View XML QR Code

H. G. Merriam Papers, 1890-1980

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Merriam, H. G. (Harold Guy), 1883-1980
Title
H. G. Merriam Papers
Dates
1890-1980 (inclusive)
Quantity
17.25 linear feet and 2 oversize boxes
Collection Number
Mss 487 (collection)
Summary
H. G. Merriam was a University of Montana professor who played a crucial role in the development of Montana and Northwest literature. This collection contains personal and professional correspondence as well as working copies from Merriam's writing and editing endeavors. Significant subject categories include Merriam's service during World War I; long involvement with the Rhodes Scholarship program; teaching and administrative activities at the University of Montana--Missoula; founding, editing, and leadership contributions to the Frontier and Midland journal of regional literature; and activities to help create and guide the Montana Institute of the Arts.
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.
Return to Top

Biographical Note

Harold Guy Merriam was born September 6, 1883, at Westminster, Massachusetts. He was graduated from Denver (Colorado) High School in June 1902, and entered the University of Wyoming where he majored in science and the classics. He received his BA from Wyoming in 1905. In 1904 he was chosen to be a member of the first group of Rhodes Scholars. He attended Lincoln College, Oxford University, where he was enrolled in the honors school in English language and literature. He was awarded a BA from Oxford in 1907 and an MA in 1912.

Merriam taught at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, from 1908 to 1910. In the fall of 1910, he enrolled at Harvard University as an Austin Fellow. Merriam left Harvard, where he studied drama, after the fall term to teach a Beloit College in Wisconsin, where he remained until 1913. He then taught at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, until 1919. During World War I, Merriam took a leave of absence from his teaching career and went with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) to France, where he taught English to French officers. After the Armistice he was transferred to London, where he assisted American officers and enlisted men in entering British universities.

The University of Montana hired him in 1919 to teach English and to chair the English department. Merriam introduced creative writing into the curriculum. To encourage his students to write, he began editing their works and publishing them in a new magazine, the Frontier. This later merged with the Midland, published in Iowa City, IA, to form Frontier and Midland. This well-respected regional literary magazine encouraged students and writers not only from Montana, but from throughout the Pacific Northwest. The publication featured the early efforts of regional writers A.B. Guthrie, Dorothy M. Johnson, Helen Addison Howard, Grace Stone Coates, and others. Publication of the journal continued until 1939.

Merriam began a series of writer's conferences in Montana in the summer of 1930. These short conferences offered creative writers the opportunity to work with such nationally known writers as Struthers Burt, Mary Austin, Frank Ernest Hill, and others. The conferences continued through the summer of 1934, were suspended until 1948 and continued through the summer of 1960. Following the formation of the Montana Academy of Sciences in 1940, Merriam formulated the idea for the Montana Institute of the Arts, which was founded in 1948. He served as its first president and in 1957 became the editor of the Montana Institute of the Arts Quarterly, a position he filled until 1964.

From 1907 to 1919, the University of Montana had no Rhodes Scholars. Merriam became very active in the program; with his encouragement, sixteen University of Montana students went to Oxford between 1919 and 1970. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the program and served many years on its regional and local committees. In 1933, in addition to his duties as chairman of the English department, Merriam was appointed chairman of the Division of Humanities, a new concept in University administration. He continued carrying the two assignments until his retirement in 1954. In December 1935, Merriam was appointed state supervisor of the Federal Writers' Project. His efforts culminated in the publication of Montana, A State Guide Book in 1939. He also took leave from the University of Montana in 1939 to teach at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and earned his PhD in English from Columbia University.

Merriam was instrumental in the recognition of the importance and accomplishments of American and Northwest writers. Prior to his work and that of others, literary studies in the United States were largely confined to British authors; an individual with a college degree in English would usually have studied no American authors. In recognition of his accomplishments, the University of Wyoming awarded him an LLD in 1962, citing his record as "Rhodes Scholar, professor of literature, founder and editor of magazines for new writers in the Northwest, anthropologist of regional writing, pioneer in the discovery of the cultural potentialities of his region." In 1963, an honorary LLD followed from the University of Montana Missoula. In 1978, he was honored at the 75th dinner celebration of the Rhodes Scholars in New York.

He married Doris W. Foote in 1915. They had two children, Alan and Alison. Doris Merriam died in 1970, and he married Frances Dummer Logan in 1974. H. G. Merriam died in Missoula, Montana, in March 1980.

Return to Top

Content Description

This collection contains materials reflecting the diverse interests and activities of H. G. Merriam. Collection materials are predominantly personal and professional correspondence as well as working copies from Merriam's writing and editing endeavors. Significant subject categories include Merriam's service during World War I; long involvement with the Rhodes Scholars program; teaching and administrative activities at the university in Missoula; founding, editing, and leadership contributions to the Frontier and Midland journal; and activities to help create and guide the Montana Institute of the Arts.

