Richard B. Roeder Papers, 1949-1995

Notes, exams, and papers from classes taken as an undergraduate student at Swarthmore College. Also in the series are a few newspaper clippings and Roeder's 1953 yearbook.

Notes, papers, and exams from classes taken as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, along with a small amount of personal correspondence.

Mostly personal correspondence during a period when Roeder worked as a stockroom clerk at the University of Montana's School of Pharmacy in Missoula, and as a Research Associate with the Montana Legislative Council in Helena. Also included are research notes and a graduate paper written by Roeder on "Civil War and Reconstruction."

The bulk of this series is Roeder's correspondence during his time as a history professor at Montana State. Personal, business, and research related letters, memos and dated general information are chronologically arranged by years, and within the folders by days. The series also contains a copy of his dissertation titled "Montana in the Early Years of the Progressive Period," positions Roeder applied for at Montana State, student letters of recommendation, and Montana State administration papers.

Roeder worked for the Lieutenant Governors' Office for three years as an Administrative Assistant. Personal, job, and research related correspondence make up most of this series, and has been arranged by year, and within the folders by days. Also included are folders on individual projects Roeder was involved with, such as Montana's Centennial and Constitutional Reform Debate.

This period proved to be a prolific time as a writer for Richard Roeder. Nine of his published articles, essays, introductions, or forwards were printed during these eight years. The series reflects his short-lived work as a historical consultant on the Arco Project. His interactions with Montana Center For The Book, his pieces for the Helena newspaper, "Quarries From Last Chance Gulch," and his interests in Swarthmore College are part of the series. Correspondence includes papers related to his personal, business, research, and general information interests. Roeder also applied for positions at Carroll Collage and Montana Historical Society during this time.

This series is a catch-all for Roeder's undated personal correspondence, story and writing ideas, personal biography and vita, wills, and photographs. There is also a folder of conferences he attended, awards he received, and reviews of his books.

The teaching files of Richard Roeder reflect over 30 years of historical information gathering and knowledge. Most of the files are from his years at Montana State. Yet Roeder taught at Carroll College, Great Falls College, and the University of Montana as well. The series is arranged by the university and the name of the course taught. If the college name is not on the folder, the course was taught at Montana State. Information on each course may include a class syllabus, reading lists, course outlines, copies of exams, bibliographies, articles, newspaper clippings, and notes by Roeder. Research notes and lecture notes blend together. Course notes may also be found in the Research File Series, as research notes are in the Teaching File Series.

The tapes offer a sample of Roeder's style of lecture and historical information on specific subjects. The rest of the tapes are from conferences or symposiums where Roeder presented, moderated, or taped for interest. These tapes are not entirely clear as to the date or even who may be speaking.

This is by far the largest series of the Roeder collection. The Research Files are organized by subject in alphabetical order. Subjects include general titles, individuals, bibliographies, and projects. Their primary focus is on Montana history and history of the American West. Aside from Roeder's notes, subjects may include articles with extensive underlining or marginalia, bibliographies, newspaper clippings, reviews, papers, reports, documents, video tapes, and booklets. Relatively recent articles without extensive underlining or marginalia were not kept except for the title page, and these were generally included as part of bibliographies. Roeder left many short notes on various sizes of paper reflecting ideas and thoughts that are throughout the research files. Papers in original folders were generally kept intact with their titles. Many of Roeder's historical writings and articles with different drafts are in this series under appropriate titles.

The Research Note Cards are organized by subject in alphabetical order. Subjects mostly include general titles and individuals. Many of the note cards are part of extensive newspaper research. The files are almost exclusively on aspects of Montana history and are focused mostly on research projects conducted by Roeder. This includes Paris Gibson, Montana Legislators, taxes, Ella Knowles, Joseph Kinsey Howard, and agriculture.

Roeder was appointed as one of four governor's appointees on the sixteen-member Constitutional Revision Commission in 1969. The series represents the memos, minutes, extensive readings, correspondence, committee meetings, the Commission's draft report, and notes that Roeder collected as part of his two-year membership on the committee. Many of the readings have marginalia by Roeder.

Roeder was elected to the Montana Constitutional Convention in the fall of 1971. The series represents most of many aspects that made up the convention for a delegate. Aside from his delegate duties, Roeder served on the Executive Committee and the Committee of Style and Drafting. The series includes papers and newspaper clippings of the primary and delegate elections; extensive reading material; general convention information; committee reports and proposed amendments to the constitution; convention studies, papers, and memorandums; correspondence; Committee on Style and Drafting Reports (CSD); delegate and resolution proposals to the constitution; drafts of the proposed constitution; convention proceedings; extensive collection of state newspaper clippings; and post-convention correspondence and related papers. Much of the readings and papers have Roeder marginalia. The series also includes delegate photographs and two journal books.