Robert W. Limbert was born in Minnesota in 1885, adopted, and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He worked for the Smithsonian Institution as a field naturalist for two years before moving to Boise, Idaho, in 1911 to enter the taxidermy business. In 1915, he designed Idaho's medal award-winning exhibition for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and a few years later he began writing about Idaho's scenery and wildlife for newspapers and magazines.
During the 1920s his essays appeared in
Limbert also searched for and found Indian petroglyphs along the Snake River, explored the inaccessible Bruneau River region, and travelled throughout the Sawtooth Mountains, naming mountains and lakes theretofore uncharted. During the 1920s he and his family moved to the Sawtooths, where he worked as a hunting and fishing guide.
At first through the Izaak Walton League and later through other agents, he embarked on national lecture tours, promoting the vacation potential of Idaho with film and slides and (while dressed in western garb) demonstrating his skills at trick roping, shooting, bird calls, and animal sounds.
During the late 1920s he obtained from the U.S. Forest Service a concession to operate a "dude ranch" at Stanley, Idaho. He then established Redfish Lake Lodge, which is still a popular Idaho resort.
Limbert died of a brain hemorrhage in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1933, returning from a speaking tour in the East. He was survived by his wife and four children.
Sources: Biographical material within the collection - Casner, Nicholas. "Two-Gun Limbert: the Man from the Sawtooths."
Robert Limbert's papers document his exploration of the Idaho wilderness, promotion of Idaho as a tourist destination, and photographic studies of Idaho wildlife. The papers include drafts of articles and short stories by Limbert; four scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, published articles, programs, and the like; correspondence and business papers regarding the establishment of Redfish Lake Lodge; and miscellaneous papers relating to his taxidermy business. There is, in particular, a great deal of material relating to the Craters of the Moon area.
The collection contains approximately 3000 photos, both loose and in scrapbooks, documenting Limbert's travels in Idaho. These photos preserve views of the state's landscape of the early twentieth century. The Sawtooth Mountains, Craters of the Moon, and the Bruneau River region are particularly well covered. Along with the photos are contact sheets made from negatives in the collection, a number of copper engraving plates, and glass negatives.
The collection is arranged in ten series: 1. Biographical material; 2. Correspondence, 3. Writings; 4. Lectures and Performances 5. Redfish Lake Lodge; 6. Taxidermy business; 7. Scrapbooks; 8. Miscellaneous papers; 9. Photograph collections; 10. Oversize items; 11. Glass plate netagives.
Box list:
Collection is available for research.
Gift of Mr. Limbert's daughter, Margaret Lawrence, Boise, Idaho, 1986. Additional materials donated by Limbert documentarian Steve Wursta in 2005 and by John Patterson in 2014 (boxes 29 and 30).
Some later biographical material on Limbert has been placed with the collection for reference purposes. Most of the original papers were highly acidic and quite brittle; therefore they were photocopied for preservation purposes. Researchers are asked to use the photocopies rather than the originals.
[item description], Robert W. Limbert Papers, Box [number] Folder [number], Boise State University Special Collections and Archives.
Items in Series 1 include Limbert's obituary from the
Much of the correspondence in Series 2 regards the establishment and operation of Redfish Lake Lodge, Limbert's dude ranch-resort in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains. He apparently sought the backing of Lewis E. Megowen of Chicago and J.L. Kraft of Kraft Cheese Company; the collection includes a long proposal he sent to Kraft and correspondence back and forth with Megowen. Most of Limbert's letters in this series are typescript drafts or carbons.
The writings on Series 3 are divided into three groups: drafts of articles, articles in published form, and drafts of short stories. The article and short story drafts are chiefly in typescript form, sometimes in more than one version. Like the rest of the collection, Series 3 is available to researchers chiefly in the form of photocopies. Retained originals are located in Box 7.
The published articles (in photocopy form) came from several outdoor magazines and are about outdoor, shooting, or Idaho themes. There are seventeen articles in the Outdoor America file; fifteen are Limbert's regular column, "Revolver Shooting"; two are articles about the Sawtooths. Outdoor America was published by the Izaak Walton League. The tourist booklet Unknown Places in Idaho (folder 37), is a 54-page publication issued in 1927 by the Union Pacific Railroad. It was written by Bob Limbert, who also supplied the photographs. The copy in the collection has been loaned to Albertsons Library by Craters of the Moon National Monument.
Limbert's article from the
See also the Addendum for additional writings added to the collection in 2005 and 2007.
This series consists of advertisements, programs, newspaper articles, tickets, and correspondence related to Limbert's speaking engagements, educational programs, and performances at fairs and rodeos across the country.
