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Home > Mansfield Library > Archives and Special Collections > Oral Histories > Bitterroot Historical Society Oral History Project

Bitterroot Historical Society Oral History Project

 

This collection includes interviews detailing life in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, during the early and mid-20th century. The interviews were conducted by May Vallance, Mary Bielenberg, and Robert Phillip circa 1978 to 1984. The interviewees discuss attending and teaching at rural schools in the Bitterroot Valley area as well as the role of Rocky Mountain Laboratories [RML] and its development of the Rocky Mountain spotted fever vaccine. They also reminisce about the Valley’s fruit growers and creameries, the introduction of modern technology, such as the telephone system, and the town’s development. The original interviews are held as Oral History Collection OH 120 at Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula.

This collection includes 40 interviews.

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  • Anne Keeling Woodruff Interview, circa 1978 by Anne Woodruff

    Anne Keeling Woodruff Interview, circa 1978

    Anne Woodruff

    Anne Keeling Woodruff describes her experiences attending the Fairplay School in Ravalli County, Montana, during the early 1900s. She briefly discusses her parents’ origins and how they ended up in Montana, then moves on to her time in school, remembering each of her teachers. Woodruff ... Read More

  • Anne Keeling Woodruff Interview, circa 1978 by Anne Woodruff

    Anne Keeling Woodruff Interview, circa 1978

    Anne Woodruff

    Anne Keeling Woodruff discusses attending the Fairplay School in the early 1900s in the Bitterroot Valley. She describes box socials and the how young men jockeyed to buy the teacher’s box. She talks about the programs her school put on for different events like Easter, ... Read More

  • Bessie K. Monroe Interview, circa 1978 by Bessie K. Monroe

    Bessie K. Monroe Interview, circa 1978

    Bessie K. Monroe

    Bessie K. Monroe recalls the origins of the Darby School in the Bitterroot Valley in 1888, which was originally housed in a homesteader’s cabin. She talks about the first teachers at the school as well as the difficulties students had passing state examinations so they ... Read More

  • Bill Ralston and Robert House Interview, circa 1978 by Bill Ralston and Robert House

    Bill Ralston and Robert House Interview, circa 1978

    Bill Ralston and Robert House

    Bill Ralston and Robert House recount their time attending Baker Creek School in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, during the mid-20th century. House notes that both his mother and father taught at the school while he attended. He also recalls the ambitious Christmas program his mother ... Read More

  • Byron Thrailkill and Mabel White Thrailkill Interview, circa 1978 by Byron Thrailkill and Mabel Thrailkill

    Byron Thrailkill and Mabel White Thrailkill Interview, circa 1978

    Byron Thrailkill and Mabel Thrailkill

    Byron Thrailkill and Mabel Thrailkill discuss their experiences attending one-room schools in the early 1900s in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. Byron Thrailkill speaks about the Fairview School and remembers his fellow classmates as well as the recreational programs his school hosted, such as picnics. He discusses ... Read More

  • Byron Thrailkill Interview, August 3, 1983 by Byron Thrailkill

    Byron Thrailkill Interview, August 3, 1983

    Byron Thrailkill

    Byron Thrailkill, born in Bell Crossing, Montana, in 1895, discusses growing up in the Bitterroot Valley. He describes working on the railroads and in the Rocky Mountain Laboratories [RML], a Hamilton-based laboratory that focused on vaccine development. Thrailkill discusses his work during the 1920s researching ... Read More

  • Catherine White Byrd Interview, circa 1978 by Catherine Byrd

    Catherine White Byrd Interview, circa 1978

    Catherine Byrd

    Catherine White Byrd discusses her childhood experiences and family life in Hamilton, Montana, in the early 1900s. She remembers attending school in Hamilton as well as the development of Hamilton as a town, including the transition from wooden to cement sidewalks and major fires that ... Read More

  • Clark Grey Interview, circa 1978 by Clark Grey

    Clark Grey Interview, circa 1978

    Clark Grey

    Clark Grey discusses his family history and his early education at the Canyon Creek School in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, during the early 20th century. He describes how his parents moved from Anaconda, Montana, to the Bitterroot when he was very young, and tells about ... Read More

  • Clark Grey Interview, June 1984 by Clark Grey

    Clark Grey Interview, June 1984

    Clark Grey

    Clark Grey, who was born in Anaconda, Montana, in the late 1800s, discusses his family’s move to the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, in 1899. He talks about his parents’ involvement in the valley’s apple industry, and buying land near Hamilton, Montana, and establishing an apple orchard. ... Read More

  • Cornelius B. Phillip Interview, circa 1984 by Cornelius B. Phillip

    Cornelius B. Phillip Interview, circa 1984

    Cornelius B. Phillip

    Cornelius Philip discusses Rocky Mountain Laboratories [RML] in Montana during the 1930s. He talks about the Rocky Mountain spotted fever outbreak, which led to the development of the spotted fever vaccine. Philip describes working with Dr. Parker and how Parker’s death changed the administration at ... Read More

  • Edna Brooks Giesy Interview, February 17, 1978 by Edna Giesy

    Edna Brooks Giesy Interview, February 17, 1978

    Edna Giesy

    Edna Giesy discusses how her family settled in Montana in the late 1800s and started ranching. She tells stories about about her uncles, aunts, and mother growing up and getting married. Giesy speaks about the Birch Creek School, which both she and her mother attended, ... Read More

  • Edna Johnson Thomas Interview, circa 1978 by Edna Thomas

    Edna Johnson Thomas Interview, circa 1978

    Edna Thomas

    Edna Johnson Thomas recalls her career as a school teacher in the Bitterroot Valley, teaching at Hamilton Heights, Etna School, and Corvallis in the early to mid-20th century. She describes the difficulties of being a 19-year-old woman teaching students who were difficult to deal with ... Read More

