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Edward H. Boos photographs, circa 1900-1908

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Boos, Edward H., 1877-1937
Title
Edward H. Boos photographs
Dates
circa 1900-1908 (inclusive)
Quantity
3.0 linear feet, (305 items)
Collection Number
Mss 346 (collection)
Summary
Edward H. Boos was a photographer from Missoula, Montana. This collection includes 305 glass plate negatives, flexible film negatives, and prints created by Boos between 1900 and 1908. This photographic collection constitutes one of the most extensive and detailed visual records of the Missoula, Mission, and Flathead valleys at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Repository
University of Montana, Mansfield Library, Archives and Special Collections
Archives and Special Collections
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library
University of Montana
32 Campus Dr. #9936
59812-9936
Missoula, MT
Telephone: 406-243-2053
library.archives@umontana.edu
Access Restrictions

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.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for creating this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historic Publications and Records Commission. Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Edward Boos was born in Kentucky on April 1, 1877. His family moved to Helena, Montana, while he was in grade school. He attended the University of Montana at Missoula in 1896 but did not complete a degree. In that same year Boos began working as a freelance correspondent for several newspapers in the Missoula area. During the summer of 1897 Boos accompanied the U.S. Army 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps on its experimental overland trip from Fort Missoula to St. Louis, Missouri. The company traversed 1,900 miles over difficult terrain and through taxing weather conditions in an attempt prove bicycles could replace horses for troop transport and reconnaissance. Boos submitted accounts of the expedition as they traveled. His accounts were prepared for the Daily Missoulian, but some were also published by newspapers along the route and a few were subsequently reprinted by national and international newspapers.

After the Bicycle Corps expedition Boos continued to produce photographs for western Montana newspapers. Sometime around 1900 he purchased his own camera and began photographing people and landscapes in the Missoula and Flathead valleys. Boos was particularly interested in recording life among the Kootenai, Salish and Pend'Oreille families of the Flathead Reservation as the 20th century began. He conducted a series of photographic portrait sessions at various sites across the reservation, mostly completed between spring and fall of 1905. According to a 1935 newspaper story, many of these portraits were developed at night under a canvas cover so the photographer could share the portraits directly with his subjects. Throughout the time period Boos continued to photograph landscapes and events in the Missoula and Flathead Lake areas.

In 1906 Boos accepted an advertising manager position with the Missoula Mercantile Company and married Annie Hammond, cousin of MMC co-owner Andrew Hammond. Edward Boos ended his newspaper work but continued to periodically take photographs. Boos remained with the Missoula Mercantile Company for the next thirty-one years. In September 1935 an "Indian Jubilee" celebration was held in St. Ignatius, Montana. This event was the first public exhibition and print sale of Boos' Flathead Reservation portraits. Edward H. Boos died of a heart attack on September 26, 1937.

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Content Description

This collection includes 305 glass plate and modern film negatives and prints created by Edward H. Boos between 1900 and 1908. This photographic collection constitutes one of the most extensive and detailed visual records of the Missoula, Mission, and Flathead valleys at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Boos' Flathead Reservation portraits document particularly insightful details regarding the lifestyle, possessions, and landscapes of tribal members just prior to the 1910 Allotment Act--an action that opened vast portions of the reservation to non-tribal settlement. Some photographs were not inscribed with captions prior to donation to the K. Ross Toole Archives and several others were inscribed with only cursory identifiers. However, most photographs were inscribed with various combinations of the subjects' tribal name (in phonetic transcription), loose English translation, and Flathead Agency register names. In several instances Boos photographed the same individuals over a number of years. Among these individuals, mostly young males, several were given new tribal names within the span of Boos' portrait series (evidenced by changes in the captions attached to each photograph).

In contrast to the Salish, Kootenai, and Pend'Oreille photographs, Boos' Flathead, Mission, and Missoula valleys series is a mix of broad landscape images, community events, and portraits. This series primarily contains photographs of the Flathead and Missoula valleys; however, it also includes a few photographs from the Mission valley as well as one from near Frenchtown, MT, looking east towards Missoula. The landscape photographs in this series offer a significant record of topography and general vegetative matrices during the early stages of community expansion into the foothills of the Missoula and Flathead valleys. The series also records some common leisure activities among western Montanans at the turn of the 20th Century, as well as glimpses of Missoula community events. The Victoria, B.C. series contains photographs from an undated vacation.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to The University of Montana.

