Item: Harry L. and Gretchen Billings Papers, 1940-1984
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Finding Aid Title: Harry L. and Gretchen Billings Papers, 1940-1984
Finding Aid Collection Number: 2095
Date Range of Collection: 1940-1984
Creator of Materials: Billings, Harry L., 1913-1990
Content Description: The Billings papers contains correspondence, speeches, research notes, and printed publications pertaining to the Republican far right, especially the John Birch Society in Montana during the 1960s. These papers are the resource material that explain the positions taken by The Peoples Voice and also document the tie between the Billings and the Montana AFL-CIO. Since the Billings were involved in many political issues, they corresponded with many high ranking government officials, including John F. Kennedy, who wrote to the Billings after a trip to Montana in 1959, and Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey, and Jeanette Rankin, a personal friend of the Billings. They also worked closely with several Montana governors and senators. Included in the papers are letters written by Mike Mansfield, Lee Metcalf, John Melcher, James E. Murray, and Burton K. Wheeler as well as governors Sam C. Ford, John W. Bonner, Tom Judge, and Ted Schwinden. Billings also collected the papers of Colonel Jerome G. Locke who was appointed General Surveyor of Montana by President Taft. Included in the Billings papers is Lockes certificate of his appointed signed by Taft. The Billings papers have been topically divided into series.
Finding Aid URL: http://www.lib.montana.edu/collect/spcoll/findaid/2095.html
Keywords: prominent montanans, montana history, jeannette rankin, speeches, labor movement, unions (afl-cio), right-wing, audio recordings, the peoples voice, mines and mining, democratic party, election reform, environment, free press, historical photographs, john
Subjects: The People of Montana Montana and Histories of the American West
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