The material donated to the University of Idaho Library by Allen and Eleanor Morrill is contained in one large file box. A majority of this material was collected by the Morrills in the course of their research for a book on Kate and Sue McBeth, missionaries to the Nez Perce. entitled
Included in this group are many photographs, those used as illustrations in the book and some belonging to Kate McBeth. There are many newspaper articles, some dating from the late 1800's and others of a more recent date, research notes, photocopies of manuscript material., published and unpublished articles, some correspondence, brochures, and several issues of the newsletter of the Nez Perce churches.
The most valuable items in this archival group are the diary which Kate McBeth kept from 1879 to 1891, a notebook in which she wrote down some Nez Perce legends and also a brief history of the Nez Perce and of the missions to the tribe which give an account of the works of Rev. Spalding and also talk of her own work among the Indians in Lapwai and Kamiah, and finally there is a letter from Kate to her sister Sue in May 1890.
The items in this archival group are discussed in more detail in the following Description of Series.
Material in this archival group was first separated by type, photographs, manuscripts, newspapers and newspaper articles, etc. then each major group was organized by subject. No attempt was made to separate out the non-McBeth material from the major series.
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.
There are several categories of photographs in this series. The first consists of the photographs belonging to Kate McBeth which were in a trunk sent by Mazie Crawford, niece of the McBeth sisters, to Clifford Drury. Among them are twenty-one unidentified photographs which were taken either in New Brighton or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since Kate taught in New Brighton for ten years prior to her move to Idaho one can assume these people were either her pupils or friends. Also included among Kate's pictures are the following which are identified:
1. Mary McBeth Crawford (sister of Sue & Kate, mother of Mazie)
2. Marion Belle Crawford (niece of Mazie) as a small child
3. Arthur Kellaway (son of Elizabeth McBeth) as a child
4. Elizabeth (Lizzie) McBeth Kellaway (sister of Sue & Kate)
5. Man whom the Morrills believe was a Presbyterian minister in Portland
The remaining photographs were either used to illustrate
This series consists of complete newspapers and newspaper articles. Listed below are the items in each category.
Seven sections. Published every other Sunday between May 14 and August 13, 1961. Section seven has an article on the McBeth sisters.
"Idaho Territorial Centennial." Section 3
Four sections. "Dedication of Today's Northwest Passage."
Section E. "The War Nobody Wanted: Last Flight of the Nez Perces."
Magazine section entitled "Hello Neighbor: Lewis and Clark Highway Dedication."
Articles in this folder deal with the Camas Prairie, especially the 50th anniversary celebration in Craigmont in 1970. There are a few articles on Lewiston and Winchester. Since they do not deal with the McBeth sisters or the Nez Perce they are not listed individually.
This folder contains the serialized story written by Stanley Thomas and published in the
The folder contains several columns entitled "Prairie Pioneering" written by M.N. Longeteig in 1979 and published in the
The most valuable and historically most important items in this archival group are the three manuscripts in this series. The notebook containing the typescript of Sue's Choctaw diary and excerpts from Kate's diary has been placed with the other manuscripts since it relates to them. Each item in this series is described below.
The earliest entry in Kate's diary is dated "Sabath 15 of 15th Sep. 1878" and begins, "My last sab at least for years in the little cottage home." Her first Idaho entry is dated "Sabath Dec. 14, 1879, Kamiah Idaho Terr." and the final entry is July 4, 1891. Portions of the diary have been cut out, apparently by Kate herself, for near the end she writes that she regrets some of the things she has said, especially about her sister Sue, and has been cutting out the offending pages.
This is a typescript copy of Sue's diary which she kept from April 16 to December 24, 1860. The extracts from Kate's diary are in fact an index to the diary described above. Entries are arranged under the following subjects: Sue, Loneliness, House, School.
Taped to the front fly-leaf of this notebook is Kate's article "The coming of the people; a legend of the Kamiah Valley" (journal unidentified). In the book Kate has recorded legends of the Nez Perce and also attempted to write a history of the endeavors of several missionaries to Christianize the tribe,, including her own. The notebook,, which also contains financial accounts of the Nez Perce Mission from April 1891 to April 1893, appears to be written by several different hands.
This is a letter from Kate to her sister Sue in Mt. Idaho. It is dated Lapwai, May 13, 1890 and deals with a trial on the reservation.
Only one of the four articles in this series has been printed, the others were sent to the Morrills for their use.
This folder also includes correspondence between Sugden and the Morrills from 1972 to 1979.
This folder contains several letters from a woman either making or repairing moccasins for the Morrills, a list of McBeth material in the archives of the Oklahoma Historical Society, a photocopy of a newspaper article on the McBeth homestead in Wellsville, Ohio, a handwritten note on the name McBeth, photocopies of original manuscript material, typed notes, the inventory of Mazie Crawford's trunk, the will of Susan McBeth, and the military service file of Ebenezer P. Law. The file cards maintained for this series list the entire contents of the folder.
This folder contains items of biographical information and several lists of books in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington which were compiled in 1945. Nothing in this folder relates to the McBeth sisters.
This folder contains a couple of brochures on Kamiah and the booklet published on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Kamiah First Presbyterian Church.
This folder contains the covers and pages 31 and 32 of a Presbyterian catechism for young children, a postcard showing a field of wild camas, a hymn translated into Nez Perce, a religious tract entitled "Our Heathen Neighbors," a history of St. Gertrude's convent published in 1962, and a photocopy of an article on Alice Fletcher in
This folder contains four issues of
This folder contains souvenir reproductions of St. Louis historical documents, several articles, some correspondence, and a brochure on Jefferson Barracks Historical Park.
Material includes the p for the 78th annual meeting in 1975,, a booklet by Clifford Drury entitled "The beginnings of Talmaks," which is the introduction of the Fourth of July address at Talmaks Camp meeting in 1958, the program for the 4th of July camp meeting held at Mason Butte in 1911, a letter from George H. Lee to his son Charles in 1932 in which he mentions Talmaks, and a land use map of the Nez Perce Reservation.
This series contains the front and back covers for what appears to be a letter book, the end papers of which contain various names and addresses, and a copper printing plate engraved with a picture of the First Presbyterian Church in Kamiah.