Archie Lynn Joscelyn papers, circa 1971 and circa 1986

Archie Lynn Joscelyn was born on July 25, 1899, to Francis David and Ethel (Gardner) Joscelyn in Great Falls, Montana. He grew up on a cattle ranch just outside of Belt, Montana. His background in the West helped Joscelyn create the scene for many of his popular historical Westerns. Joscelyn began a freelance writing career in 1918, and by 1921, his story, “Trail of the East Wind,” appeared in the June issue of Overland Monthly. While attending Intermountain Union College in Helena, Montana, from 1921 to 1924, Joscelyn found part-time work as a reporter for the Montana Record-Herald and the Helena Independent. In 1926 he married Hazel Peterson; they had three children. Joscelyn later became president of the Montana Institute of the Arts. Over 100 of Joscelyn’s novels appear under the pseudonyms A. A. Archer, Al Cody, Tex Holt, Evelyn McKenna and Lynn Westland.