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Sylvester Nemes Papers, 1973-2010

Overview of the Collection

Title
Sylvester Nemes Papers
Dates
1973-2010 (inclusive)
Quantity
15 linear feet, (35 boxes)
Collection Number
2576
Summary
The Sylvester Nemes Papers consists of research, notes, drafts and manuscripts of Nemes' books, both his published works on fly fishing, as well as two unpublished works of historical fiction. Also included in the collection are correspondence, a brief biography, miscellaneous personal records, his obituary, business and professional records, photographs, negatives, memorabilia, and slides.
Repository
Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Languages
Collection materials are in English
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Biographical Note

Sylvester Nemes was born on April 2, 1922 in Erie, Pennsylvania. His parents, Dominic Nemes and Pauline Angel, were Romanian. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was introduced to fly tying by a friend and mentor, and traveled frequently to Pennsylvania with his homemade flies to fish the rivers and streams there. Nemes enlisted in the Army at age 19 as the U.S. was entering World War II. He was stationed at the Ibsley Air Field in Hampshire, England as a member of the Fighter Control Squadron with the Eighth Air Force. While stationed, he was set up on a blind date with Hazel Mary Barclay, an English nursing student. Nemes landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day, staying there for nine months as part of a team directing fighter aircraft. When he returned to England, he married Hazel on March 17, 1945 in Southampton, Hampshire. After the war, Hazel and Sylvester's first child, Diana, was born in England. The family moved to the U.S. where their second and third children, Eric and Gregory, were born. While the couple raised their family, Nemes earned a bachelor's degree in English from Kent State University. He went on to work as a copy writer and a photographer in Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago. Nemes, Hazel, and their children moved to Crown Point, Indiana in 1961, where Nemes worked as a photojournalist and continued to cultivate his love of fly fishing.

Nemes published his first book in 1975 through Chatham Press. The Soft-Hackled Fly championed wet fly fishing and the beauty and utility of flies tied with bird feathers in an era when dry fly fishing was the dominant trend. In the book he details the history of the soft-hackled fly and gives instruction on tying them and using them in fishing. Nemes went on to become a prolific author on the subject of fly fishing, writing Learn How to Fly Fish in One Day (1986), Soft-Hackled Imitations (1991), The Soft-Hackled Fly: A Trout Fisherman's Guide (1993), The Soft-Hackled Fly Addict (1993), Spinners (1995), Six Months in Scotland: an American View of its Salmon Fishing (1998), Two Centuries of Soft-Hackled Flies: a Survey of the Literature With Original Patterns, 1747-Present (2004), and The Soft-Hackled Fly and Tiny Soft Hackles: a Trout Fisherman's Guide (2006). He wrote two unpublished novels: "Goodbye, Crown Point," about John Dillinger, the Depression-era bank robber, and an unnamed manuscript about World War II-era P38 fighter aircraft pilots. Hazel and Sylvester moved to San Francisco in the early eighties before settling in Bozeman, Montana, at the base of the Bridger Mountains, in 1984. Nemes continued to fish, create his own fly patterns, and write books. He had admirers as far-flung as Japan, where fans of his started a fly fishing club devoted to the use of the soft hackle, and a Nemes-branded fly fishing rod was produced and sold. He was honored by Trout Unlimited in Bozeman in 2008 with their Legends of the Headwaters award. Nemes died at home on February 3, 2011 outside of Bozeman.

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Content Description

The Sylvester Nemes Papers primarily contain research, notes, drafts and manuscripts of Nemes's books, both his published works on fly fishing, as well as two unpublished works of historical fiction. His research materials include typed pages and handwritten notes in spiral-bound notebooks, as well as galley proofs and artwork. The collection also contains a large amount of correspondence from readers and fans who expressed the admiration for Nemes's work, and submitted orders for his books and hand-tied flies. A small amount of biographical material is also included in the collection, and includes family correspondence, a brief biography, miscellaneous personal records, and his obituary. Nemes's business and professional records mostly consist of correspondence with publishers, book and fly orders and invoices, and other records related to the writing and publishing of his books. In the final series there are photographs, negatives, memorabilia, and several binders of slides taken by Nemes of flies, landscapes in the West and in England and Scotland, fish and rivers, and friends and family.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Series 1 Biographical material

Series 2 Business and Professional Records

Series 3 Correspondence

Series 4 Book Manuscripts, Drafts, and Book-Specific Research

Series 5 General Research and Notes

Series 6 Photographs, Slides, and Memorabilia

Acquisition Information

Research papers, publication documents, correspondence, and photographs created or collected by Sylvester Nemes were purchased by Montana State University from Hazel Nemes, Bozeman, Montana, on October 3, 2011.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2014 March 10

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Americans
  • Americans--England
  • Fishers
  • Fishers--Montana
  • Fly fishing
  • Fly fishing
  • Fly tyers
  • Fly tyers--Montana
  • Fly tying
  • Fly tying
  • Military operations, Aerial--American
  • Publishers and Publishing
  • Publishers and publishing--United States
  • Travel
  • World War (1939-1945)
  • World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American--Fiction

Personal Names

  • Nemes, Sylvester--Archives

Geographical Names

  • Bozeman (Mont.)
  • England
  • England--Description and travel
  • Montana
  • Montana--Bozeman
  • Scotland
  • Scotland--Description and travel
  • United States
  • United States, West
  • West (U.S.)--Description and travel

Form or Genre Terms

  • Archives
  • Fiction
  • Personal papers--Montana--Bozeman
  • Photographs

Kim Allen Scott (2014), Heather Mulliner and Jodi Allison-Bunnell (2022)
2022

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

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