K. Ross Toole Archives
Frank Bird Linderman Collection
Frank Bird Linderman Collection
7 linear ft., 9 oversize boxes, and 43 objects
1885-1986 and undated
Biographical StatementFrank Bird Linderman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 25, 1869, the son of James Bird Linderman and Mary Ann Brannan Linderman. He attended schools in Ohio and Chicago, including Oberlin College, before moving to Montana Territory in 1885 at the age of sixteen. He worked as a trapper from 1885 to 1891, then met his wife, Minnie Jane Johns, in Demersville, MT, in 1891. They were married in 1893 in Missoula, MT. They had three children: Wilda, Verne, and Norma.
From 1893 to 1897, he worked in Butte, MT, as an assayer, then moved to Brandon, MT. About 1900, the family moved to Sheridan, MT, where he was an assayer, furniture salesman, and newspaperman.
Linderman was also a politician: he served in the Montana state legislature in the 1903 and 1905 sessions. He ran for the U. S. Congress in 1916 and 1918; in 1924 he ran for the U. S. Senate against Thomas J. Walsh. He was also a Mason, and was inducted to that brotherhood in Sheridan in 1899. He received the Scottish Rite in the Helena consistory in 1911. He continued to be active in Masonry and held a number of offices in that organization.
From 1905 to 1907, he was Montana's Assistant Secretary of State. After that, he became a successful insurance agent with the Guardian Insurance Company of America. In 1917, he bought property at Goose Bay on Flathead Lake, moved the family from Helena, and pursued writing full-time. He also took up sculpting in bronze.
Linderman had wanted to be a writer as early as 1911, when he had been encouraged by Opie Read. Read encouraged him to submit his first collection of tales to Charles Scribner's Sons, who published it as Indian Why Stories in 1915. He continued to publish to favorable reviews, but found the profession less than remunerative. In 1924, with his writing income still small, he bought the Hotel Kalispell and ran it for two years, then sold it as a profit. He changed publishers in 1929, and worked with Hermann Hagedorn of the John Day Company. Charlie Russell, a lifelong and close friend, illustrated many of his books.
He devoted a great deal of his life to Montana's Native Americans, learning and writing about their ways and trying to help them in material ways. His first contacts with them were as a trapper, when he became acquainted with members of the Flathead and Kootenai tribes; he later knew many Crow, Blackfeet, Cree, and Chippewas. Many Indians taught him tribal legends, including Kootenai Two-Comes-Over-the-Hill; Muskegon, a Cree; and Full-Of-Dew, a Chippewa medicine man. He was instrumental in founding the Rocky Boy's Reservation for Montana's Cree and Chippewa. He was adopted into three tribes: the Blackfeet, the Cree, and the Crow.
Linderman's published books include Indian Why Stories: Sparks from War Eagle's Lodge-Fire (1915); Indian Lodge-Fire Stories (1918); On a Passing Frontier: Sketches from the Northwest (1920); Indian Old-Man Stories: More Sparks from War Eagle's Lodge-Fire (1920); How It Came About Stories (1921); Bunch-Grass and Blue Joint (1921); Lige Mounts, Free Trapper (1922); Kootenai Why Stories (1926); American: The Life Story of a Great Indian, Plenty-Coups, Chief of the Crows (1930); Old-Man Coyote (1931); Red Mother (1932); Beyond Law (1933); Stumpy (1933); and AOut of the North@ in Blackfeet Indians, by Winold Reiss (1935). He also published numerous magazine articles, tales, anecdotes, and poems.
Linderman's
health was fragile after he tried to save his Goose Bay home from a
fire in 1919, and it began to fail in 1930. He died in Santa Barbara,
California, in 1938. Minnie Linderman died in 1941.
Linderman's daughters continued to be highly involved with the preservation of his literary and anthropological legacy, and their own literary contributions are notable. Wilda Jane Linderman was born in Butte, MT, in 1894. She graduated from the University of Montana--Missoula and studied at Harvard University and Radcliffe College before teaching at the Santa Barbara Girls School in California. Her father's manuscripts show extensive editorial marks by her. In 1938, she founded the Gosling School in Peterborough, NH. She died in 1981.
