May G. Flanagan was born 15 July 1874 in Dubuque, Iowa, to Michael A. and Elizabeth Flanagan. The Flanagans were Fort Benton, Montana, pioneers, arriving in 1868. Since there was no doctor at the fort, her mother returned to Dubuque for May's birth. The Flanagans had three other children, Grace Flanagan Joyce, Virginia E. Flanagan, and Frank Flanagan. May's father worked for T.C. Power and Bro. as a bookkeeper when he first arrived in Fort Benton, and his sister Mary was married to Power. In 1875 Michael founded the first drug store in Fort Benton and later he also served as postmaster. May Flanagan graduated from the Wisconsin State Normal College in Milwaukee and then earned her A.B. degree at Montana State University in Missoula. She also did graduate work at Columbia University in New York City and at the University of California in Berkeley. Flanagan spent her life as an educator. She taught school in Fort Benton and Salt Lake City, served as Chouteau County superintendent of schools for two years, was the first principal of the Highwood High School, served as the Highwood superintendent of grade schools, and was the principal of the Whittier School in Great Falls from 1930 to 1944. She was an active member of the Montana Historical Society and wrote several historical articles that were printed in various publications. She died on 22 Sept. 1958 in Helena.
The photocopies in this collection were gathered into eleven topically labeled folders which were only partially calendared. Several of the essays in this collection were published in the Centennial Edition of the Fort Benton River Press on 21 August 1946, and in the booklet Old Fort Benton. The original typescripts in the collection were typed by, and some were edited by, Flanagan's niece, Virginia Flanagan (Mrs. John C) Harrison. Subjects include: correspondence with the Montana Historical Society regarding a project to mark the old Fort Benton to Helena stage road in 1952; essays and notes regarding Flanagan's childhood in Fort Benton, including traveling by stagecoach to Helena in 1886, education, frontier homes and life, and the residents of Fort Benton and Helena, including I.G. Baker. The collection also includes a transcribed diary by Virginia Flanagan regarding a trip through Yellowstone National Park with her sister May during the summer of 1903.
This collection is open for research.
Original manuscripts collected or created by May G. Flanagan were loaned to the Montana State University Library for copying by Virginia Flanagan Harrison of Helena, Montana in 1965. After their copying, the materials were returned and most of them were subsequently donated to the Montana Historical Society and accessioned by them as SC 1236. This photocopied collection was also reported to the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections in 1979 and assigned by them entry number 79-656.
This collection was processed 2018 June 6
(Typescript and handwritten draft)
(a daughter)
(daughter of I.G. Baker)
(Personal recollections)
(a child's memories of the old Fort and life in the commandant's house)
(a portion was published in a pamphlet by this name)
(fragment)