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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Jeannette Summers Johnson Interview, circa 1978
Jeannette Johnson
Jeannette Summers Johnson discusses her experiences as a schoolgirl in the late 1800s in the Bitterroot Valley as well as her family’s history. She recalls attending the one-room Skalkaho School and reminisces about fellow classmates, teachers, and the schoolhouse itself. Johnson also talks about her ... Read More
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John Howe, Jr. Interview, October 1984
John Howe Jr.
John Howe, Jr. reminisces about the co-op creamery his father established in Stevensville, Montana, in 1910. He describes various aspects of the industry such as butter, cheese, and ice cream making processes, refrigeration difficulties, and creamery regulations. Howe discusses some of the awards his father’s ... Read More
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Joyce Luetta Hickey Redding Interview, February 17, 1978
Joyce Luetta Redding
Joyce Redding discusses what brought her family to Montana in the late 1800s. She recalls her father’s interest in mining took the family to Butte before moving back to the Bitterroot Valley. Redding describes the specific mines her father worked in as well as his ... Read More
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June Hartley Howe Interview, October 1984
June Howe
June Hartley Howe reminisces about her parents moving to Hamilton, Montana, in 1904 and her father’s establishment of the Bitterroot Steam Laundry. She recalls life in early 20th century Hamilton and describes the town’s hotels, including the fire that destroyed the Ravalli Hotel. She discusses ... Read More
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Kathryn Holloron Gibbons and Maxine Holloron Interview, February 17, 1978
Kathryn Gibbons and Maxine Holloron
Kathryn Gibbons and Maxine Holloron recall their childhood days in the early 1900s in the Corvallis area. They speak about their neighbors and classmates, recounting arguments they would get into with the group they walked to school with. They discuss the relationship of the country ... Read More
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Lawrence Applebury Interview, circa 1978
Lawrence Applebury
Lawrence Applebury discusses growing up during the early 1900s and attending the Willow Creek School in the Bitterroot Valley. He describes his teachers and the pranks his fellow classmates would play on the young women who taught them. He recounts a story about his sister ... Read More
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Mabel Maxwell Fullerton Interview, October 1984
Mabel Fullerton
Mabel Fullerton describes her family’s move from Colorado to Montana’s Bitterroot Valley in 1909 when she was 12. She talks about living in Hamilton, Montana, in the early 20th century, reminiscing about her home, education, train travel, and recreation. Fullerton briefly recounts working as a ... Read More
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Malcolm Sizer Interview, March 1984
Malcolm Sizer
Malcolm Sizer, who came to the Bitterroot Valley in 1922 from Castle Rock, Colorado, describes his role as a grower in the Bitterroot Valley apple and cherry industry during the early 20th century. Sizer discusses various aspects of the industry including picking, packing, shipping, fruit ... Read More
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Margaret Woolaghan Nelson Interview, circa 1978
Margaret Nelson
Margaret Woolaghan Nelson describes her childhood in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, during the early 1900s. She recalls her family moving to the valley from Butte, Montana, due to her father’s poor health. She discusses significant events in her childhood like her father’s funeral and her ... Read More
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May Vallance Interview, circa 1978
May Vallance
May Vallance reminisces about attending the Dutch Hill School, also known as the Fairplay School, in Ravalli County, Montana, from 1910 to 1914. She also recalls teaching at the Sleeping Child School after she finished high school. Vallance describes the different social events and programs ... Read More
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Nick Kramis Interview, circa 1978
Nick Kramis
Nick Kramis describes his early life and education in the Charlos Heights School, a one-room school in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, during the early 1910s. He recounts the struggles of being a second-generation immigrant from Switzerland with the tensions of World War One and many ... Read More
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Nick Kramis Interview, circa 1978
Nick Kramis
Nick Kramis recalls his experiences working for the Rocky Mountain Laboratories starting in the 1930s. He describes the work he did, infesting ticks with parasites in order to reduce the human population’s exposure to diseases such as spotted fever. Kramis explains in detail the process ... Read More
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Robert N. Phillip Reminiscence, February 1984
Robert N. Phillip
In a self-recorded reminiscence, Dr. Robert Philip discusses Rocky Mountain spotted fever and its role in the Bitterroot Valley’s development. He talks about the history of the disease, some of the diagnosed cases, and the association of the disease with ticks. Philip describes the creation ... Read More
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Sally McClay Brutto and Frank Brutto Interview, October 1984
Sally McClay Brutto and Frank Brutto
Sallie Maclay Brutto begins by telling her family’s history and how they came to the Bitterroot Valley during the late 1800s. She recalls her siblings and the schools she attended as a child, as well as attending the University of Montana’s School of Journalism where ... Read More
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Sam Maclay Interview, September 1983
Sam Maclay
Sam Maclay describes his family’s history, starting with when his ancestors emigrated from Scotland to the United States, and how they came to the Bitterroot Valley in the early 1900s to homestead. He talks about the many aspects of homesteading in the Bitterroot Valley, which ... Read More