MZFCollection0150.xml Guide to the Mary J. Buzzell Correspondence and Photographs 1910-1913 Buzzell (Mary J.) Correspondence and Photographs Kim Allen Scott, 2010 Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections P.O. Box 173320 Bozeman, MT 59717-3320 United States Phone (406) 994-4242 Fax (406) 994-2851 http://www.lib.montana.edu/archives/ University Archivist spcoll@www.lib.montana.edu
Finding aid encoded by ArchProteus2012 Finding aid written in English Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard) Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320 Bozeman, MT 59717-3320 United States Phone (406) 994-4242 Fax (406) 994-2851 http://www.lib.montana.edu/archives/ University Archivist spcoll@www.lib.montana.edu
Collection 0150, MtBC, us Buzzell, Mary J. (Mary Johnson), 1866-1954 Mary J. Buzzell Correspondence and Photographs 1910-1913 6 items The Mary J. Buzzell Correspondence and Photographs detail the difficulties the Buzzell family had recently faced and detailed some of the operations on their farm and asks for a renewal on a debt from Cowan and Son mercantile. William Cowan copied and sent Buzzell's letter to some of his creditors to illustrate the economic conditions in Montana that had stymied his own efforts in balancing the firm's books. Janney, Semple, Hill and Company, wholesale hardware dealers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were impressed with the letter and sent Mary Buzzell some magazine subscriptions. These letters, along with two photographs showing the Buzell farm and one of the first apple trees planted in Pondera County, complete this collection. Collection materials are in English Biographical Note

Frank L. Buzzell was born in 1865 in New Hampshire, but he went to the Pacific Northwest later in the nineteenth century where he pursued a career as a clergyman. In 1892 he was listed in the Columbia River Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church as having been elected and ordained as an elder at The Dalles, Oregon. Buzell married Mary Johnson (1866-1954) and the couple had four daughters; Mary, Esther, Ruth, and Katherine. Sometime prior to 1907, Frank Buzzell retired from preaching and moved his family to the Kalispell, Montana area. In that year he purchased from William S. Conrad some farmland about a mile south of the town of Conrad, Montana and began building a home for his family. They took up residence in the spring of 1908. The farm entered a difficult financial period by 1913 but the family remained on the land, practicing a combination of irrigation and dryland farming techniques to raise both fruit and cereal crops. Frank Buzzell died on January 9, 1939.

In the winter of 1913, Mary J. Buzzell wrote to the Cowan and Son mercantile operation of Box Elder, Montana to ask for a renewal on a $300 debt. In her letter, she described the difficulties the Buzzell family had recently faced and detailed some of the operations on their farm. William Cowan was so taken with the letter that he had it copied and sent to some of his creditors to illustrate the economic conditions in Montana that had stymied his own efforts in balancing the firm's books. Janney, Semple, Hill and Company, wholesale hardware dealers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were impressed with the letter and sent Mary Buzzell some magazine subscriptions. These letters, along with two photographs showing the Buzell farm and one of the first apple trees planted in Pondera County, complete this collection.

This collection is open for research.

Original letters and photographs collected or created by Mary Johnson Buzzell were donated to Montana State University by her daughter, Esther Buzzell Turner, of Ontario, California on August 24, 1964.

This collection was processed 2010 March 24

 Buzzell, Frank L.,-1865-1939 Buzzell family Buzzell family-Homes and haunts-Montana-Pondera County-Photographs Cowan and Son (Box Elder, Mont.) Janney, Semple, Hill and Co. (Minneapolis, Minn.) Pondera County (Mont.)-Economic conditions-20th century Apples-Montana-Pondera County-Photographs Farm life-Montana-Pondera County Farmers' spouses-Montana-Pondera County-Correspondence Farmers-Montana-Pondera County-Economic conditions Farmhouses-Montana-Pondera County-Photographs Merchants-Montana-Box Elder-Correspondence Women-Montana-Pondera County-Correspondence Photographs-Montana-Pondera County Agriculture Home and Family Retail Trade Women Montana Photographs 1 1 Mary J. Buzzell, letter to Cowan and Son December 2, 1913 2 Janney, Semple, Hill and Co. letter to Cowan and Son December 6, 1913 3 Janney, Semple, Hill and Co. letter to Cowan and Son December 16, 1913 4 William T. Cowan, letter to Mary J. Buzzell December 20, 1913 5 Photograph, The Buzzell Home, South Conrad, Montana June 1910 6 Photograph, First Apple Tree in the vicinity of Conrad, Montana