Verne Linderman was born in 1897 and also graduated from the University of Montana--Missoula, where she wrote for H. G. Merriam's Frontier. Her father's manuscripts have extensive editorial marks by her. She became society editor for the Daily Inter Lake and correspondent for the Butte, Great Falls, and Spokane newspapers. From 1930 to 1980, she was a feature writer for the Santa Barbara News Press. She was also a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor. In 1943, she won the Theta Sigma Chi award for best feature story in southern California newspapers. She died in 1989.
Norma Linderman Waller was born in 1898 at Brandon, MT. She attended Helena schools and the University of Montana--Missoula. In 1925, she married Roy Oliver Waller; they had four children, James, Richard, John, and Sarah. Mrs. Waller was particularly instrumental in preserving, distributing, and displaying her father's Native American artifacts and worked with numerous cultural institutions to do so. She worked with H. G. Merriam to have Recollections of Charley Russell and Montana Adventure published. She died in 1972.
The third generation of the Linderman family, Mrs. Waller's children, have continued to play a significant role in preserving his memory.
James Waller was born in 1926 and attended high school in Kalispell. He worked in the construction trucking and service station and garage businesses. He inherited Linderman's gun collection, which he passed on to one of his sons and to the Smithsonian Institution. He is married to Ruth, an accomplished weaver, and lives in Santa Ynez, CA. Their sons are Robert James and Daniel Richard.
Richard
L. Waller was born in 1928 and graduated from Flathead County High School.
He attended Montana State University in Bozeman for one year, interrupted
his schooling to serve in the United States Air Force, and completed
his four years of architectural training in 1957. He worked for architecture
firms in Spokane and Wenatchee, WA, until 1981, when he went into construction
management in Washington and Alaska. He then worked for the City of
Wenatchee as a building inspector. He also did freelance architectural
work for over thirty years. His design skills have helped to promote
the Linderman collection; he designed the brochure for the bronze casts
made of Linderman's sculptures. He has also assisted his sister with
the administrative matters surrounding the collection. He married his
wife, Elaine, in 1949; they had four children. He lives in Wenatchee,
WA.
Sarah Jane Waller Hatfield was born in 1931 in Kalispell, MT, and lived with her family and grandparents at Linderman's Goose Bay home from 1935 to 1941, when the family moved back to Kalispell. She graduated from the University of Montana--Missoula and worked for companies in Wyoming and Montana as a secretary and geophysical computer. She married Robert G. Hatfield in 1953; they had two children, Cynthia Ann and Mark Robert. From 1961 to 1989, the family resided in San Jose, CA, then returned to Kalispell, MT. Mrs. Hatfield became literary trustee for the Linderman family, charged with all custodial care, which included finding a permanent repository for the papers. She did extensive work in the papers, editing and preparing Quartzville, Wolf and the Winds, and Henry Plummer: A Novel for publication. Mrs. Hatfield has also exhibited the Linderman collections at many locations across Montana.
John (Jack) Waller was born in 1940, and is a professional jazz musician. He played in the Navy Band, then attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston before playing extensively in New York City and San Francisco, as well as many other locations around the United States. He lives in Bigfork, MT.
Linderman's heirs have worked to publish his unfinished works or to reissue volumes out of print. Book-length works of Linderman published posthumously include Recollections of Charley Russell, H. G. Merriam, ed. (1962), Montana Adventure: The Recollections of Frank B. Linderman, H. G. Merriam, ed. ([1968]); Quartzville, Larry Barsness, ed. (1985); Wolf and the Winds, Hugh A. Dempsey introduction (1986); and Henry Plummer: A Novel (2000).
Scope and ContentThis collection represents the productive and collective efforts of Frank Linderman and his many careers as writer, politician, assayer, and Native American ally and ethnographer. The correspondence and photographs are especially extensive and represent his many important and significant friends and acquaintances.
The collection also contains materials produced by Linderman's heirs, largely his daughters, Wilda, Verne, and Norma. The collection also represents well the continued efforts of his granddaughter, Sarah Jane Waller Hatfield. The materials document the efforts of these family members to perpetuate the memory of Frank Linderman through donations and loans of materials to and displays at museums and publication or republication of his writings. Since the literary efforts of the family are continuous throughout the twentieth century, materials from the generations are not separated by series, but may be in subgroupings; notations on the source and editorship are retained.
