Joseph G[allio] Masters Collection, 1900-1939
Manuscript Collection No. 66
Introduction
The papers of Joseph G. Masters, principal of Central High School
in Omaha, and historian, were given to the Kansas State Historical Society
by him in 1943.
Linear feet of shelf space occupied: 1
Number of items: 346
There are no restrictions on access to these papers.
The subject of literary rights was not addressed at the time of donation,
consequently copyright is presumed to belong to Joseph G. Masters’
heirs.
This collection has been arranged to the folder level, described to
the series level, listed to the file-unit (folder) level, and cataloged
to the collection level. The entire collection has been microfilmed.
Processed by: Snell
Date: 1950s
Reprocessed by: Knecht
Date: 1986
Biographical Sketch
Joseph Gallio Masters was born 20 February 1873, in Harvey County,
Kansas. At the age of eighteen he attended the Kansas State Normal School
at Emporia (now Emporia State University), where he obtained a teaching
certificate by examination. He taught in Harvey County while continuing
to study at the normal school, and he received diplomas in the academic
and Latin courses in 1904. From Harvey County he moved to the Indian
Territory, where he was principal of a Choctaw boys’ school and
superintendent of schools at Wilburton. During the summers he studied
at the University of Chicago, receiving bachelor’s and master’s
degrees there.
He became superintendent of the booming Tulsa school district in 1906,
and in 1912 became a high-school principal in Oklahoma City. Three years
later he became principal of Central High in Omaha. Active in educational
organizations, he was one of the founders of the National Honor Society.
It was during his tenure at Central High that he began researching the
history of the American West and traveling across the United States
each summer interviewing and researching various aspects of Western
United States history. His research produced the books Stories of the
Far West (1935) and Shadows Fall Across the Little Horn (1951). He retired
in 1939 and spent the next three years as director of the Omaha Roundtable
of Christians and Jews and supervisor of education in Omaha for the
federal Work Projects Administration.
In 1943 he and his wife moved to her family home in Pennsylvania, where
he died 19 May 1954.
Additional biographical information may be found in “Joseph G.
Masters, 1873-1954, “Nebraska History, 36 (March 1955) : 55-70
(in the Library: GL 978.206 N27 v. 36 p. 55).
Scope and Contents
The Joseph G. Masters collection represents a part of his many years’
work to research and verify Western American history by traveling to
the actual sites of historical events and interviewing participants.
The collection is rife with correspondence between Masters and local
postmasters and other officials as he sought to learn the names of pioneers
or “old timers” in an area of whom he could request interviews.
Masters was one of a number of researchers of that period interested
in verifying facts about the Old West while many of the participants
were yet living.
While much of the correspondence relates to his efforts to locate
historical source materials, the series also reflects his participation
in the Oregon Trail centennial association and other historical organizations.
His correspondents include officials of the National Park Service, State
and local historical societies, and similar organizations.
Included in Masters’ “Miscellaneous Notes” are a
wide variety of primary and secondary accounts on a large number of
popular Western topics including trails, battles, and Indians. The series
combines the features of a scrapbook of clippings and articles with
notes prepared before and during his summer research trips, transcriptions
of interviews, bibliographies, and historical research notes.
The “Memorandum Books” are similar to the “Miscellaneous
Notes” in content, but obviously more transitory in nature. They
were meant to be taken with him as he traveled and include short notes
of descriptions that are supplemented by more extensive notes or research
in the “Miscellaneous Notes.”
The primary value of this collection may be its notes and transcriptions
of interviews with surviving participants of noted Western events. Researchers
studying the Old West will also find much of Masters’ research
to be helpful in locating sources extant in the 1930’s and newspaper
and other articles on Western topics. Researchers interested in western
trails and battles will particularly find Masters’ research and
on-site research notes to be of value.
Other collections of Masters’ papers are held by the Nebraska
State Historical Society and the Denver Public Library Western History
Department. Copies of their finding aids are available at the Kansas
State Historical Society. In addition, the society’s Photograph
Division holds a collection of photographs of the Santa Fe Trail taken
by Masters (TE. SF.). The Library has copies of his two books and other
articles by him as well as published biographical information about
him.
Other manuscript collections that include collected interviews and other
firsthand accounts of life in the pioneer West recorded in early twentieth
century include the William Elsey Connelley collection (#16), the Lilla
Day Monroe Collection of Pioneer Stories (#163, also on microfilm),
and the Jessie (Kennedy) Snell collection (#80). Numerous other nineteenth-century
collections of papers and diaries provide accounts of events in Kansas
and other Western States.
