AHJ_ah00453 Inventory of the Robinson Family Papers, 1865-1960 Robinson Family Papers Processed by D.C. Thompson The creation of the EAD-version of this finding aid was made possible through a grant from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission. University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.
American Heritage Center Dept. 3924, 1000 E. University Avenue University of Wyoming Laramie, WY 82071 Phone: 307.766.2574 Fax:307.766.5511 Email:ahcref@uwyo.edu URL:http://ahc.uwyo.edu/
2005

University of Wyoming

 Finding aid encoded by Ann Mulfort December 2005 Finding aid is in English Collection Summary Robinson Family Robinson Family Papers 1865-1960 00453 2.5 cubic ft. (6 boxes) + artifacts University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center. English The Robinson Family papers include materials on the operation of the Emerald Mining Company in Laramie County (now Platte County), Wyoming and personal letters of Elizabeth Robinson. The related McLauchlin Family papers span Scotland, Canada, and the western United States. Also included are photographs, postcards, scrapbooks and ledgers from both families. History of the Robinson Family

The McLauchlin Family emigrated from the west of Scotland to Canada in the 19th century. Archibald McLauchlin (also spelled McLachlan) and his wife Elizabeth (McKellar) McLauchlin moved from the province of Alberta to Wyoming in 1877, where they settled on the Davis Ranch. Elizabeth died in 1897, Archibald died ca. 1906. The couple had several children among whom were: Margaret Isabel (married Harold Loomis) (1866-1930), who lived with her parents until her marriage in 1898; Susan J. (married George Van Zandt), who lived in Cheyenne; Colin (married Isabel), of Montana; and John (married Annie), who returned to live in Canada.

Elizabeth McLaughlin Robinson (1886-1965) was the daughter of one of Archibald’s and Elizabeth’s children. She grew up in the Horsecreek, Wyoming, area and in Sturgis, South Dakota. She graduated from the Spearfish, South Dakota, Normal School and came to Wheatland in 1906. She married Howard Archer Robinson of Wheatland, Wyoming, in 1911. The couple had two children: Dorothy, born 1912 , and Frank Delos, born ca. 1914. After his marriage, Howard Robinson worked as an agent for the International Harvester Company. He died ca. 1958.

Howard Robinson and his father, Roswell Delos Robinson, were partners in the Emerald Mining Company, which mined primarily iron ore in Laramie County, Wyoming, from 1904 to about 1908. R.D. Robinson was born in 1849 in New York and married Harriet Rogers of that state in 1869. This marriage produced one daughter, Laura (married Frank Wiley). After his first wife’s death in 1874, R.D. Robinson married Lizzie Archer in 1881. Their son, Howard Archer Robinson, was born in 1883. In November, 1886, R.D. Robinson came to Wheatland, Wyoming, to work as a carpenter for the Wheatland Development Company. In 1888 he moved to Uva, Wyoming, where he ran a hotel (from 1891-1895) and then a general store (from 1895-ca. 1903). R.D. Robinson died in 1911.

 Scope and Content

The McLauchlin Family papers are personal in nature and display the desire of a large family dispersed across Scotland, Canada, and the western United States to retain contact with each other. They center on family news and local conditions. The Robinson Family documents are primarily concerned with the operations of the Emerald Mining Company in Laramie County, Wyoming, although some later letters, addressed to Elizabeth Robinson, are personal. The Home Medical & Surgical Infirmary records come from a private treatment facility in Iowa, and their connection to either the Robinson Family or the McLauchlin Family is uncertain. They are primarily concerned with attempts to collect debts for treatment from patients who were either too indigent or too dissatisfied to pay. Two letters, signed only Boyce (or Bryce), were written by an officer in a medical corps from the Korean War theater in 1952. The writer’s relationship with the family is unclear, but the letters have been included with the McLauchlin Family correspondence because the writer apparently lived in South Dakota near the home of Elizabeth McLaughlin Robinson.

The ledgers and scrapbooks have been combined since some ledgers were re-used by the Robinson Family as scrapbooks. Two ledgers appear to contain records of a livery stable which rented teams and saddle horses. The later pages of several ledgers have been used by Elizabeth Robinson and her mother-in-law to track their efforts in poultry-raising.

The photographs and postcards illustrate the areas in which the Robinson and McLauchlin Families lived. Many of the postcards also include brief messages from family members and friends.

 Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.

 Copyright Information

The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

 Related Materials

There are no other known archival collections created by the Robinson Family at the date of processing.

 Acquisition Information

The Robinson Family Papers were given to the American Heritage Center by Elizabeth (Mrs. Howard A.) Robinson between 1958 and 1961.

 Processing Information

The collection was processed by D.C. Thompson in May 2002. Revised by D.C. Thompson in July 2004.

