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Bud Lilly papers, 1926-2008

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Lilly, Bud
Title
Bud Lilly papers
Dates
1926-2008 (inclusive)
Quantity
5.6 linear feet
Collection Number
2528
Summary
The Bud Lilly papers consist of biographical and genealogical materials, correspondence, organization papers, literary productions, business records, photographs and motion picture film all created or collected by Lilly in the course of his life and business career. Topics include military service and family life, his visit to Hiroshima, Japan shortly after the detonation of the atomic bomb in World War II, Lilly's store, outfitting activities, and consulting work. People of interest include Roderick Haig-Brown, Tom McGuane, Curt Gowdy, Lee Wulff, and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
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

Business records in Box 8, Folder 15-18, are restricted until 2082.

Languages
Collection materials are in English
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Biographical Note

Walen F. "Bud" Lilly was born on August 13, 1925 in Manhattan, Montana. His mother, Violet Collins Lilly, was a descendant of Mary Wells "Granny" Yates, a pioneer Montana settler who first arrived in the territory in 1863. Bud attended public schools in Manhattan and early developed a lifelong interest in fishing. In 1943 he enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve and attended officer training schools in Butte, Montana and Fort Schuyler, New York. Bud was assigned to the USS General R. M. Blatchford during the latter part of World War II and during his service visited Nagasaki, Japan after its bombing by American forces. After the war Lilly attended Montana State University in Bozeman, earning a bachelor's degree in science and beginning a career as a public-school teacher in Roundup, Deer Lodge, and Bozeman, Montana and at Scottsdale, Arizona. He married Patricia Bennett on March 15, 1947 and the couple had three children: Gregory, Michael and Annette. After the death of his Patricia in 1984, Lilly married Esther Simon, then the executive director of the Federation of Fly Fishers, in 1985. The couple had two children, Christopher and Alisa. Bud died in 2017; Esther died in 2022.

In 1961 he purchased a trout fishing tackle store in West Yellowstone, Montana that had been started by Don Martinez and operated by Charles Borberg. Known simply as "The Trout Shop," Lilly's business became a great success, coordinating information regarding local fishing conditions, providing a space for fishing enthusiasts to gather, and offering a wide variety of custom-made flies and related tackle. His entire family worked at the shop at one time or another, and all three of his children provided guiding services. Publications associated with the Trout Shop included various editions of a merchandise catalog and a fishing map, both of which were created by collaboration with David Bascomb, a California advertising executive and fly fishing enthusiast.

As Lilly's fame as a guide and store owner grew, he also became an advocate for catch and release fly fishing along with streambed and habitat conservation. Among the people he personally guided on fishing trips were British Ambassador Sir Peter Ramsbotham and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Among the organizations Lilly has been active in are Trout Unlimited, the Federation of Fly Fishers, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.

In collaboration with Paul Schullery, Lilly has written three books on fly fishing: Bud Lilly's Guide to Western Fly Fishing (1987), A Trout's Best Friend: the Angling Autobiography of Bud Lilly (1988), and Bud Lilly's Guide to Fly Fishing the New West (2000).

Although Lilly sold the Trout Shop in 1982, his business interests continued with the formation of the Western Rivers Club, an organization he founded to keep his former customers in touch, and the Angler's Rest, a guest hotel for fishing visitors in Three Forks, Montana. In addition to his work with the Montana Ambassadors, a state sponsored program to entice visitation and investment in Montana, Lilly also worked as the river keeper for Baker Springs, a land development company near Manhattan, Montana.

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Content Description

The Bud Lilly papers consist of biographical and genealogical materials, correspondence, organization papers, literary productions, business records, photographs, and motion picture film created or collected by Lilly in the course of his life and business career. Among the personal biographical and genealogical materials are documents that represent Lilly's military service and family life, including a letter describing a visit to Nagasaki, Japan shortly after the detonation of the atomic bomb in World War II. The correspondence series includes letters generated in the conduct of Lilly's business interests as a store owner and fishing guide. Among the authors represented are Roderick Haig-Brown, Tom McGuane, Curt Gowdy, Lee Wulff, and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The series of organizational papers includes communications and documents from a wide variety of sportsman's and environmental groups. The newspaper clipping series contains a selection of articles dealing with Lilly or his family. A series of documents representing literary productions contains materials that relate to Lilly's three published monographs and numerous journal articles. Business records document the financial, legal, and social activities of Lilly's store, outfitting activities, and consulting work. The photographs have been arranged under broad subject headings assigned by Lilly and sequentially numbered. An additional deposit of papers received in September 2013 has been placed in Series 8, and the folder arrangement follows the order of the previous seven series.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

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

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Series 1 Biographical material

Series 2 Correspondence

Series 3 Organizations

Series 4 Newspaper clippings

Series 5 Literary productions

Series 6 Business records

Series 7 Audiovisual materials

Acquisition Information

Personal and business papers created by Bud Lilly were donated to Montana State University Library by Robert Dotson of Bellevue, Washington, on April 15, 2010. Additional materials were provided by Timothy Gordon of Missoula, Montana on September 10, 2013 and are arranged as Series 8. A Lunker Club log book was donated by Esther Lilly May 12, 2017.

Processing Note

Initally processed 2013 September 18. In the process of creating the digital collection, many items containing personal information unsuited to public access were removed and discarded. In 2024, as part of adding the moving images and audio to the digital collection, two videotapes unrelated to Lilly were discarded.

Separated Materials

Accession records for the International Fly Fishing Center were removed from the collection in 2022 and returned to Fly Fishers International.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Kim Allen Scott, 2013. Updated by Heather Mulliner in 2022. Audiovisual materials added by Jodi Allison-Bunnell.
2024

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

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