Series NotesThe collection is divided into nine series:
Series I: Biographical, ca. 1919-1935 and n.d., 1 folder
This series consists of a single folder of biographical information about Linderman, which includes a short handwritten biography in Linderman's hand, a reply to a letter from the librarian at the University of Montana--Missoula in 1935 listing his published works, and a data sheet from Who's Who Among North American Authors. Other series, most notably the Portfolios in Series VII, are also a valuable source for biographical materials, and lists of Linderman's publications may be found in the Spring 1938 issue of the Frontier and Midland magazine (included in Series VI) or in Linderman's autobiography, Montana Adventure (1968).
The items are arranged chronologically.
Series II: Correspondence, 1903-1985 and n.d., 1.75 linear ft.
This series
contains the personal, professional, and literary correspondence of
the Linderman family. The correspondence is divided into two subgroups:
Linderman's Correspondence, and Family Correspondence.
The first, and by far the most extensive, group is Linderman's produced and collected correspondence. Letters range from the routine to the deeply informative. There are several folders of Linderman's exchanges with his editors at Charles Scribner's Sons and the John Day Company that offer insights into his creative and editorial process. There are especially complete groups of correspondence with literary friends and associates, including Charley Russell, Hermann Hagedorn, H. G. Merriam, and Frederick Van de Water. The correspondence with Russell includes some explanatory notes added by Norma Linderman Waller after his death. Correspondence with members of his family, including his father and brothers, forms another significant group. Other correspondents include many notable Americans and Montanans: Gifford Pinchot, Joseph Dixon, George Grinnell, Paris Gibson, Edgar S. Paxson, and Theodore Roosevelt. The series finishes with a group of correspondence from those admiring his books, including children.
The correspondence of Linderman's family mainly consists of correspondence discussing the preservation of Linderman's memory and sale or donation of his artistic and literary remains, including that with historical agencies, publishers, editors, and auction houses. Most notable is the correspondence with H. G. Merriam about the editing of Recollections of Charley Russell and Montana Adventure, with the University of Montana regarding the Linderman Collection, and with the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning, MT, about the extensive collection of Linderman artifacts housed there. It also includes condolence notes sent after the death of Mr. and Mrs. Linderman.
Within those groups, materials are arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent or subject, as appropriate.
Series III: Writings, 1911-1986 and n.d., 2.5 linear ft.
This series documents Linderman's published writings, including both those published before and after his death. Materials are divided into three subgroups: Published Books, Published Short Stories and Poetry, Notes, and Writings of Others.
Published Books is the largest subgroup of the three. Formats include original manuscript notes and typed drafts, and drafts with notes by both Linderman and his daughters. For manuscripts published after his death, materials include multiple typings of manuscripts, editorial corrections, and copious notes about the original appearance of events or stories. The notes of his granddaughter, Sarah J. Hatfield, are particularly detailed; copies of the original envelopes in which each manuscript was housed, with her notes, are included in every folder. She provides extensive information on the contents of each manuscript, and often documents where original materials appear in the final publication. As such, it represents not only his creative processes, but the efforts of his heirs to publish his writings and perpetuate his memory. The manuscripts for Recollections of Charley Russell and Montana Adventure, both edited by H.G. Merriam, are included, with both Linderman's original and Merriam's editorial work documented. Likewise, the work of Larry Barsness, editor of Quartzville, is represented. Correspondence relating to these projects may be found in Series II.
In Published Short Stories and Poetry, there are also notes for and fragments of stories published on their own in periodicals. In addition, there is a group of mimeographed copies of Linderman's poetry with notes on their publication.
Linderman's Notes includes handwritten notes with story ideas, as well as a very valuable group of small notebooks that seem to have served as his field notes. They contain snatches of notes, particularly on Native American language and customs. Other items are more difficult to classify and include information copied from other sources with Linderman's notes on the back.
Writings of Others contains correspondence and manuscripts not by or addressed to Linderman that seems to have been collected as source material.
The series is arranged chronologically by publication date of the finished work; it is often not possible to date the manuscripts themselves.
