There are letters from his wife, daughter, and son, with a few of Jerome's letters to them included. There is also correspondence with the head of the Moran School for Boys which Jerome Jr. was attending when he drowned which detail local efforts in the search for the boy's body. Letters to his brothers and sisters comment on family matters and the business of the mining companies. Other letters concern his political life and a wide variety of business interests, including mining properties, mining stocks, the Northport and Pennsylvania smelters, the Tamarack and Custer mine, and other investments.
The second subseries was already in alphabetical order. It spans the years 1928-1933 and is similar to the previous subseries in content.
The third subseries was originally contained in two loose-leaf note books. Notes pasted on the front covers explain that one volume was given by Jerome's widow, Lucy Mix Day, to Henry L.V. Day on September 4, 1962, and the second passed to Henry from Lucy's estate on May 31, 1969. The contents of the first volume are classified as "Miscellaneous," "Labor Conditions," and "Code File." They relate to the economic development of north Idaho, the effect on the mining industry of recent and proposed legislation, the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce, and the North Idaho Press Association, industrial insurance, taxation, the market for mining stock, metal production and prices, appointments of public officials, the drafting of mine employees for military service, activities of labor unions - particularly the I.W.W., and of labor organizers, reports of local gossip about members of the Day family, labor legislation and labor advisory boards, planning for strikes, and arrests of I.W.W. members. The contents of the second volume relate entirely to activities of the Democratic Party in Idaho and actions in the state legislature. Contents of these two notebooks were removed and placed into file folders.
The two miscellaneous items are a carbon typescript titled "Report of Labor Troubles by Operators and McWade, June 1919," which consists of transcripts of meetings held in the office of Jerome Day between Robert M. McWade, U.S. Conciliation Commissioner, and local mine operators on June 25, 27, and 28, 1919, and a printed "Brief of Defendant in Error" in the C. Fred Kratzer vs. Jerome J. Day case in 1926.
The second series consists of personal financial records including 2 ledgers and 15 voucher registers.
The papers of Jerome James Day are part of the records of Day Mines, Inc., donated to the University of Idaho by Henry Day in 1984 and 1985.
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.