Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Hughie Call Papers, 1961-1968
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Call, Hughie, 1890-1969
- Title
- Hughie Call Papers
- Dates
- 1961-1968 (inclusive)19611968
- Quantity
- 0.75 linear feet
- Collection Number
- Mss 234
- Summary
- The collection consists of draft manuscript copies, correspondence and reviews related to Hughie Call's work,The Little Kingdom
- Repository
-
University of Montana, Mansfield Library, Archives and Special Collections
Archives and Special Collections
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library
University of Montana
32 Campus Dr. #9936
59812-9936
Missoula, MT
Telephone: 406-243-2053
library.archives@umontana.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana--Missoula.
- Languages
- English
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Hughie Florence Call was born April 20, 1890 in Trent, Texas, to Dr. John Hicks Florence and Kathleen Best Florence. Call was a fourth-generation Texan whose father worked for the Texas State Quarantine Service, necessitating the constant relocation of his family throughout the costal and boarder towns of that state. During this period Call said her desire to write began to grow as her imagination was stimulated by travel. Kathleen Florence’s concern that her children receive adequate education despite travel and isolation prompted her to hire a number of private teachers for Hughie and her siblings. Call stated that the varied techniques of the tutors gave her a thirst for reading and learning in a way she felt she would not have received in a conventional setting. Hughie passed her high school years in a girl’s boarding school before going on to two years at San Antonio Female College (now Trinity University of San Antonio). She later studied in a convent in Galveston.
On a visit to California she met veteran sheep rancher and former Montana state representative Thomas Jesse Call. They married on June 4, 1919, and moved to his sheep ranch in the Madison valley of Montana near Yellowstone National Park. Here they raised two sons, Andrew and Leigh, and one daughter, Louise, who died in childhood. Mrs. Call enjoyed writing, hiking, gardening and bird watching while living in Montana.
From her place on the ranch, Hughie Call began writing articles for various magazines, including Scribners and the Saturday Evening Post. In 1942 she used her sheep ranching experiences for her first book, Golden Fleece, (Houghton, 1942). Golden Fleece explores the life of a “city girl” married to a rancher and her position as “second” to the sheep. Reprints of Golden Fleece appeared in various magazines, two radio scripts were produced, and she later sold the film rights. Two chapters of the book appeared in Joseph Kinsey Howard’s Montana Margins.
After the sale of the ranch in 1944 and the death of her husband in 1946, Call followed her first book with two children’s books, Rising Arrow (Viking, 1955) and Peter’s Moose (Viking, 1955). Both stories focus on the lives of young boys and were inspired by her two sons.
She left children’s publishing in 1961 and attempted a manuscript based on ranch life. Deemed too “limited” by the publisher, Call re-worked the manuscript into The Little Kingdom (Houghton, 1964). The Little Kingdom is the exploration of the life of her daughter, Louise (Wezie) and how the two women faced life in a man’s world of sheep ranching. It also deals with the acceptance of loss inherent in ranching and how Hughie learned from her daughter’s handling of such issues to accept the death of Wezie. Critics and readers alike praisedThe Little Kingdom and reprints appeared in Red Book andReader’s Digest.
Hughie Call ended her career with The Shorn Lamb (Houghton Mifflin, 1969). This work discusses the intersection of three lives on a Montana sheep ranch: a widow who owns the ranch, a doctor with a maimed hand and an abused child. The book examines the perspective of a woman raising sheep in a male-dominated culture and ranching life in general.
Even after her many years in Montana, Call remained a Texan at heart, often referring to her Lone Star inclinations in literary questionnaires and on her book covers. The author returned to Texas in the 1950s to live, but traveled extensively in Canada, Mexico and the United States. She became a member of Theta Sigma Phi and the Honorary Journalism Society and taught for two years as an advanced creative writing instructor at Drury College in Springfield, Missouri. She then privately taught writing for two years in the same location. After the completion of her last book, Hughie Florence Call died Sept. 2, 1969.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The collection contains brief biographical sketches, probably composed by Call herself. It also contains business letters between Hughie and her agents and publishers regarding several works but mainly dealing with The Little Kingdom. The letters include reviews of The Little Kingdom by A. B. Guthrie and Margaret Bourke-White and a thank-you letter from Lady Bird Johnson’s secretary for a copy sent to the First Lady. A folder of clippings and reviews from papers across the United States is also included, all commenting onThe Little Kingdom.
The writings of Hughie Call found in the collection include an unpublished manuscript discussing various situations of ranch life and an apparent basis for the composition of The Little Kingdom. The writings series also contains one early draft, a publisher’s typescript, three galley proofs of The Little Kingdom and one galley proof for The Shorn Lamb.
The collection documents the development of the author in her work on The Little Kingdom from the point of the unpublished manuscript to the final galley sheet. Her letters provide dated commentary on the progress of the book in its different phases. The numerous clippings and reviews allow the patron to evaluate the reception of Call’s work in small, rural papers and large publications such as theNew York Times New York Times. The writings show the author’s original intentions and style before editor’s changes and reflect one woman’s perspective of rural sheep ranching life in early 20th century Montana.