 Preferred Citation

Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Robinson Family Papers, 1865-1960, Collection Number 00453, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

 Access Terms Mines and mineral resources--Wyoming--Platte County. Ranches--Wyoming--Platte County. Korean War, 1950-1953. Laramie County (Wyo.) Platte County (Wyo.) Wheatland (Wyo.) Wyoming--History--To 1889. Wyoming--History--1890-1918. Wyoming--History--1919-1945. Wyoming--History--1946-. Daybooks. Leases. Scrapbooks. <?xm-replace_text {Title as Subject}?> Robinson, Elizabeth, 1886-1965. Robinson, Harold A., 1883-1957. Robinson, Roswell Dello, 1849-1911. McLauchlin, Archibald. Van Zandt, Susan. Bard Ranch. Records. Emerald Mining Company. Records. Wheatland Development Company. Agriculture and Natural Resources Mines and Mineral Resources Ranching Social Life and Customs Home and Family Wyoming Container List Series I. Correspondence and Other Papers

Arranged alphabetically by family and subject, then chronologically. Personal and business correspondence of the McLauchlin and Robinson Families, the Emerald Mining Company, and the Home Medical & Surgical Infirmary. Also includes deeds, contracts, stock certificates, and other legal and financial papers.

 1 1 Home Medical and Surgical Infirmary 1897-1899 2 Home Medical and Surgical Infirmary 1900-1903 3 Home Medical and Surgical Infirmary 1904 4 Home Medical and Surgical Infirmary 1906-1907 5 Home Medical and Surgical Infirmary undated 6 Home Medical and Surgical Infirmary – Financial 1895-1905 7 McLauchlin Family: Dugald McKellar and others; Canada and Scotland 1865-1881

8 McLauchlin Family: Ida Shaw, Flora McLachlan; California and Scotland 1883-1884

9 McLauchlin Family: to Maggie McLauchlin from friends 1885-1887

10 McLauchlin Family: to Maggie McLauchlin from friends and regarding teaching 1888

11 McLauchlin Family: various family and friends; Scotland and U.S.; includes fragments 1889-1899

12 McLauchlin Family: various family 1910-1915

13 McLauchlin Family: Korean War letters 1952

14 McLauchlin Family – Financial and Legal 1880-1913 15 McLauchlin Family – Taxes: Cheyenne and Laramie County 1896-1912

16-19 Robinson Family: Emerald Mining Company 1900-1908

20 Robinson Family: to Elizabeth Robinson and others 1911-1923

21 Robinson Family: Henkle and Joyce Hardware 1924-1925

22 Robinson Family: to Elizabeth Robinson 1931-1960

23 Robinson Family – Financial 1902-1928 24 Robinson Family – Financial: Emerald Mining Company 1903-1910

25 Robinson Family – Financial Docket 1919-1922 26 Robinson Family – Stock Certificates: Boston & Wyoming Copper-Gold; Colorado Springs Oil & Gas; Wheatland Boosters; Wheatland Co-operative Creamery 1903-1910

2 1 Van Zandt Family: to Susan McLauchlin Van Zandt 1906-1907

2 Van Zandt Family: to Susan McLauchlin Van Zandt 1909-1911

3 Van Zandt Family: to Susan McLauchlin Van Zandt; from Wheatland and Calgary 1912-1913

4 Van Zandt Family: to Susan McLauchlin Van Zandt; from Wyoming, Alberta, Montana 1914-1915

5 Van Zandt Family: to Susan McLauchlin Van Zandt 1916

6 Van Zandt Family: from Alex McLauchlin, Ambulance Corps; Kansas and New Mexico 1918

7 Van Zandt Family – Financial 1900-1913 Series II. Ledgers and Scrapbooks

Arranged alphabetically. Includes business ledgers, personal scrapbooks, and ledgers which have been re-used as scrapbooks.

2 8 Livery Stable Ledger 1913-1915 9 Livery Stable Ledger 1916-1918 10 McLauchlin Family Scrapbook 1890

3 1 Poultry Settings Ledger 1935-1938 2 Robinson Family Miscellaneous: ledger re-used as drawing paper by child 1904-1917

3 Robinson Family Miscellaneous: ledger re-used for poultry settings and as scrapbook of farm and poultry clippings 1904-1907, 1920-1921

4 Robinson Family Miscellaneous: Emerald Mining Company Ledger re-used as Frank D. Robinson scrapbook and as poultry records and poultry scrapbook 1904-1905, 1926-1929

4 1 Robinson Family Scrapbook: news clippings, recipes, poems, typescripts circa 1912-circa 1936

2 Uva (?) General Store Ledger: includes Robinson Family personal accounts 1901-1902, 1911

Series III. Photographs

Arranged alphabetically. Includes family and historical prints of Fort Laramie, Wheatland, and Uva, Wyoming, and of several ranches in the area.

