John J. Powers Papers, 1937-1952

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Powers, John J.
Title
John J. Powers Papers
Dates
1937-1952
Quantity
.4 linear feet
Collection Number
Collection 1392, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary
The John J. Powers Papers contain correspondence of the Anaconda Company's Bureau of Safety, safety posters that Powers drew, pamphlets, and photographs. Topics include mines and miners in Butte in the late 1930s and early 1940s, safety equipment, mining and safety exhibits, work in the stopes, rock drilling, the engine room, work outside the mines, mining gear, soldiers on the front during World War II, American paratroopers in northern France two days after D-Day, American medics, troops in the Southwest Pacific, and German prisoners of war.
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

Historical NoteReturn to Top

John J. Powers spent most of his life working as a cartoonist and miner for the Anaconda Mining Company. He began working in the mid-1920s as a cartoonist. During the 1930s he worked as a miner, returning to cartooning in the 1940s. He retired in 1968 and continued to live in Butte for another decade.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The John J. Powers Papers contain correspondence of the Anaconda Company's Bureau of Safety, safety posters that Powers drew, pamphlets, and photographs. The bulk of the photographs are of mines and miners in Butte in the late 1930s and early 1940s including safety equipment, mining and safety exhibits, work in the stopes, rock drilling, the engine room, work outside the mines, mining gear, and group shots of miners. The papers also contains photographs of soldiers on the front during World War II, including American paratroopers in northern France two days after D-Day, American medics, troops in the Southwest Pacific, and German prisoners of war. Also included are promotional campaigns used during the war to support bond sales. Photographs of Fort Logan (Camp Baker) are also found in the Powers collection.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

The John J. Powers Papers were donated to Special Collections by his niece, Mrs. Joe Williams, in 1978.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2010 October 18

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, Correspondence, 1948-1950Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/1

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, Correspondence, February-June 1951Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/2

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, Correspondence, July-October 1951Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/3

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, Correspondence, November-December 1951Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/4

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, Correspondence, February-May 1952Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/5

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, Correspondence, June-August 1952Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/6

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, Correspondence, September-December 1952Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/7

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, Safety PostersReturn to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/8

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, Safety Routine for Mine SupervisorsReturn to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/9

Anaconda Company Bureau of Safety, PamphletsReturn to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/10

Photographs #1-11Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/11

Container(s) Description Dates
#1: Fort Logan (Camp Baker)
circa 1874
#2: Fort Logan (Camp Baker)
circa 1871
#3: Celebration at Fort Logan (Camp Baker) ruins
circa 1915
#4-5: Fort Logan (Camp Baker) ruins
#6: Four unidentified men inspecting ruins of Fort Logan (Camp Baker)
#7-9: Two unidentified men inspecting ruins of Fort Logan (Camp Baker)
#10: Photograph of page from account book of William Gaddes' Commissary
April 1874
#11: Unidentified woman

Photographs #12-17 (World War II)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/12

Container(s) Description Dates
#12: Military Hospital
#13: Major J. R. McNitt and Captain John M. Smith perform a hernia operation. Station Hospital, somewhere in Australia
September 15, 1942
#14: Soldier wounded in the first assault of Allied troops against German held beaches in France, is lifted into an ambulance by men of a medical unit
June 8, 1944
#15: An American medic makes a casualty report on a wounded soldier on a Beachhead somewhere in Northern France. Normandy, France
June 8, 1944
#16: An American medical officer (Captain) treats a wounded German prisoner on a Beachhead gained by American troops in the early stages of the invasion of France. Normandy, France
June 8, 1944
#17: View of first aid station located in town of S. Agata, about half a mile behind front lines. Soldier in foreground is being given blood plasma. Sicily
August 9, 1943

Photographs #18-25 (World War II)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/13

Container(s) Description Dates
#18: American Paratrooper having made successful landings on the continent move cautiously through a French churchyard. Their rifles at the ready, they move into the interior as the men on the right take cover and concealment behind a bush. France
June 8, 1944
#19: American Paratroopers with assault equipment move along a road in Northern France. France
June 8, 1944
#20: An American who has gained the comparative safety offered by the chalk cliff at his back, gazes out into the harbor where other landing craft, like those which landed him, move into the beachhead. Normandy, France
June 8, 1944
#21: American tank in France under shellfire and counter-attack. French girl's doll is in forefront of picture
July 11, 1944
#22: Members of the control station crew can be seen working the director of a gun the function of which is to mechanically calculate all data necessary for pointing the gun. The unit is installed below the ground in order to give protection to both men and materials against bomb fragments and strafing. Somewhere in Australia
December 23, 1942
#23: Propeller charge used in 4.2 mortar shell, Arundel Island, Southwest Pacific
#24: 4.2 Chemical mortar HE shell, Arundel Island, Southwest Pacific
#25: Regulars in Hitler's west wall army await entry into a prisoner of war camp on the English side of the channel. The soldier in the middle told interviewers he was 21. England
June 8, 1944

Photographs #26-34 (World War II)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/14