Series I consists of three type-written sheets summarizing the life of Hughie Call, presumably written by Call herself. Also included is a seemingly unrelated, undated poem by H. N. Fifer with the name “Tom” on the bottom, perhaps in reference to her husband Thomas Call.
Series II contains business letters from various sources to Hughie Call, principally from her agents at Curtis Brown Ltd. and her publishers at Houghton-Mifflin Company. The letters referenceGolden Fleece, Peter’s Moose and Rising Arrow, but deal almost exclusively with The Little Kingdom and its illustrations by Gloria Kamen. Included in the folder are several fan letters, reviews, press releases, reprints and receipts received or processed by Call’s agents or publishers and forwarded to her. Letters from reviewers include A. B. Guthrie and Margaret Bourke-White. Fan mail includes a thank-you note from the office of First Lady and fellow Texan Lady Bird Johnson for a copy of The Little Kingdom.
Series III contains clippings from journals and newspapers with reviews of Hughie Calls’s The Little Kingdom. Newspapers range from community and regional Montana papers to national metropolitan newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Several of the local papers from Montana also cite visits from Call to relatives and provide brief biographical information about the author.
Series IV contains the writings of Hughie Call focusing on three works. The first is an unpublished manuscript from 1961, and is accompanied by a letter from the David McKay Company, Inc. dealing with the manuscript’s want of “scope and substance” for the formation of a book. The manuscript contains a set of stories about the actions of various animals on the ranch and the lifestyle of Hughie, her family and the farm laborers. The seocnd manuscript contains two drafts of The Little Kingdom. One copy is an undated second draft and the other is a publisher’s typescript dated January 18 with no year. Series IV also includes galley sheets. One is dated December, 1963, without illustrations, another is dated January 23, 1964 and includes proposed illustrations. The final copy is a cut galley with printed illustrations dated February, 1964. The final galley proof is for The Shorn Lamb, and is dated December, 1968.
Series V contains one photograph. It is a publicity shot of Hughie Call taken by Lionel Hencken, circa 1964. According to her correspondence it was probably taken in Springfield, Missouri. The photo is located in the archives photograph collection as 99-2631.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to The University of Montana.
Preferred Citation
[Name of document or photograph number], Hughie Call Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana--Missoula.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
The collection is divided into five series:
Series I: Biographical and Personal, 1 folder
Series II: General Correspondence, 1961-1964, 1 Folder
Series III: Clippings, 1964, 1 Folder
Series IV: Writings, 1961-1968, 7 Folders
Series V: Photograph, 1964, 1 picture
Acquisition Information
The galley sheets for The Shorn Lamb are a Gift of Claudia Young, 1974. All other materials are a gift of Hughie Call, date unknown.
Processing Note
The actions of the original processors are unknown. In 1999, the collection was re-described. The biographical, correspondence, clippings and The Little Kingdom folders from Addition #1 to SC 286 were combined with SC 286 (The Shorn Lamb galleys) to create MSS 234. A publicity photograph of Hughie Call was removed and assigned to the archives photo collection as 99-2631. Several receipts and carbon copies on acid paper or in poor condition were photo copied and the originals discarded. A biographical statement and a poem were removed from general correspondence, Series II, and added to Series I, the biographical folder
Separated Materials
A publicity photograph of Hughie Call was removed and assigned to the archives photo collection as 99-2631.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Series I: Biographical and Personal, undatedReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1/1 | Brief biographies and one
poem |
undated |
Series II: General Correspondence, 1961-1964Return to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1/2 | Business and fan letters and
receipts |
1961-1964 |
Series III: Clippings, 1964Return to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1/3 | Newspaper clippings and
reviews |
1964 |
Series IV: Writings, 1961-1968Return to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2/1 | Unpublished
manuscript |
1961 |
| 2/2 |
The Little Kingdom,
2nd draft |
undated |
| 2/3 |
The Little Kingdom,
Publisher's typescript |
undated |
| 2/4 |
The Little Kingdom,
Galley Sheets |
1963 |
| 2/5 |
The Little Kingdom,
Galley Sheets |
January 1964 |
| 2/6 |
The Little Kingdom,
Galley Sheets |
February 1964 |
| 2/7 |
The Little Kingdom,
Galley Sheets |
December 1968 |
Series V: Photograph, 1964Return to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| item | ||
| 99-2631 | Hughie Call. Photo by lionel
Hencken |
circa 1964 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Ranch life--Montana--Fiction
- Sheep ranches--Montana--Fiction
Personal Names
- Call, Hugie, 1890-1969--The little kingdom
Occupations
- Women authors, American
Other Creators
-
Personal Names
- Call, Hugie, 1890-1969--The shorn lamb
Finding aid prepared by Jason
Dormady
1999
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