5 Calbick Family circa 1870-1906 5 Fort Laramie 1927, circa 1949, undated 5 Fourteen Ranch circa 1958 5 Friends (includes notes with biographical information) 1908-1909, undated 5 Haying and Harvesting: Crawford, Nebraska 1918, undated

5 Ku Klux Klan Funeral: Lead, South Dakota Nov. 2, 1924

5 McLauchlin/McLaughlin Family undated

5 Montana - Miscellaneous: Big Fork; Custer monument; Polson; etc. 1922-1929

5 O’Brian (John) Family: Tolland Cattle Company ranch circa 1900

5 Pollock (G.N.) Ranch: ranch house and outbuildings 1959

5 Robinson and Yates Families circa 1890s-1956 5 Sunrise Mine (Wyo.) 1931 5 Uva, Wyoming: Teschemacher and deBillier Hotel; elephant in Laramie River circa 1900

5 Wheatland, Wyoming: General view; Miller store interior circa 1900

5 Wightman Family circa 1880s 5 World War I – New Mexico-Mexico Border circa 1918 5 Wyoming – Miscellaneous: Devil’s Tower; Cottonwood Falls; Guernsey Dam; Sundance; etc. 1906-1942

5 Yellowstone River undated Series IV. Postcards

Arranged geographically or by subject. Many of the cards include brief messages. Most show images of South Dakota, Wyoming, or the western U.S.

5 Alberta, Canada: Calgary 1909

5 Arizona and California: Grand Canyon; Turlock; missions; San Francisco earthquake ruins; burning of Cliff House; San Pedro 1903-1930

5 Colorado: road to Cripple Creek; Estes Park, James Peak undated

5 Cowboys and Cattle: branding cattle in a squeezer 1908

5 Fort Meade (South Dakota) circa 1910s 5 Idaho and Montana: sawmill at Potlatch; Boise; Flathead Valley; Flathead River 1906-circa 1912

5 Indians: Appah; Bull Thigh; Crazy Snake; unidentified 1909, undated

5 Massachusetts and Pennsylvania: Milford; Johnstown 1909-1919

5 Michigan and Missouri: Flint; Chillicothe; Cassville undated

5 Nebraska: Omaha; Sidney 1908-1910

5 Oregon and Washington: Rooster Rock; Seattle 1911, undated

5 South Dakota – Black Hills: Sylvan Lake; Harney Peak; Horseshoe Curve, etc. 1907-1909

5 South Dakota – Deadwood 1907-1911 5 South Dakota – Eastern: Brookings; Huron; Yankton 1908, undated

5 South Dakota – Lead 1905, undated 5 South Dakota – Scenery: Mount Rushmore; Badlands; Missouri River; Needles Highway 1908, undated

5 South Dakota – Spearfish and Sturgis: also Spearfish River; Spearfish Falls; Bear Butte; Spearfish Canyon 1907-1911

5 South Dakota – Western: Belle Fourche, Custer, Hot Springs, Rapid City, Whitewood 1908, undated

5 Stage Coaches: South Dakota and Wyoming 1900-1909

5 Texas and Oklahoma: Ardmore; El Campo; cattle; steam plowing 1906, undated

5 Utah: Ogden; Salt Lake City undated

5 Wyoming – Cheyenne 1909-1910 5 Wyoming – Cheyenne Frontier Days 1909, undated 5 Wyoming – Miscellaneous: Goose Egg Ranch house; Medicine Bow Range; Medicine Bow Lodge; Thermopolis hot springs 1907, 1950, undated

5 Wyoming - Oil Industry: Big Muddy Oil Field, etc. circa 1917 5 Wyoming – Towns: Douglas; Glendo; Lusk; Rawlins; Torrington; Wheatland 1909-1951

Series V. Printed Material

Arranged alphabetically. Includes newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and miscellaneous materials regarding people and places of interest to the Robinson and McLauchlin Families.

5 Advertisements - Singer Sewing Machines undated 5 Fort Laramie: clippings; pamphlet; siding fragment ca. 1940s

5 Newspaper Clippings: historical interest; obituaries; etc. 1931-1958

5 Pamphlets – Canadian Rockies undated 5 Pamphlets – Wheatland: WTK Club 1911-1912

Series VI. Artifacts

No arrangement. Pitcher and snuff jar. Possibly from Teschmacher and deBillier Hotel in Uva, Wyoming.

Artifact Storage Brown glazed ceramic pitcher: no markings undated

Artifact Storage Light tan glazed ceramic snuff jar undated