University History Research Guide

Eloise Knowles, the daughter of federal Judge Hiram Knowles and his wife, was born in about 1872 in Deer Lodge, Montana. She attended UM and graduated in 1898, as one of the first two graduates from the college. She obtained her undergraduate degree in philosophy and a few years later obtained an upper level degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago. While still an undergraduate at UM, Knowles served as an assistant in the Preparatory Department of English during the 1896-97 term. She went on to be the first instructor in the UM Art Department. She founded Penetralia, which later became Mortar Board. Knowles worked at the university until 1915 when ill health forced her to go to California on a leave of absence. She died on April 9, 1916. To learn more about Eloise Knowles, check out the guide to her collection.

Morton John Elrod was born in 1863 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. He received his BA, MA, and MS from Simpson College and his PhD from Illinois Wesleyan College. In 1897, he came to the UM as head of the science department. He later became head of the biology department and founded the university's museum of botany and zoology specimen collections. He was extremely active in both the academic and social sides of university life, helping to found both the Montana Kaimin and the student government association. Elrod founded the University of Montana Biological Station on Flathead Lake in 1899. Following the establishment of Glacier National Park, he became the first park naturalist at Glacier. Elrod suffered a stroke in 1934 and retired from teaching. He died in 1953. To learn more about Morton J. Elrod, check out the guide to his archival collection. Many of his photos have been digitized and are available in the Archival Photographs from the University of Montana collection in the Montana Memory Project.

Marguerite Gertrude Buckhous was born in Missoula and became the librarian at the UM in 1902 and continued until her death in 1931. She first joined the university when it opened in South Side School as a student in its preparatory department in 1895. She received her bachelor’s degree from UM in 1900 and did some graduate work in 1903 and 1915. She attended the University of Illinois in 1900-1901 for additional training in library science. In 1921, she received an MA in Social Science from the graduate school at Columbia University. She was the UM’s first professional librarian. She died following surgery complications May 18, 1931. One of the student teaching rooms in the Mansfield Library is named in her honor. To learn more about Gertrude Buckhous, check out the guide to her collection.

James Beryl Speer was born in Branch County, Michigan, in 1883. He moved to Montana in 1905 to attend the UM and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1908. While Speer was a student, he worked as an assistant to multiple university presidents. University President Oscar J. Craig’s last official act as president was to write a recommendation for Speer. In 1909, he was appointed acting registrar and then served as registrar from 1910-1912. Speer received his LLB in 1916 from the University of Michigan Law School. He returned to the University of Montana in 1918 to again serve as registrar. In 1920, he was named business manager, and in 1945, he was named controller. Speer was also a professor in the School of Business Administration between 1927 and 1940. He served as controller until his retirement in 1953. Speer died in 1957. To learn more about J.B. Speer, check out the guide to his collection.

Frances Amelia Corbin was born on January 27, 1867, in Orchard Park, New York. She attended the Chicago Women’s College, Vassar, and Harvard. Corbin earned a bachelor’s degree in literature from Ohio College. From 1890-1894, she worked as the superintendent of public schools in Fergus County, Montana, and from 1894-1900 as the head of the English department for Butte High School. She started teaching English at the UM in 1902 and was later promoted to head of the literature department and Dean of Women. She retired in 1928 and died on August 7, 1942.

Joseph Edward Kirkwood was born in 1872. He earned his bachelor's degree from Pacific University in 1898, a master's from Princeton University in 1902, and a PhD from Columbia University in 1903. In 1909, he became a professor of botany and forestry at UM. Kirkwood helped to organize and run the Ranger School at UM. The Ranger School was a precursor to the College of Forestry and Conservation, which was established in 1914. He died in 1928. To learn more about Joseph Edward Kirkwood, check out the guide to his collection.

Lucille Jameson Armsby was born in Butte, Montana, on August 21, 1900. She graduated from the UM in 1922 with a BA in history with highest honors. From 1922-1930, she served as assistant registrar at the UM. In 1932, she became secretary to the director of public service at the university. From 1933 to her retirement in 1965, Armsby was secretary to the president. She assisted seven presidents: Charles H. Clapp, George Finlay Simmons, Ernest O. Melby, James A. McCain, Carl McFarland, Harry Newburn, and Robert Johns. In addition to her duties in the President's Office, Armsby was secretary for 26 years of the University Commencement Committee. She advised several student organizations on campus, including the Senior Women's Honorary, Mortar Board, and Alpha Phi sorority. She died August 5, 1993. To learn more about Lucille Jameson Armsby, check out the guide to her collection.

Richard E. Juday was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on May 28, 1918. He studied limnology and received his BS in chemistry from Harvard University in 1939 and his PhD degree in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1943. He came to Missoula in 1948 and was a chemistry professor at the UM for 30 years, specializing in limnology. He continued to be involved with the university until his death in 2002. To learn more about Richard E. Juday, check out the guide to his collection.

