Frank T. Kelsey Papers, 1906-1934

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Kelsey, Frank T. (Frank Theodore), 1874-1937
Title
Frank T. Kelsey Papers
Dates
1906-1934
Quantity
1 folder
Collection Number
Collection 0216, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary
The Frank T. Kelsey Papers contains the correspondence of Frank T. Kelsey with retired general William Carey Brown. The letters, beginning in December 1933, discuss the placement of headstones to commemorate four soldiers killed during the Battle of Powder River, as well as an interest in having Kelsey deed a small tract of his land to the government to assure the location of the markers would remain in the future. In the course of his three month's correspondence with Kelsey, Brown mentioned maps and resources used to research the battle. Copies of these documents, along with some land ownership papers and photographs of the Kelsey family, complete this collection.
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
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Frank T. Kelsey was born in Kansas in 1874 and moved to Montana when he was thirteen years old. He initially worked as a school teacher in Rosebud County, but he eventually filed a desert claim for land along the Powder River is what is today Powder River County. Part of his claim encompassed the battle site of a March 17, 1876 military engagement against the Cheyenne Indians led by Col. Joseph J. Reynolds. Kelsey eventually became a Montana state senator and held a number of other public offices before his death in 1937.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

In December 1933, retired general William Carey Brown, who had served on the plains with the frontier military himself, wrote to Kelsey regarding the placement of headstones to commemorate four soldiers killed during the Battle of Powder River. Since none of the soldiers were actually buried and the location of their remains unknown, the markers were cenotaphs created on the request of historian Walter Camp and had never been placed on the battlefield. Brown was also interested in having Kelsey deed a small tract of his land to the government to assure the location of the markers would remain in the future. In the course of his three month's correspondence with Kelsey, Brown mentioned maps and resources used to research the battle. Copies of these documents, along with some land ownership papers and photographs of the Kelsey family, complete this collection. Most of the photocopies have faded to near illegibility since 1964, but Brown's letters have been digitally scanned and manipulated to produce legible surrogates.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Correspondence, legal documents, and photographs collected by Frank T. Kelsey were loaned to Montana State University for copying by Inez N. Smith of Olive, Montana on November 18, 1964. These copied materials were subsequently reported to the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections in 1979 and assigned control number 79-670. The present location of the original documents is unknown.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2010 April 2

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Cheyenne Indians-Wars-1876
  • Powder River, Battle of, Mont., 1876
  • Soldiers' monuments-Montana-Powder River County

Personal Names

  • Brown, W. C.-(William Carey),-1854-1939-Correspondence
  • Camp, Walter Mason,-1867-1925

Family Names

  • Kelsey family-Photographs

Geographical Names

  • Powder River County (Mont.)-History, Military-19th century