MZF2485.xml Guide to the William Wirt Pendergast Diary 1895 June 17-1895 June 21 Pendergast (William Wirt) Diary Kim Allen Scott Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Montana State University Library, Archives and Special Collections, Manuscript Collections 2009
P.O. Box 173320, Centennial Mall Montana State University Bozeman, MT 59717
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-10-31. Finding aid written in English Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition. 2026 Mild updates for standards compliance and before adding to the Historical Documents collection Montana State University Library, Archives and Special Collections, Manuscript Collections William Wirt Pendergast diary Pendergast, William Wirt, 1833-1903 2485 Collection 2485, MtBC, us 1 volume 1895 June 17-21 William and Abbie Pendergast were Minnesota resident who visited Yellowstone National Park. His diary consists of several pages of entries kept within A. B. Guptill's Yellowstone Park Guide; A Practical Handbook (St. Paul: F. Jay Haynes, 1894). The brief entries describe the vacation trip of William and Abbie as they leave Hutchinson and visit Yellowstone National Park in 1895. Collection materials are in English. 1

William Wirt Pendergast was born in New England in 1833. After attending Bowdoin College in Maine, he joined with the Hutchinson brothers to plat a town in Minnesota Territory by the same name. Pendergast returned to Massachusetts sometime before the end of the Civil War where he married Abigail Cogswell. The couple had a son, Edward, in 1864 and two years later returned to Hutchinson, Minnesota where William began a career in education. William eventually became the first principal of the University of Minnesota's two-year agriculture school and finished his career as the state Superintendent of Schools. He died in 1903.

The Pendergast diary consists of several pages of entries kept within A. B. Guptill's Yellowstone Park Guide; A Practical Handbook (St. Paul: F. Jay Haynes, 1894). The brief entries describe the vacation trip of William and Abbie as they leave Hutchinson and visit Yellowstone National Park in 1895. They left their hometown on June 17, making stops in Mandan, Livingston, and Cinnabar on the train before boarding a Tally-ho stage to Mammoth Hot Springs. While in the Park the couple visited: the Norris Geyser Basin; the Lower Geyser Basin; the Upper Geyser basin including Old Faithful, Castle, and Riverside Geysers; Mammoth and Fountain Hotels.

This collection is open for research.

The diary created by William Wirt Pendergast was removed from Collection 1505 for separate processing in March, 2006.

This collection was processed 2009 May 28

[Creator Name], [Date of Creation], [Brief Description of Object], Folder [#], Box [#], [Collection Name], [Collection #], Montana State University (MSU) Library, Bozeman, MT

 Pendergast, Abigail Cogswell Guptill, A. B. (Albert Brewer), 1854-1931--Yellowstone Park Guide Yellowstone National Park Montana Montana--Description and travel Tourists--Yellowstone National Park--Diaries Geysers Montana Diaries Transportation Parks and Playgrounds Sports and Recreation Diaries--Yellowstone National Park Diaries Diaries