Emma B. Lommasson enrolled at the UM in 1929 at the age of 17. She graduated in 1933 and returned in 1937 to pursue a masters degree in mathematics. During World War II, she taught navigation, civil air regulations, and mathematics to young men at UM in training to become pilots. In 1945, she became first veterans advisor at the UM and in 1946, assistant registrar. In 1973, she became registrar of the university and served until her retirement in 1977. To learn more about Emma Lommasson, listen to an oral history interview with her.

Harold Guy Merriam was born September 6, 1883, at Westminster, Massachusetts. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in science and the classics in 1905. In 1904 he was chosen to be a member of the first group of Rhodes Scholars. He attended Lincoln College, Oxford University, where he was enrolled in the honors school in English language and literature. He was awarded a BA from Oxford in 1907 and an MA in 1912. The university hired him in 1919 to teach English and to chair the English department. Merriam introduced creative writing into the curriculum. To encourage his students to write, he began editing their works and publishing them in a new magazine, the Frontier. This later merged with the Midland, published in Iowa City, Iowa, to form Frontier and Midland. Publication of the journal continued until 1939. In recognition of his accomplishments, the University of Wyoming awarded him an LLD in 1962. In 1963, an honorary LLD followed from UM. In 1978, he was honored at the 75th dinner celebration of the Rhodes Scholars in New York. Merriam died in Missoula, Montana, in March 1980. To learn more about Harold Guy Merriam, check out the guide to his collection and listen to self-recorded audio of him discussing the founding and management of Frontier and Midland.

Patricia McKenna Goedicke Robinson was born in 1931 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Helen Mulvey and John McKenna, professor of Neuroanatomy and Psychiatry at Dartmouth College. Goedicke published her first poem in Seventeen in 1947 before attending Middlebury College from 1949-1953. There she studied under Robert Frost and other Middlebury faculty. Goedicke attained her Masters of Arts at Ohio University in 1965. In 1968, Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc. published her first book of poetry, Between Oceans. She began teaching at the UM in 1983 and retired 2003. Goedicke published eight books of poetry while teaching at the UM. She died on July 14, 2006. To learn more about Patricia Goedicke, check out the guide to her collection, some of which is digitized and available to view on ScholarWorks.

Thomas Garrett Swearingen was born in Great Falls, Montana, on November 24, 1896. He earned a bachelors degree in mathematics from the UM in 1920 and was a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity. Swearingen was hired by the university in the fall of 1921 as a maintenance engineer. For the next 36 years he worked on campus, overseeing all building construction, land acquisition projects, and building and grounds maintenance. In 1958, he became the UM Director of Planning and Construction. Swearingen left the UM in 1964 to work for Bovay Engineers of Missoula. He died January 14, 1972.

• College of Arts and Sciences
•       College of Arts and Sciences Records, RG 15
• School of Journalism
•       Struckman Family Papers, Mss 119
• College of Forestry and Conservation
•       Melvin S. Morris Papers, Mss 495
•       Phil Preston Papers, Mss 718
•       School of Forestry Photograph Album, Mss 662
•       School of Forestry Records, RG 48
•       Arnold W. Bolle Papers, Mss 600
• Department of Anthropology
•       Carling I. Malouf Papers, Mss 640
•       Department of Anthropology Records, RG 7
• Department of English
•       H.G. Merriam Papers, Mss 487
•       H. W. Whicker Papers, Mss 789
•       Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson Papers, Mss 739
•       Richard Hugo Papers, Mss 488
•       Rufus Coleman Papers, Mss 94
• Department of History
•       H. Duane Hampton Papers, Mss 496
•       Paul Chrisler Phillips Papers, Mss 375
•       Phi Alpha Theta, Beta Psi Chapter, Mss 704
•       K. Ross Toole Papers, Mss 717
•       Edward Earl Bennett Papers, Mss 493
•       Robert Townley Turner Papers, Mss 494
• Department of Home Economics
•       Department of Home Economics Records, RG 29
•       Kappa Omicron Phi, Alpha Psi Chapter Records, Mss 595
• Department of Native American Studies
•       Department of Native American Studies Records, RG 85
•       Kyi-Yo Native American Student Association History Collection, Mss 710
• Department of Women's Studies
•       Department of Women's Studies Records, RG 87
• Department of Zoology
•       Department of Zoology Records, RG 60
•       Ludvig G. Browman Papers, Mss 624
• Division of Biological Sciences
•       Morton J. Elrod Papers, Mss 486
•       Phi Sigma Society, Lambda Chapter, Mss 594
•       Richard E. Juday Papers, Mss 629
•       Klaus Lackschewitz, Mss 821
•       J.E. Kirkwood Papers, Mss 82
• Environmental Studies Program
•       Clarence C. Gordon Papers, Mss 611
• School of Religion
•       School of Religion Records, Mss 608
• Mansfield Library
•       Dale Johnson Papers, Mss 722
•       Lucile Speer Papers, Mss 585
• Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures
•       Gertrud Lackschewitz Papers, Mss 827
• Department of Art
•       James G. Todd Jr. Papers, Mss 481
• Department of Psychology
•       William Frederick Book Papers, Mss 479