Preferred Citation

[Photograph number], Edward H. Boos Photographs, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana--Missoula.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in three series:

Series I: Flathead Indian Pictures, 1900-1907

Series II: Flathead, Mission, and Missoula Valleys, 1900-1908

Series III: Victoria, British Columbia, undated

Location of Originals

The original negatives for 73 items in this collection are located with the Denver Public Library Western History/Genealogy Department (DPL). The photographs at DPL are listed in the "Flathead Indian Pictures" series within this collection. The following list provides a cross-reference to DPL possessions. Items are organized according to their K. Ross Toole Archives photograph number with cross-reference to the corresponding DPL photo number. For both repositories most caption information was inscribed prior to donation. In nearly every instance, caption information is significantly different on the K. Ross Toole Archives' photograph than on the originals at the Denver Public Library.

75-6082: DPL BS-121

77-45: DPL BS-49

78-109: DPL BS-87

78-114: DPL BS-36

78-116: DPL BS-44

78-117: DPL BS-90

78-120: DPL BS-74

78-121: DPL BS-76

78-123: DPL BS-108

78-125: DPL BS-107

78-126: DPL BS-26

78-127: DPL BS-25

78-129: DPL BS-20

78-130: DPL BS-19

78-134: DPL BS-27

78-136: DPL BS-17

78-137: DPL BS-64

78-139: DPL BS-100

78-140: DPL BS-41

78-141: DPL BS-40

78-143: DPL BS-67

78-147: DPL BS-116

78-148: DPL BS-31

78-149: DPL BS-42

78-150: DPL BS-29

78-152: DPL BS-32

78-153: DPL BS-71

78-155: DPL BS-72

78-156: DPL BS-101

78-157: DPL BS-14

78-163: DPL BS-113

78-164: DPL BS-110

78-165: DPL BS-112

78-168: DPL BS-15

78-170: DPL BS-92

78-172: DPL BS-94

78-173: DPL BS-81

78-174: DPL BS-13

78-175: DPL BS-84

78-178: DPL BS-79

78-181: DPL BS-83

78-183: DPL BS-104

78-184: DPL BS-11

78-185: DPL BS-126

78-189: DPL BS-10

78-190: DPL BS-12

78-191: DPL BS-9

78-198: DPL BS-129

78-202: DPL BS-93

78-203: DPL BS-122

78-205: DPL BS-37

78-206: DPL BS-35

78-209: DPL BS-33

78-211: DPL BS-8

78-213: DPL BS-68

78-227: DPL BS-119

78-228: DPL BS-120

78-229: DPL BS-124

78-230: DPL BS-59

78-235: DPL BS-5

78-237: DPL BS-2

78-238: DPL BS-58

78-239: DPL BS-60

78-241: DPL BS-55

78-243: DPL BS-53

78-244: DPL BS-56

78-245: DPL BS-123

78-253: DPL BS-91

78-254: DPL BS-125

78-255: DPL BS-109

78-256: DPL BS-6

78-257: DPL BS-88

78-258: DPL BS-96

Custodial History

The full collection remained in the possession of the Missoula Mercantile Company following Mr. Boos' death. Records provide contradictory information regarding the exact disposition of the collection. Denver Public Library records indicate the 126 negatives and four prints they own were purchased directly from Annie Boos, his widow, in 1938. Much later correspondence with Mr. Boos' niece indicate that Walter McLeod, President of the Missoula Mercantile Company at the time of Boos' death, managed disposition of the collection - selling 129 prints and glass plate negatives to the Denver Public Library in the early 1940s and donating the remaining glass plate negatives to the University of Montana.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Walter McLeod, 1972.

Processing Note

Walter McLeod created the original arrangement structure, applying a simple consecutive number system regardless of the year the photograph was created or the image subject. Archives staff processed the negatives and prints between 1972 and 1978. During archives processing a new photograph numbering system was assigned. The collection was re-processed in 2003. In reprocessing, both Mr. McLeod's and Archives numbering systems were retained, but the collection was separated into three series based upon subject matter. Original negatives were identified and labeled separately from copies. All negatives and prints were cataloged and extensively re-described.

Related Materials

The Denver Public Library Western History/Genealogy Department retains a collection of 126 glass plate negatives and four additional prints. Scanned images of all prints are available on-line from the Denver Public Library web site (http://gowest.coalliance.org/). The Montana Historical Society and the Smithsonian Institution retain prints, eleven and seven respectively, from negatives in both the Denver Public Library Western History/Genealogy Department and K. Ross Toole Archives collections.

K. Ross Toole Archives also holds two photos titled "Indian Dancing Men" and "Pielle-A Kootenai" in mats that are signed by Boos and include small pencil drawings.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid prepared by Jack Rowan and Aron Langley
2003

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