More about Progressive Men of the State of Montana (and some Progressive Women!)
About the Original Edition of This book
Progressive Men of the State of Montana was published around 1903 (there's
no publication date given in the book). Progressive Men is perhaps the
best known of the so-called "subscription histories" of the State of Montana.
In spite of the name, most subscription histories contain mainly
biographies of individuals. Sometimes there is a separate general history
section, followed by the biographies, but Progressive Men of the State of
Montana is entirely biographical, except for a few sketches about specific
businesses, religious communities, etc. Books like this are called
"subscription histories" because they are sold by mail-order subscription
to the people whose biographies they contain. Typically, you paid one
price to have your biography included, or a second, higher, price if you
wanted your picture and signature included. Because of the pictures,
subscription histories are sometimes called "mug books," by analogy with
the police identification pictures known as "mug shots." Libraries also
bought copies of subscription histories, but very few people bought
copies unless their biography, or the biography of a family member, was included.
There are many subscription histories for every state and region in the
USA, including ten other such works for the State of Montana. Many are
two or three-volume sets.
No subscription histories of Montana have been published since 1957.
These are different from county histories-- these eleven Montana subscription
histories each covered the entire state. They were professionally edited
and produced for profit mostly by companies which sold similar histories
of other states. County histories are usually prepared by local or county
historical societies, and the compilers don't really expect to make any money.
Some Progressive Women
Although this book was entitled "Progressive MEN of the State of Montana,
many women are mentioned. Most are the wives and daughters of men who
paid to have their biographical sketches included, but some women
purchased sketches on their own. Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, the first
woman attorney in Montana, bought a three page biography with a picture,
just as many prominent male attorneys did-- see page 472 for the beginning
of her sketch. Mrs. Laura E. Howey and Miss M. Lou Guthrie, two
librarians at the Montana State Library had their biographies included in
the section on the State Library-- see pages 1613 and 1614. Several women
ranchers and farmers purchased biographical sketches too. See Mrs. Alice
J. Prouett on pages 1209 and 1210, Mrs. Emilie Lange on page 1553, Mrs.
Mary Miller on page 1733, and Mrs. Catherine Smith on page 1810. There
were also several Catholic nuns whose sketches were included. See. Sister
Emilda on page 620, Sister Irene on pages 683 and 684, and Mother Amadeus
on pages 1451 and 1452.
Back to the Progressive Men of the State of Montana
|