Merriam was one of the seminal figures in fostering the literary traditions of Montana as well as the Northern Rocky Mountain region. Materials in this collection provide significant insights into the personal and professional relationships among literary and performance artists, academic leaders, politicians, and art patrons throughout the 20th Century, a period of tremendous cultural change regarding the mass distribution of popular culture materials and the western states' transition from cultural depository into a nationally recognized resource for arts and literature.

Materials in the Rhodes Scholars series lend first-hand insights into the infancy of the program and long-term efforts to retain a collegial approach in selecting new participants. The University of Montana series reveals the inner-workings of an institution transformed by the demographic, political, and cultural changes that occurred in the United States during the 20th Century. A particularly significant portion of this series documents activities surrounding Merriam's dismissal from the university in 1939, one of many academic freedom controversies that occurred around this time. The Frontier and Midland is recognized as the first regularly published literary anthology for Montana and the Northern Rocky Mountain region. Materials in the series record Merriam's commitment to establishing and promoting standards for folklore collection, editing, source acknowledgement, and publication. The series includes numerous sequences of correspondence between Merriam and many of the most influential figures in Montana and Western literature. The Montana Institute of the Arts series documents the founding and development of a significant grassroots arts and humanities program in the state. The Writings and Writings of Others series provide insights into Merriam's multi-faceted literary projects as well as his influence on contemporaries. The Photograph series includes a wealth of materials documenting the activities, gatherings, and publications of the Montana Institute of the Arts and other aspects of Merriam's career.

Return to Top

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. Copyright to Merriam's materials is held jointly by Alison Merriam Payne, Ginny Merriam, Paige Merriam, and Cynthia Adams.

Preferred Citation

[Name of document or photograph number], H. G. Merriam Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is divided into twelve series:

Series I: Personal, 0.25 linear feet and partial oversize box, 1890-1980

Series II: General Correspondence, 1.25 linear feet, 1905-1980

Series III: World War I Service, 4 folders, 1918-1919

Series IV: Rhodes Scholars, 7 folders, 1904-1979

Series V: University of Montana, 1.5 linear feet and partial oversize box, 1919-1979

Series VI: Frontier and Midland, 5.0 linear feet, 1921-1973

Series VII: Montana Institute of the Arts, 2.25 linear feet, 1941-1980

Series VIII: Writings, 5.5 linear feet, 1902-1980

Series IX: Writings of Others, 13 folders, 1926-1970

Series X: Awards and Honors, 0.25 linear feet, 1920-1975

Series XI: Scrapbooks and Photo Albums, one oversize box, circa 1900-1939

Series XII: Photographs, 2.25 linear feet, 1914-1975

Custodial History

Most of Merriam's collection remained in his possession until his death in 1980, though he seems to have given some initial part to the archives in 1979 and before. Other materials were acquired by non-family members and were donated to the archives after Merriam's death. Details of how these materials were acquired and housed were not recorded upon donation to the archives.

Acquisition Information

H. G. Merriam gave some portions of his papers in 1979 and before. The bulk of the collection was a gift of Alison Merriam Payne as trustee of his estate in 1980. The Margaret Ronan manuscript, edited by H. G. Merriam, was donated by Arthur Deschamps through the Friends of the Mansfield Library in 1980. Richard Ormsbee also donated a single letter in 1980.

Processing Note

Materials in this collection were originally processed in several distinct segments and a shelf list was created with the collection number UM 15. In 2003 all materials were integrated into one collection, extensively reorganized, and re-described. Several new series were created to aid content identification and research. Photographs found in document folders throughout the collection were physically removed to the photograph series for preservation purposes. In all such instances, a photograph number and location identification sheet was inserted into the original folder as a cross-reference for researchers.

Separated Materials

Seven books donated by the Merriam estate were separated from this collection during 2003 reprocessing. Considering the age and unusual context of these publications, all seven were incorporated into the Mansfield Library Special Collections materials. The separated books are: Specimens of Pre-Shakspearean Drama, Volumes I and II (John M. Manly, Ginn & Company, 1897), Beowulf (A.J. Wyatt, editor, Cambridge University Press, 1901), The Works of Edmund Spenser (R. Morris, editor, MacMillen & Company Limited, 1904), The Literature of the Rocky Mountain West, 1803-1903 (Jay L. Davidson and Prudence Bostwick, editors, Caxton Printers Ltd., 1939_Review Copy), The Northern Plains in a World of Change (Carl F. Kraenzel, Watson Thomson, and Glenn H. Craig, Gregory-Cartwright Ltd., 1942), Medieval English Prose (Roger S. Loomis and Rudolph Willard, editors, Appleton-Century-Crofts Inc., 1948), The American University: How It Runs, Where It Is Going (Jacques Barzun, Harper & Row Publishers, 1968).

Related Materials

The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming holds 0.25 cubic feet of correspondence that Merriam sent home to his family from France, 1918-1919, and portions of Merriam's diaries during his residence at Oxford University.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid prepared by Jack Rowan
2003

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West