This collection contains interviews detailing the everyday lives of women in Montana during the first half of the 20th century. It contains histories of women from a variety of economic, social, and political backgrounds and includes the stories of immigrants, ranchers, and nurses. The interviews were conducted from 1972 to 1981 by Mary Melcher, Pam Frasier, Kathy White, Eleanor Wend, and Diane Sands. The interviewees discuss the role of and attitudes about women in the early decades of the 20th century. Topics include women’s suffrage, Prohibition, courtship and marriage, women’s fashion, birth control, midwifery, sex education, and child care and rearing. The original interviews are held as Oral History collection OH 049 at Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula.
Note: Some of the interviewees for this project requested to remain anonymous in the transcript and audio. Because those interviewees are now deceased, Archives and Special Collections has chosen to lift this anonymity restriction.
This collection includes 60 interviews.
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Grace Hollaway Interview, July 22, 1981
Grace Hollaway
Grace Hollaway summarizes her parents’ move from Michigan to Townsend, Montana, in 1883. She reminisces about her father’s purchase of the Townsend Star newspaper, and the chores she did as a child both at the newspaper office and at home. She describes helping her mother ... Read More
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Hazel Dorr Interview, August 1, 1981
Hazel Dorr
Hazel Dorr describes her parents’ motivations to move to Montana, the impact her father’s arsenic poisoning had on the family, and the employment options available to women without a high school education. She discusses meeting her husband and buying their first property, the droughts they ... Read More
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Helen Hespen Interview, April 23, 1977
Helen Hespen
Helen Hespen describes her early childhood in Miles City and Three Forks, Montana. She discusses the relationship between her father and mother, family finances, and family traditions and entertainment. She also talks about going to college, deciding to teach, and the social dynamics in Three ... Read More
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Henrietta Hoon Interview, April 19, circa 1977
Henrietta Hoon
Henrietta Hoon describes coming to Montana with her family in 1892 by train. She talks about her family living in Butte, then later moving to Granite, Montana, because her father worked at the mine. She discusses life in Granite, her family’s holiday traditions, and what ... Read More
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Hilda Denny Interview, May 26, 1977
Hilda Denny
Hilda Denny gives a biographical sketch of her life, beginning with how her parents came to own a ranch in Montana, as well as the births of their four children and the unfortunate death of a son. She mentions doing fieldwork chores as a child ... Read More
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Johanna McElwain Interview, May 31, 1977
Johanna McElwain
Johanna McElwain describes her childhood on a homestead at Douglas Creek, located outside of Drummond, Montana. She discusses the household chores she was assigned, what her family did for entertainment, and the community dances they attended. She talks about growing up in a German community, ... Read More
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Juanita Officer Interview, April 1977
Juanita Officer
Juanita Officer describes her father’s employment with the railroad which brought him to Bozeman, Montana in 1883. She talks about how her mother met him in Montana later, traveling on her own with two babies. Officer discusses growing up on the family homestead, the emphasis ... Read More
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Juliet Gregory Interview, February 10, 1979
Juliet Gregory
Juliet Gregory describes the antagonism and obstruction she faced from minority groups who protested what she was trying to accomplish while mayor of Missoula, Montana. She also talks about her discussions with a Missoula madam and their meetings in the local Stop and Shop.