Series IV: Politics, 1918-ca. 1968, 4 folders
This series contains a variety of items related to Linderman's campaign for the United States Senate in 1918 and 1924, and includes campaign materials, election records, and newspaper clippings. The last folder contains photocopies of notes made by H. G. Merriam as he edited Linderman's manuscript, Montana Adventure. Correspondence relating to Linderman's political career, including his terms in the Montana legislature, may be found in Series II under APolitics@ and under the names of other politicians with whom he corresponded.
Materials are arranged chronologically.
Series V: Memorabilia, 1911-1937 and n.d., 1 linear inch and oversize
This series contains a number of items collected by Linderman or by his family members and closely resembles the types of materials in Series VII: Portfolios. Contents include Linderman's membership card from the Osman Temple, a 1911 menu from the Montana Club, and a copyright registration card from 1933. There are also prints of artwork, including postcards and prints of Charley Russell paintings and a print of O. C. Seltzer's painting, Jerkline Freighter of Pioneer Days.
Materials are arranged chronologically.
Series VI: Publications, 1885-1992 and n.d., 0.75 linear ft.
This series contains published materials by, about, and collected by Linderman and his family. The materials cover a wide range of subjects; most are not annotated. There is a 1939 issue of the Frontier and Midland featuring Linderman's writings and a 1933 review of Stumpy. Publications collected by Linderman include those on mining and Native Americans. The largest group are those collected by family members; many of these materials are pamphlets and other small publications of the Museum of the Plains Indian. Most of these describe aspects of Plains Indian history and culture, but do not seem to contain material directly related to Linderman. There are also a few modern newspapers that have articles about Linderman.
Materials are divided into four subgroups: By Linderman, About Linderman, Collected by Linderman, and Collected by Linderman Family. The last two categories are determined by date and contents of the materials; there are seldom annotations that offer any other documentation. Within these categories, materials are arranged chronologically.
Series VII: Portfolios, 1885-ca. 1984, seven oversize portfolios
This series contains five portfolios of materials by, collected by, and about Linderman that provide a useful biographical summary of Linderman's accomplishments. The first two document his career chronologically and contain photographs, letters, and memorabilia. The third documents his published books and contains correspondence with editors, reviews, and photographs, all arranged chronologically by the date of each book's publication. The fourth portfolio contains numerous photographs, memorabilia from Linderman's substantial involvement with the Masons, and prints of Native American paintings. The fifth contains correspondence collected for and about Linderman biographies, and also includes photographs of Linderman, sketches written by his children, and Linderman's own biographical notes. This correspondence is largely between scholars and Linderman's daughters. The sixth consists of photographs from Linderman's research files and includes miscellaneous historical pictures of Montana and surrounding states and images of Blackfeet, Coast, Cree, Chippewa, Flathead, Kootenai, Pend d'Oreille, Oklahoma and Sioux Indians. The seventh is a group of photographs taken of displays of Linderman Native American artifacts at the University of Montana's Mansfield Library in about 1984.
The materials were arranged by Sarah J. Waller Hatfield, Linderman's granddaughter, in the late 1970s and early 1980s in thematic grouping; that order has been retained in its entirety by her request. Although portions of the materials in this series date after Linderman's death and were both produced and assembled by his heirs, the materials are mostly those produced and collected by Linderman, and so remain in this series rather than being intermingled with their genre categories. The only exception is the photographs, which remain as duplicates in the scrapbooks but are listed individually in Series VIII: Photographs.
Series VIII: Photographs, 525 images (2 linear ft. and oversize), ca. 1870-1985
This series includes still image materials produced and collected by Linderman and his heirs and includes family portraits and snapshots, images of early Western settlers (some of whom were Linderman's friends and associates), images of Linderman displays at museums and other cultural resource agencies, notable and important images of Native Americans in the West, and a few photographs of forests and wildlife. The latter two categories seem to have been collected mostly for the purpose of illustrating books and other publications produced by Linderman. Many of the images were removed from the portfolios in Series VI so that they could be listed individually. One group of photos, ABuffalo Pictures,@ remains in its original album as the photographs could not be safely detached.
Family portraits and snapshots include both formal and informal images of Frank and Minnie Linderman, their daughters, and their grandchildren, and date from about 1885 to the 1950s; there are photos of Linderman taken as late as 1938. There are formal portraits of Linderman from his service in the Montana legislature and other organizations, including the Masons. There are images of various Linderman homes, notably the Goose Bay cabin, and businesses, including the assay and newspaper office in Sheridan, MT.