Container(s) Description
#26-32: Children in promotional campaign pictures to support bond sales and keep up morale during World War II
#33-34: World War II posters

Photographs #35-40 (World War II)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/15

Container(s) Description
#35: Military band
#36: Jeanette McDonald, singing star volunteer on concert tour for military posts. Her husband, Gene Raymond, was on duty with US Army
#37: Jean Arthur
#38: Unidentified woman. Written on front of picture: To the Butte Office in congratulations on Copper Commando From New York Office
#39: Actress Ann Miller, one of the many Hollywood stars who performed for servicemen at the USO-Camp shows
#40: Ilona Massey, made volunteer personal appearance tour of Army camps and Naval stations for USO-Camp shows

Photographs #41-48 (Butte Mines - Work in the Stopes)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/16

Container(s) Description
#41-48: Rock Drilling

Photographs #49-58 (Butte Mines - Work in the Stopes)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/17

Container(s) Description
#49-51: Butte miner
#52: Two Butte miners showing safety equipment
#53: Miner wearing a safety belt
#54-55: Safety ringing bell
#56: Tom Mitchell working on timber hoist
#57: Butte miners counting out powder for blast. Slip shows amount to be issued
#58: Butte miners loading dynamite for blast

Photographs #59-67 (Butte Mines - Work in the Stopes)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/18

Container(s) Description
#59: Inside mine shaft
#60: Butte miner lagging over the set after timber is blocked
#61: Butte miners inspecting work
#62: Door in shaft to remain closed
#63-67: Butte miners working with mine carts loaded with rock

Photographs #68-75 (Butte Mines - Work in the Stopes)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/19

Container(s) Description
#68-70: Butte miners working with mine carts loaded with rock
#71: Sill Mucking Machine Operator
#72: HNN-IJ double drum air hoist pulling 36" Holcomb scraper in cut and fill stope. Stope is worked both ways from central chute
#73: Division Tunnel at Junction with Numell Tunnel
#74: Tunnel
#75: Mine shaft

Photographs #76-82 (Butte Mines - Work in Engine Room and Support Tunnels)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/20

Container(s) Description
#76: John Cavanaugh and Jim Sullivan on the 2,800 Quinteplex plunger pumps tightening down pot cover after removing wood chips under valve
#77: Willie "Dinty" Moore filling oil cups on bearing pump operator and Bill Opee, bass machinist, checking bearings with pump operator. On center of station Bob Combs and William Opee's son blowing med away from pump suction
#78: Two miners in support tunnels
#79: Engine room
#80: Timber delivered to timber station under ground
#81: Hundreds of thousands of feet of timber go into the Butte copper mines. This is timber dump at one of the mines
#82: Timber at Butte mine

Photographs # 83-88 (Butte Mines)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/21

Container(s) Description Dates
#83-85: Gallus Frame
#86: On top of gallus frame
#87: Outside work at mine
#88: Anselmo Mine, No. 414
July 7, 1937

Photographs #89-99 (Work outside mines)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/22

Container(s) Description
#89: Railroad cars loaded with coal
#90: Loading Railroad cars
#91: Lumber
#92: Machinery
#93-98: Miners working outside
#99: Tom McColgan and J Agard Johnson waiting for cage morning shift

Photographs #100-105Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/23

Container(s) Description Dates
#100-101: Group photographs of Butte Miners
#102: Group photograph of workers at Leonard Mine
#103: Group photograph of workers at Leonard Mine
August 2, 1942
#104: Group photograph of Butte Miners
#105: Group photograph of workers at Mt. View Mine

Photographs #106-113 (Mining and Safety Exhibits)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/24

Container(s) Description
#106-113: Jimmy Doran showing safety equipment and miner's gear

Photographs #114-118Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/25

Container(s) Description
#114-116: Miner's gear
#117: Pat Deasy. Shaft miner, Emma Mine
#118: Blasting Accessories display

Photographs #119-123 (Mine Visitors)Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/26

Container(s) Description
#119-122: Mine Visitors
#123: Anaconda Copper Mining Company posters

Photographs #124-128Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 1/27

Container(s) Description Dates
#124: Anaconda Copper Mining Club
#125-126: Crowds
#127-128: Meeting for War Production Promotion
June 17, 1943

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Cartoonists-Montana-Butte
  • Mine safety-Montana
  • Miners-Montana-Butte-Photographs
  • Mines and mineral resources-Montana-Butte-Photographs
  • Savings bonds-United States
  • Soldiers-United States-Photographs
  • World War, 1939-1945-Campaigns-France-Normandy-Photographs
  • World War, 1939-1945-Medical care-Photographs
  • World War, 1939-1945-War work-Photographs

Corporate Names

  • United States-Army-Parachute troops-Photographs

Geographical Names

  • Butte (Mont.)-Photographs
  • Camp Baker (Mont.)-Photographs
  • Fort Logan (Mont. : Fort)-Photographs

Form or Genre Terms

  • Photographs
  • Posters

Other Creators

  • Corporate Names
    • Anaconda Company-Bureau of Safety (creator)