Montana Historical Society Library & Archives Archives
MC 257
Brady Mercantile Company
(Brady, Mont.)
Brady Mercantile Company records
1910-1950
9 linear feet
The Brady Mercantile Company, owned by T.N. Quamme and his
son Gilmore Quamme, was located in Brady, Montana. This collection (1910-1950) contains
correspondence, financial records, and inventories of the company. In addition there are
subgroups for Gilmore Quamme's insurance business; for T.N. Quamme's legislative files
(1931, 1933); and for the Pondera County Emergency Relief Committee.
13:3-4
6:1-5 (oversize box 5,
10-13)
English
Historical Note:
The Brady Mercantile Company was opened in Brady, Montana, in 1910 by Torris N. Quamme and
his son Gilmore Quamme. The store at first acted as a branch store of the Conrad Mercantile
Company, but later became independent- dent. It was formally incorporated December 31, 1917,
by J.C. Price, president of the Conrad Mercantile Company and by T.N. Quamme and Gilmore
Quamme both of Brady. Price held the majority of the stock until 1920 when the Quammes
bought out Price. From 1920 on T.N. Quamme served as president, his brother-in-law Joseph B.
Johnson as vice-president, and Gilmore Quamme as secretary-treasurer.
The store sold dry goods, clothing, groceries, shoes, furniture, hardware, and crockery.
The business ceased operation and the building was sold around 1954. The corporation was
involuntarily dissolved December 26, 1968.
Torris N. Quamme was born in Lardahl, Norway, on March 1, 1862. Before moving to Montana in
March 1910 he lived in Northfield, Minnesota, where he attended school, and in several towns
in North Dakota. He was alderman of two North Dakota towns: Northwood (1892-1896) and Aneta
(1898-1904). From 1910 to 1917, Quamme managed the Brady Mercantile Company for the Conrad
Mercantile Company, and later became president of the Company. Quamme was a county food
administrator during World War I; served in the 1931 and 1933 legislatures as a Republican;
and was a trustee of the Pondera County Emergency Relief Committee from 1933 to 1934.
Socially he was active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Lutheran Church. T.N.
Quamme married Josephine C. Johnson and had one son Gilmore Quamme.
Gilmore Quamme was born in Northwood, North Dakota, on May 9, 1895. He graduated from high
school in Great Falls in 1912 and worked for his father in the Brady Mercantile Company
store until the outbreak of World War I. He served in the quartermasters corps at Fort
Lewis, Washington. After leaving the army he attended the University of Minnesota, but
returned to Brady, Montana, in 1920 to help manage the store.
This collection contains four subgroups. The bulk of the collection consists of the records
of the Brady Mercantile Company. Records consist of incoming correspondence (1915-1917,
1921-1930, 1947-1948), primarily from merchandise suppliers; financial records, including
cash balance books (1911-1936), inventories (1915, 1919-1936), general and petty ledgers
(1910-1914), sales journals (1912-1925, 1929-1934), and trial balance sheets (1922-1925,
1933, 1936-1943); and miscellany, including circulated lists of (1920-1922) of legal
documents filed in Pondera County.
The Gilmore Quamme subgroup consists of hail insurance applications (1945-1947) from his
insurance business. The Torris N. Quamme subgroup consists of legislative files from his
service in the 1931 and 1933 legislatures. The Pondera County Emergency Relief Committee
subgroup consists of correspondence (1933-1934), relief applications, labor records, lists
of orders for commodities, and government circulars. Interfiled are materials generated by
T.N. Quamme as a member of the Committee, and materials of the Brady Mercantile Company
doing business with the Committee.
This collection is arranged into four subgroups: Brady Mercantile Company; Gilmore Quamme;
Torris N. Quamme; and Pondera County Emergency Relief Committee. Each subgroup is arranged
by series. Some material housed in oversize boxes. See inventory below for more
information.
Collection open for research.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical
Society Library & Archives. The Library & Archives does not necessarily hold
copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require
additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an
archivist.
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers.
Montana Historical Society Library & Archives. Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information available upon request.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society
Library & Archives catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons, or places should search under these terms.
Brady Mercantile Company
(Brady, Mont.)
