Leo Rhein Papers, 1957-1969

Leo Rhein was born in 1890 and traveled with his parents from Nebraska to Wolf Creek, Montana, in 1898. As a young man he worked with horses for Jim Rowe, worked on the Rock Creek Ranch for Phill Reynolds for several years, and drove a stage for Burns and Arthur for one season when he was sixteen.

Later he met and married Pearl Leedy. They had three children, Clinton, Leo, and Carley. Leo and Pearl Rhein ran the Wolf Creek Hotel for many years until Leo Rhein became the director of the Cooney Rest Home. Following his retirement as director, Leo and Pearl lived in Helena until his death in 1972.

J. Robert Atkinson was born in 1887, probably in Missouri, and came to Montana in 1903. The young high-school dropout wanted to be a cowpuncher. He did work as a cowboy, bartender and other odds jobs in Montana and other locales until he was blinded by an accidental gunshot wound in 1912. He turned this piece of bad luck into a lifetime of work for the blind. By 1919 using a gift of $25,000 from an investor, Atkinson started the Universal Braille Press and worked to improve the quality and quantity of publications available for blind readers. He developed a better plate-making system that allowed Braille to be printed on both sides of a page. In 1929 Atkinson founded the Braille Institute of American, Inc. in California. Atkinson's work went beyond that organization into issues of the rights of blind people, especially ensuring their access to facilities and organizations taken for granted by those who can see. His wife, Alberta, worked with him throughout his career, and after his retirement in 1957 the couple enjoyed traveling. J. Robert Atkinson died in 1964.