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Juliet Gregory Interview, January 1979
Juliet Gregory
Juliet Gregory discusses how she got into politics, her initial petition to become a mayoral candidate in Missoula, Montana, being denied, the process she went through to have the petition accepted, and getting her name put on the ballot. She also describes the opposition she ... Read More
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Juliet Gregory Interview, July 8, 1979
Juliet Gregory
Juliet Gregory summarizes her accomplishments during her two terms as the mayor of Missoula, Montana, which include the following: implementing education requirements for policemen with classes at the University of Montana; obtaining new equipment for policemen and firemen; helping create better safety measures throughout the ... Read More
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Kate Erpelding Interview, June 15, 1977
Kate Erpelding
Kate Erpelding describes growing up on a farm in Minnesota. She discusses her chores, growing up speaking Czechoslovakian, and learning to speak Polish and English. Erpelding recalls the disciplinary techniques her parents used and social events that her family participated in as she was growing ... Read More
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Kathryn H. "Kay" Roberts Interview, August 11, 1981
Kathryn H. Roberts
Kathryn "Kay" Roberts summarizes her family’s move to a homestead near Roberts, Idaho. She discusses going to school, the work her family did on the homestead, and her town’s reaction to changing women’s styles. She also talks about attending the University of Idaho, living in ... Read More
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Kristina Fallan Interview, April 12, 1977
Kristina Fallan
Kristina Fallan describes growing up on the coast of Norway, where she helped run the family farm before she immigrated to Montana in 1910 when she was only 16. She reminisces about sailing to America by herself, working on her sister’s ranch, going back to ... Read More
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Leah Coate Interview, March 24, 1977
Leah Coate
Leah Coate describes her childhood including her parents traveling west from Illinois in a wagon, being one of the youngest of eight children, and doing chores such as gathering eggs and fetching water. She talks about growing up as a tomboy in a community made ... Read More
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Lettie Cook Interview, August 1, 1981
Lettie Cook
Lettie Cook describes moving with her family to a ranch her father bought in Neihart, Montana, in 1914. She discusses the chores she did as a small child and horseback riding in dresses. Cook details how life on the ranch changed after the death of ... Read More
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Louise Line Interview, May 5, 1977
Louise Line
Louise Line describes growing up in a middle- to upper-class family in the Lake Geneva area of Montana. She discusses her father’s involvement in getting a YMCA built in town and her family’s employment of maids and hired hands. Line talks about the holidays and ... Read More
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Margaret Wallin Interview, October 30, 1977
Margaret Wallin
Margaret Wallin tells how her father moved to Miles City, Montana, in 1884 to work for the railroad, with her mother following in 1892. Wallin describes growing up on a ranch outside of Rosebud, Montana, attending school, and spending time with friends at chaperoned dances. ... Read More
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Mary Heller Interview, April 30, 1977
Mary Heller
Mary Heller describes how her father, George McVeigh Fisher, a Presbyterian minister from New York, moved to Montana in 1878 to start a church in Missoula, Montana. She tells of her father’s hunting trips in Flathead Valley, where he constructed the first Presbyterian church in ... Read More
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Mary Louise Pankratz Interview, April 21, circa 1977
Mary Louise Pankratz
Mary Louise Pankratz describes growing up on a farm in Frenchtown, Montana, and her family’s Native American descent. She discusses doing chores, attending dances, going to school in a convent in Montreal, and learning French. She describes working as a clerk in a general store ... Read More
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Mary Miller Interview, October 3, 1979
Mary Miller
Mary Miller talks about her mother, Ann Brockway’s, life from her birth in 1891 to retirement. Miller recounts stories about her mother’s childhood and how her family settled in Montana. She recalls her mother’s desire to stay in school as long as possible to become ... Read More
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Mary Wessel Interview, August 11, 1981
Mary Wessel
Reverend Mary Wessel discusses her childhood in New York City, describing her early interest in becoming a teacher and the biblical studies that were part of her education. She describes her move to Los Angeles, California, for her health and the teaching opportunities she enjoyed ... Read More
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Mildred Webb Interview, April 1977
Mildred Webb
Mildred Webb provides a biographical sketch of her mother, Edith Heyer Francis. Webb tells how her mother’s father moved the family around every few years until settling in Montana on the recommendation of a neighbor. She discusses her mother’s experience teaching school in the summer, ... Read More
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Myrtle Griswold Interview, May 14, 1977
Myrtle Griswold
Myrtle Griswold describes how her parents came to Montana, their traveling lifestyle, and why her parents decided she should be born in Massachusetts rather than Montana. She discusses teaching out of high school and deciding to go to college. Interviewee talks about her college experiences ... Read More
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Myrtle Schaplow Interview, August 26, 1976
Myrtle Schaplow
Myrtle Schaplow describes growing up on her family’s farm in Minnesota. She discusses the interactions that girls had with boys during her childhood, the games they played, and the dances they attended. She talks about going through puberty and describes the different forms of birth ... Read More
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Nina Faye Anderson Interview, August 12, 1981
Nina Faye Anderson
Nina Faye Anderson describes growing up in Belfry, Montana, working her way through high school for room and board until she graduated in 1922, and becoming a schoolteacher. She discusses the social and economic realities for some of the children that she taught, the challenges ... Read More