Brady (Mont.)--Commerce
Pondera County
(Mont.)--Politics and government
Firearms industry and trade--Montana
Insurance, Hail--Montana
Norwegian Americans--Montana
Public welfare--Montana
Retail trade--Montana--Brady
Montana
Retail
Trade
Detailed Description of the Collection
Brady Mercantile Company
Incoming Correspondence
1 / 1-2
A-U (primarily from suppliers)
1910, 1915-1917
1 / 3-7
A-L (primarily from suppliers; includes Black
Manufacturing- turing Company, Coleman Lamp and Stove Company, Conrad Mercantile
Company, Great Falls Meat Company, Heisey Company)
1921-1930
1 / 8
Majestic Manufacturing Company (stoves)
1928-1930
1 / 9
Montana Flour Mills Company
1928-1930
1 / 10-13
M-V (primarily from suppliers; includes Miltex
Dress Company, Mishawaka Rubber and Woolen Manufacturing Company, National Parks
Airways Inc., Oregon City Woolen Mills)
1921-1930
1 / 14
Winchester Repeating Arms Company;
Winchester-Simmons Company; Simmons Hardware Company
1928-1930
1 / 15
W (primarily from suppliers)
1926-1930
1 / 16
H-S (primarily from suppliers)
1947-1948
Financial Records
1 / 17
Bank books
1920-1924, 1932-1933
2 / 1-8
Cash balance books (1920-1921 volume includes list
of sugar certificates issued, 1918)
1911-1922
3 / 1-10
Cash balance books
1922-1936
4 / 1-2
Cash balance books (second set)
1918-1922
4 / 3
Checks (sampled)
1918-1941
4 / 4
Checkstubs: Farmers State Bank, Brady
1929-1931
4 / 5
Checkstubs: Farmers State Bank of Conrad
1945-1949
4 / 6
Checkstubs: First National Bank, Great Falls
1943-1949
4 / 7
Excise tax lists
1920-1924
4 / 8
Freight claims
1911-1929
5 / 1-2
General ledgers [Oversize box; fragile:
water-damaged]
1914-1920
6 / 1
Insurance policies
1921-1927
6 / 2
Inventory (implements only)
1915
6 / 3-7
Inventory (includes shoes, crockery, hardware,
men's furnishings, furniture, dry goods, groceries)
1919-1923
7 / 1-5
Inventory (includes shoes, crockery, hardware,
men's furnishings, furniture, dry goods, groceries)
1924-1928
8 / 1-5
Inventory (includes shoes, crockery, hardware,
men's furnishings, furniture, dry goods, groceries)
1929-1933
9 / 1-3
Inventory (includes shoes, crockery, hardware,
men's furnishings, furniture, dry goods, groceries)
1934-1936
9 / 4-5
Invoices: A-W
1910-1928
9 / 6
Invoices: C-T
1947
9 / 7
Order book
1949-1950
10 / 1-5
Petty ledger: A-F (customers' accounts) [Oversize
box; fragile: water-damaged]
1914-1920
11 / 1-3
Petty ledger: G-L (customers' accounts) [Oversize
box; fragile: water-damaged]
1914-1920
12 / 1-3
Petty ledger: M-R (customers' accounts) [Oversize
box; fragile: water-damaged]
1914-1920
13 / 1-3
Petty ledger: S-Z (customers' accounts) [Oversize
box; fragile: water-damaged]
1914-1920
14 / 1
Receipt book
1915
14 / 2-4
Sales journals
1912-1917
15 / 1-2
Sales journals
1918-1923
16 / 1-2
Sales journals
1924-1930
17 / 1-2
Sales journals
1930-1934
17 / 3-5
Sales ledgers
1925-1926, 1933-1934
18 / 1-8
Trial balance sheets (includes list of checks
issued)
1922-1925, 1933, 1936-1938
19 / 1-5
Trial balance sheets (includes list of checks
issued)
1939-1943
Organizational Records
19 / 6
Articles of incorporation (photocopy)
1917
Miscellany
19 / 7
List of Montana Power Fund subscribers
1928
19 / 8-13
Lists of legal documents filed in Pondera County
(circulated daily by Pondera County Abstract Company)
1920-1922
19 / 14
Store licenses: Cecil and Ruby Nelson
1957-1964
19 / 15
Miscellaneous (includes list of radio stations
nation- ally, undated; list of registered voters in Sollid precinct, 1930; product
advertisements, blank forms)
1930, undated
Gilmore Quamme
Financial Records
20 / 1
Hail insurance applications
1945-1947
Torris N. Quamme
Biographical Material
20 / 2
Biographical sketch and legislative biographical
information sheets (photocopies)
1930, 1931, 1933
Subject Files
20 / 3
Legislature: budget materials
1933
20 / 4
Legislature: budget materials (lists of state
salaries)
1933
20 / 5
Legislature: lobbying materials
1933
Pondera County Emergency Relief Committee
General Correspondence
20 / 6
Correspondence of T.N. Quamme, Gilmore Quamme, and
Brady Mercantile Company re work of committee
1933-1934
Miscellany
20 / 7
Applications for relief (includes some biographical
data on applicants)
1933-1934
20 / 8
Government circulars
1933
20 / 9
Labor record of relief workers
1933-1934
20 / 10
Miscellaneous (includes requisitions for
commodities, lists of commodities, list of recipients of aid)
1933-1934