Mary Meigs Atwater Letter to H. G. Merriam, 1936 February 5

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Atwater, Mary Meigs
Title
Mary Meigs Atwater Letter to H. G. Merriam
Dates
1936 February 5
Quantity
1 item
Collection Number
Collection 0530, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary
The Mary Meigs Atwater letter to H. G. Merriam relates Atwater response to Merriam's request by providing this detailed four page typewritten letter describing her guild, her weaving correspondence courses, her promotion of weaving for therapeutic work in rehabilitation and mental hospitals, and some personal information on her family. Also included are Atwater’s printed weaving patterns designed or presented.
Repository
Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Languages
English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Mary Meigs Atwater was born in Rock Island, Illinois on February 28, 1878. She received her early education by private tutors, and studied design in France around the turn of the twentieth century. She married Maxwell W. Atwater, a mining engineer, in 1903 and the couple had two children, Montgomery and Elizabeth. She organized a hand loom weaver's guild while living in Basin, Montana around 1916 and eventually offered correspondence courses for the craft based on her research of various designs. Atwater wrote numerous articles and books on weaving during her career, and she died in 1956.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

In early 1936 Mary Atwater was contacted by Harold Guy Merriam, an English professor at Montana State University in Missoula, for information on her weaving school. Merriam had been appointed state supervisor of the Federal Writers' Project and his work would culminate in the publication of Montana, A State Guide Book in 1939. Atwater responded to Merriam's request by providing this detailed four page typewritten letter describing her guild, her weaving correspondence courses, her promotion of weaving for therapeutic work in rehabilitation and mental hospitals, and some personal information on her family. A second folder of printed weaving patterns designed or presented by Atwater is included.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

An original typewritten letter by Mary M. Atwater was donated to Montana State University by Merrill G. Burlingame in 1967. A second folder of printed weaving patterns created by Atwater formerly accessioned as Collection 2001 was added on March 26, 2012.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2012 May 26

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Correspondence schools and courses
  • Hand weaving--Montana--Basin--Societies, etc.
  • Hand weaving--Study and teaching
  • Hand weaving--Therapeutic use
  • Women weavers--Montana--Basin Correspondence

Personal Names

  • Atwater, Mary Meigs Correspondence
  • Merriam, H. G. (Harold Guy), 1883-1980 Correspondence

Corporate Names

  • Federal Writers' Project