The papers in this series document the construction and early operation of Redfish Lake Lodge, Limbert's dude ranch- resort near Stanley, Idaho, in the Sawtooth Mountains. Included is a published brochure advertising the resort; agreements with the U.S. Forest Service; and detailed building materials lists.
Digitized and available
In addition to the papers listed below, three scrapbooks of magazine clippings of drawings and photos of birds and animals are located in Series 8 (Miscellaneous), Box 5.
Robert Limbert kept four scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, lecture programs, and the like, documenting his activities, chiefly his speaking engagements and marksmanship demonstrations. The items from these scrapbooks have been photocopied and are available to researchers in Boxes 3 and 4. Limbert often shingled clipped articles and other items over one another in the scrapbooks, so the scrapbooks were disassembled to allow photocopying. The original scrapbooks are located in Box 8 and 9.
Among the items in Series 8 are clippings of articles from the
The research materials include secondary materials and sources Limbert collected as research for his various projects and interests. They include natural history postcards and writing examples from other authors.
These maps were drawn by Limbert and taken from an envelope he labeled "Places to Look Up."
Robert Limbert's photographs, numbering more than three thousand, constitute an important photographic record of the Idaho outdoors in the early decades of the twentieth century.
The Sawtooth Mountains and its many lakes, the Craters of the Moon, the Bruneau River region, and Snake River Indian petroglyphs are particularly well documented. So too are human activities in these regions, particularly in the Sawtooths: hunting, camping, fishing, and horseback riding, among them. Most of the photos of the Craters of the Moon came from Limbert's 1921 exploring expedition; there are also photos documenting the construction of Redfish Lake Lodge near Stanley (1928), the Panama-Pacific exposition of 1915, and Limbert's taxidermy work. There are also photos of Idaho's wildlife, in desert and mountain, and of Limbert's friends and family.
Robert Limbert left both photographic prints and negatives. The negatives, most of which were on glass or unstable nitrate stock, have been copied onto modern safety film. Contact sheets have been made for the convenience of researchers. The original glass negatives have been retained, but the nitrate negatives were destroyed. Many of Limbert's prints are now brittle and fragile; these have been photocopied for reference use. While there is much duplication between the negatives and prints, there are unique items in each set, so both must be consulted for a complete search of the photo collection. Those photos with captions have been so labelled; unfortunately, few photos were captioned. All captions have been photocopied and assembled in a reference notebook for the convenience of researchers.
There is not yet a complete index to every photo in the collection. The photos and negatives have, however, been grouped into broad subject categories.
Contact sheets are arranged numerically in reference notebooks in the Special Collections Department. The following are the subject headings:
Please consult photocopies in reference notebooks located in Special Collections.
Please consult photocopies in reference notebook.
There are 4 photo albums in this series, 2 large and 2 small.
Approximately 50 photos of taxidermy specimens including cattle, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, moose, deer, elk, mountain lions, birds, small mammals, and bobcats. Not captioned. Many of the photos are represented in the contact sheets.
Personal photo album with ca. 225 photos, most of which are captioned. Album inscribed 11R.W. Limbert, Omaha, Neb." Photos appear to date ca. 1900-1910. Includes photos of individuals; scenes from picnics, camping trips, and other outdoor activities; and snapshots from travels in Utah and elsewhere. Places represented include Salt Lake City, Ogden, Devils Gate, and Wasatch Mountains, Utah; Laramie Mountains, Wyoming; Minnesota; and Nebraska.
Approximately 150 uncaptioned photos. Principal subjects: Indian petroglyphs along the Snake River, Map Rock, and desert reptiles. Also includes some taxidermy specimens, scenes in a veterinary office, and models and carvings. Many of these photos are represented by contacts and negatives.
Approximately 150 photos, mostly of Limbert's 1921 exploring expedition into the Craters of the Moon. Captioned. Most of the photos are represented by contact prints and negatives. Captions, with photo numbers, are transcribed in the Captions notebook. A small group of uncaptioned photos at the end of the album document a visit to the lava rock cabin of Doc Hisom near the Snake River. Contact print/negative numbers for these photos are listed on page 18, in the Miscellaneous category.
Approximately 400 glass negatives are preserved in the Robert W. Limbert collection. Copy negatives and contact prints have been made for most of them:
About ninety of the glass negatives have not been matched to contact prints. These are photographs of taxidermy specimens.
Most of the articles cited below are full-page feature articles by Robert Limbert, illustrated with his own photos. Researchers are encouraged to consult microfilm copies in the Library's Microfilm Department instead of these fragile originals. Those marked with asterisks * were added to the collection in 2005, but they have been interfiled in the map drawers chronologically with all the others.