Images of early Western settlers and prominent Montana businessmen and politicians include those of Duncan McDonald, Bob Vaughn, and W. H. Murgittroyd, and Theo Gibson. There are numerous photos of artist and author Charlie M. Russell. Other associates include Presidents Taft and Coolidge and the literary critic Frederick Van de Water.
Native American images include those of well-known individuals, including Plenty-Coups, Two-Comes-Over-the-Hill, Little Bear, Pretty-Shield, and White Elk. Notable images of Native American customs include many photographs of preparations for the Sun Dance and its accompanying gatherings. There are also numerous images of Indian artifacts, some of which may be part of Linderman's collections.
The forest and wildlife photographs are mostly those produced by commercial photographers, including the Glacier National Park photographer Hileman and the Forest Service photographer K. D. Swan. The wildlife photographs are largely unidentified as to location and date, but the species pictured are readily apparent. The forest photographs are well-identified and include subject, forest, and date.
Images of Linderman collection displays include those at the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning, MT; the Western Heritage Center in Billings, MT; and the Mansfield Library at the University of Montana--Missoula.
Photographers represented include Linderman himself, Asahel Curtis, Edward Curtis, K. D. Swan, the Glacier National Park photographer Hileman, Morton J. Elrod, and Matthew Brady. Image formats include albumen prints, negatives, and modern color prints on cartes-de-visite (in varying sizes), postcards, and printing-out paper. Many of the Native American photographs are hand-colored. A number of the photographs appear to be modern reproductions of historic prints and are of variable image quality.
The photographs are arranged in their original order as dictated by scrapbooks and other housings. This gives them some thematic arrangement, but the researcher is advised to look at the listed photographs carefully to find all items on a particular subject. Many of the photographs have annotations on the back that have been transcribed in this finding aid; the source of these annotations appears to be Linderman and his family members, but the full provenance of these identifications and comments is largely unknown.
Series IX: Native American Artifacts, 43 objects, dates undetermined
This series consists of forty-three Native American artifacts collected by Linderman during his lifetime. Objects include both everyday and ceremonial items associated with men, women, and children. Tribes represented include Assiniboine, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Cree, Crow, Flathead, Gros Ventre, Iroquois, Kootenai, and Sioux.
For detailed information on the Linderman artifact collection, see Billie Kelly, Frank Bird Linderman Collection : A Study in Historic Material Culture. University of Montana (Missoula). Interdisciplinary Studies Program, MA thesis, 1995.
RestrictionsResearchers must wear clean white cotton gloves when handling any items from Series VIII or Series IX.
Some objects in Series IX are sacred and are not displayed out of respect for the tribes that produced them.
ProvenanceFrederic
Van de Water donated sixty-one pieces of his correspondence with Linderman
to the University of Montana Friends of the Library in 1961. In 1963,
Linderman's daughters, Norma Waller, Wilda Linderman, and Verne Linderman,
presented the original and edited manuscripts of Recollections of
Charley Russell to the Friends of the Library. In 1967, the daughters
presented 1500 pieces of Linderman correspondence to the University
of Montana Library through Professor Merriam and the Friends of the
Library. That same year, the Friends of the Library purchased fifty-eight
Linderman letters from Western Hemisphere Books and Manuscripts. In
1968, the Linderman daughters again presented the Friends of the Library
with a collection of Linderman material. In 1984, Sarah Jane Waller
Hatfield, Linderman's granddaughter, and her brothers, James Waller,
Richard Waller, and John Waller, donated additional manuscripts and
Native American artifacts. This was augmented by additional donations
by that same family group in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1993.b
The order of the original collection of Linderman papers--those received between 1961 and 1968--was based largely on the arrangement given by H. G. Merriam as he worked with them; the additions received from the family and purchased were integrated into the collection. Materials that arrived after 1984 remained unprocessed until 1999. In that year, the collection was augmented with the formerly unprocessed materials. The whole was re-described, substantially rearranged into the present nine series, and rehoused. Some photographs that had formerly been integrated into the Archives general photograph collection were removed and replaced into this collection, at the request of the heirs. The 1999 processor wishes to thank the Linderman heirs, particularly Sarah J. Hatfield, for their cooperation and assistance.
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Last updated: 4 June 2002.