Archives West Finding Aid

The material in this Manuscript Group was in no apparent order when received, therefore a series order was imposed during processing.

The papers were first separated by the generator of the records, then each group was organized by type of record. Tax returns of Peder's wife Margaret are included with his papers, while all property taxes through 1936 are with Peder's papers, property taxes from 1937 are with Ella's papers.

The correspondence of Peder Olesen was first separated by language--Danish or English--then each was arranged chronologically. The Danish correspondence is personal in nature, whereas the English correspondence concerns his various financial transactions. Most is incoming, but from 1914 some outgoing letters are also included.

The financial records include check registers, property tax receipts for both Whitman County, Washington and Latah County, Idaho, from 1887 to 1936; income tax returns; and financial journals in which he kept detailed records of household expenses.

The legal papers include leases, deeds, mortgages, and applications for loans which he presumably bought from the banks. Also included are two early wills. Items in each folder are in chronological order.

Other Peder Olesen papers include correspondence regarding the estate of Margaret's brother John Teare, items relating to the Masonic Lodge to which he loaned money for a new building, papers concerning land use on a farm in Lenville, a map of his home town of Esbjerg, Denmark, and an undated Third Ward Primary Ballot on which he is listed as a candidate.

The correspondence of Ella Letitia Olesen is personal in nature and was easily separated by subject. The general correspondence includes several items of interest: her letter of appointment to the stenographic staff at the University of Idaho dated 1915; a 1936 letter from history professor Frederick Church giving details of his stay in Poland; and the letters she wrote in 1944 to other registrars telling them her reasons for resigning her position at the U of I. Others include the letters from state politicians on the occasion of her 90th birthday, letters concerning her donation of an organ to the Methodist Church and letters of condolence on the deaths of her parents.

The financial records include papers concerning the estates of her parents, receipts from her world travels, property tax receipts and income tax returns. The property records deal with the purchase, rent, and improvements on the Cronk farm in Steptoe, two houses and a business in Moscow.

Other papers include passports and other travel documents, photographs, poems she collected, ration books, a list of her relatives, and items concerning the University of Idaho and the Preparatory School.

Paid checks and bank statements were discarded as were greeting cards without written notes. In all the records were reduced by 0.5 cubic feet.