Archives West Finding Aid

The correspondence was mainly between Harriet Cushman and her family in Jamestown, New York, along with other correspondence to acquaintances from her work. Subjects of the correspondence include women and the workplace, agriculture and poultry, environmental issues, MSU, Montana and National concerns and events like the war effort in both the first and second World Wars, family and societal relations, and other aspects of Cushman's life and work. Correspondence is arranged by year, with Christmas cards placed at the end of the series.

This series is a collection of items of interest to Harriet Cushman. The series contains information on Native Americans, Lewis and Clark Caverns, Montana State University, James Willard and Jessica Donaldson Schultz, Verne Dusenberry, and writings and scrapbook materials of Harriet Cushman. It is arranged by topic in alphabetical order.

Primarily snapshots taken by Harriette Cushman or friends of: her home and locations in Bozeman; Montana Native Americans (particularly the Crow tribe); locations around the state; locations in Washington, California, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts; Yellowstone National Park; Glacier National Park. The nitrate negatives and photographic prints were separated shortly after their deposit in 1978 and filed separately under broad subject categories. The categories between the two storage systems did not coincide, however, and in the processing of this collection all prints were given unique sequential numbers, first according to the subject headings in which they were placed (box 12), and then in a second alphabetical subject arrangement imposed by the processing staff (box 13). All negatives that could be matched to the prints were assigned the same numbers. The subject arrangement of negatives which have no corresponding prints begins in Box 15, and these negatives have also been given sequential numbers. Two photograph albums of trips to Glacier and Yellowstone National parks have been placed at the end of the series.

Images numbered #1998-3221 were added to the collection in June, 2011 after their removal from accession 2468. Color transparency slides #2053-2089 reflect the creator's organization; Cushman used broad categories and some sub-categories to describe and assemble her images. Cushman arranged her color transparencies (or 35 mm slides) into two categories; the first broad category deals pertain to the Junior Fact Finding Conference, and the World's Poultry Congress. The second broad category documents Cushman's travels to Canada, Alaska, Arizona, Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. Examples of sub-categories provided by Cushman include Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan in Canada, Other examples include Big Horn County, Blaine County, Broadwater County, Carbon County, Cascade County, Chouteau County, Dawson County, Flathead County, Gallatin County, Hill County, Jefferson County, Lake County, Lewis and Clark County, Lincoln County, and Missoula County. Additional examples include Park County, Phillips County, Powell County, Ravalli County, Roosevelt County, Rosebud County, Russell County, Sanders County, Silverbow and Butte County, Stillwater County, Sweetgrass County, Teton County, Valley County, Wibeaux County, and Yellowstone County. Locales of interest include Niagara Falls, Glacier Park, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and Morrison Cave (Lewis and Clark Caverns).

Glass plate negatives #3112-3216 were taken by John M. Cushman, Harriette's father, ca. 1887-1905. The glass plate negatives include images of Harriette, her sister Viola, her mother Mary, and father John. The images also portray Harriette's other friends and family members. Most of the images were taken in Jamestown, New York; other locales include Chautauqua, New York, and Birmingham, Alabama. Many of the in-depth descriptions of the photographs were transcribed from the original information written on the deteriorating paper envelopes in which the negatives were housed and discarded during processing.

Autochromes #3217-3221 were taken by John M. Cushman, Harriette's father, ca. 1887-1905. The color transparencies on glass are extremely rare, being likely the very first color photography done via the autochrome process invented in France and not patented in the United States until 1907. It is believed that these images predate the American patent. Images depict Harriette and Viola Cushman as well as buildings Jamestown and Chautauqua, New York.