  • Edna Johnson Thomas Interview, circa 1978 by Edna Thomas

    Edna Johnson Thomas Interview, circa 1978

    Edna Thomas

    Edna Johnson Thomas recounts her career as a school teacher in the Bitterroot Valley for 42 years during the early to mid-20th century. She describes the difficulties of being a 19-year-old woman teaching boys who were sometimes larger than she was. Thomas recounts a story ... Read More

  • Elizabeth Rose Babbitt Interview, February 17, 1978 by Elizabeth Rose Babbitt

    Elizabeth Rose Babbitt Interview, February 17, 1978

    Elizabeth Rose Babbitt

    Elizabeth Babbitt speaks about her experiences growing up in rural Montana in the early 1900s, as well as her life as a school teacher traveling around Montana. She recounts her parents’ stories of how they ended up in Montana together. She remembers her young childhood, ... Read More

  • Emma Van Blaricom Freeze Interview, circa 1978 by Emma Freeze

    Emma Van Blaricom Freeze Interview, circa 1978

    Emma Freeze

    Emma Freeze talks about her childhood experiences and memories at the Roll School and in the Bitterroot Valley during the early 1900s. She talks about her first teacher as well as specific classmates. Freeze recalls riding in a horse-drawn wagon driven by her father to ... Read More

  • Felsi Boldt Interview, circa 1978 by Felsi Boldt

    Felsi Boldt Interview, circa 1978

    Felsi Boldt

    Felsi Boldt describes her parents’ move from Germany to Hamilton in 1899 to homestead in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana. Boldt remembers the logging her father did on their homestead. She recalls attending the Sawtooth School and talks about some of her teachers. She describes how ... Read More

  • Fern Severns and Sadie Summers Interview, circa 1978 by Fern Severns and Sadie Summers

    Fern Severns and Sadie Summers Interview, circa 1978

    Fern Severns and Sadie Summers

    Fern Severns and Sadie Summers talk about attending the Como School in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, during the early 1900s. They recall the classmates and teachers who were a part of the school as well as the families in the county who sent their children ... Read More

  • Forbes Robbins Interview, February 17, 1978 by Forbes Robbins

    Forbes Robbins Interview, February 17, 1978

    Forbes Robbins

    Forbes Robbins reminisces about growing up in the Bitterroot Valley in the early 1900s and attending the Rye Creek School. He recalls the early days of the schoolhouse, and how it expanded and was renovated as he attended school there. Robbins remembers some of the ... Read More

  • Frank Rummel and Nina Rummel Interview, circa 1978 by Frank Rummel and Nina Rummel

    Frank Rummel and Nina Rummel Interview, circa 1978

    Frank Rummel and Nina Rummel

    Frank Rummel describes the Fairplay School, also known as the Dutch Hill School, in Ravalli County, Montana. He talks about the teachers who worked there and the school programs that were available when he attended. Nina Rummel describes the students with whom she attended school ... Read More

  • George Vogt Interview, September 1984 by George Vogt

    George Vogt Interview, September 1984

    George Vogt

    George Vogt tells how his grandfather emigrated from Bavaria, Germany, to the United States in 1852, spending time in New York City and Michigan, before settling in Sula, Montana. He mentions his grandfather’s work as a miner in Phillipsburg, Montana, which provided him with funds ... Read More

  • Glen Kohls Interview, circa 1978 by Glen Kohls

    Glen Kohls Interview, circa 1978

    Glen Kohls

    Dr. Glen Kohls discusses his career in entomology and disease research at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories from 1927-1969. He talks about the failed project of trying to infest ticks with parasites to control their population and hopefully stop the spread of spotted fever in the ... Read More

  • Golda Lewis Penner Langley Interview, circa 1978 by Golda Langley

    Golda Lewis Penner Langley Interview, circa 1978

    Golda Langley

    Golda Langley discusses her career as a school teacher in rural Montana during the early to mid-20th century. She recalls her students for each year that she taught at different schools throughout Montana. She talks about the “school bus” that a community member built—a little ... Read More

  • Grace Leavitt Iman Interview, February 17, 1978 by Grace Iman

    Grace Leavitt Iman Interview, February 17, 1978

    Grace Iman

    Grace Iman discusses her childhood attending Sleeping Child School in Ravalli County. She recalls some of her classmates as well as the box socials that her school hosted. Iman remembers everyday things about life in a rural town, including the lack of grocery stores, and ... Read More

  • Homer Bailey and Betty Bailey Interview, October 1984 by Homer Bailey and Betty Bailey

    Homer Bailey and Betty Bailey Interview, October 1984

    Homer Bailey and Betty Bailey

    Homer Bailey reminisces about his parents’ arrival in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, in 1912 during the Bitterroot Valley apple boom and their eventual move to Corvallis to raise sheep until 1920 when they started raising sugar beets. He talks about the history of the valley’s ... Read More

  • Jack Crutchfield and Virginia Crutchfield Welton Interview, circa 1978 by Jack Massie Crutchfield and Virginia Denoon Welton

    Jack Crutchfield and Virginia Crutchfield Welton Interview, circa 1978

    Jack Massie Crutchfield and Virginia Denoon Welton

    Jack Crutchfield and Virginia Crutchfield Welton talk about the formation of Hamilton, Montana, in the late 1890s and the roles their father, Charles Crutchfield, and Marcus Daly played in planning and building the town. The two sisters reminisce about their childhood in the early years ... Read More

 
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