Series Descriptions
A. Correspondence. 1921-1938. 1 In. (86 items)
Draft and final letters sent and letters received relating to Masters’
research interests. Much of the correspondence is with local historians,
federal and State officials of whom Masters inquired for information
or names of contacts; pioneers and their descendants; and other writers
of Western history. Some of the letters relate to the Neihardt Club
of Omaha and the committee to commemorate the centennial of the Oregon
Trail. Also included are interviews with elderly people and their recollections
of places, facts, and events, and a facsimile of a letter from Will
Rogers to George W. Rainey thanking the latter for a copy of his book.
Subjects embraced in this series include locations of historic events;
Kit Carson; the Battle of the Washita; Custer’s 1868-69 Indian
campaign; the 19th Kansas Cavalry; the capture of Sarah White; military
posts in the Indian Territory; Crazy Horse and Fort Robinson, Nebraska;
the Donner party; the California gold rush; Billy the Kid; Lewis and
Clark; a proposed Jedediah Smith monument; and Homestead National Monument.
Correspondents include Paul C. Henderson, Verne E. Chatelain, Dan W.
Peery, Kirke Mechem, Floyd C. Shoemaker, Merrill J. Mattes, T. L. Green,
Olive K. Dixon, Mrs. Arthur Hulbert, and James W. Moffitt.
Arranged chronologically with undated letters at the beginning.
B. Miscellaneous Notes [Notes on Research Topics].
1900-1939. 8 In. (252 Items)
It is not known whether the title “Miscellaneous Notes”
was given to this material by Masters or the archivist who first processed
this collection. This series consists of correspondence with libraries,
local historians, site curators, historical societies, and related organizations;
copies of articles; excerpts of articles and other writings; interviews
with participants in historic events and their descendants; itineraries;
lists of people and places to see on trips; bibliographies; and field
notes taken during his research. Within each subject grouping, the material
has been left in its original order. Because of the interrelatedness
of the various components, no attempt has been made to separate or further
arrange them. Much of the material in this series was originally arranged
into notebooks. Subjects include the Powder River country; Bozeman,
Oregon, and Santa Fe trails; Wagon Box Fight; Fetterman Massacre; Cody—Yellow
Hand duel; Indian battles; Indian dances and legends; Jim Bridger; battlefields
of the West and the Washita, the Little Big Horn, Adobe Walls, and Beecher’s
Island battles; the Pony Express; the California gold rush; Mormons;
Chief Joseph; Dakota and Cheyenne accounts of battles; archeology; Fort
Supply, Indian Territory; Pueblo life; Medicine Lodge, Kansas; and Santa
Fe, New Mexico.
Arranged into broad but related subject groupings.
C. Memorandum Books. 1933-1936. 3 In. (I Vols.)
Books apparently used by Masters while on summer field trips. The
books contain trip logs, lists of historic sites, names of people to
contact, short sketches of historical events, and brief notes of interviews.
Subjects include the Oregon and California trails and Dakota Indians.
Arranged by year and thereunder by volume number.
Suggested Citation
The suggested citation form for this collection is:
[name of document], [date of document], [series], Joseph G. Masters
collection (#66), Library & Archives Division, Kansas State Historical
Society, Topeka. Box numbers are not necessary but often can help archivists
locate materials more quickly.
Some examples of specific documents:
J.S. Duncan to J. G. Masters, 21 Sept. 1933, folder 8, Correspondence
(series A, box 1), Joseph G. Masters collection, #66, Kansas State Historical
Society, Topeka, Library and Archives Division.
“Log 1933,” “The Southwest (1933),” 1920-1934,
folder 18, “Miscellaneous Notes,” 1900-1939, series B, box
2, Joseph G. Masters collection, #66, Library & Archives Division,
Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.
1934 4:10, vol. 6, “Memorandum Books,” 1933-1936, series
C, box 2, Joseph G. Masters collection, #66, Library & Archives
Division, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.
Kansas State Historical Society
Manuscripts Department
Masters, Joseph G[allio], 1900-1939.
346 items.
(Coll. 66)
Folder List
| MS |
Box |
|
|
|
|
No. |
| No. |
No. |
Ser. |
Fold. |
Description |
Dates |
Items |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1225 |
1 |
A |
|
Correspondence |
1921-1938 |
86 |
| |
|
|
1 |
|
[undated] |
2 |
| |
|
|
2 |
|
1921 |
1 |
| |
|
|
3 |
|
1927 |
|
| |
|
|
4
|
|
1928 |
|
| |
|
|
5 |
|
1930 |
1 |
| |
|
|
6 |
|
1931 |
3 |
| |
|
|
7 |
|
1932 |
2 |
| |
|
|
8 |
|
1933 |
7 |
| |
|
|
9 |
|
1934
Jan.-June |
15 |
| |
|
|
10 |
|
1934
July-Dec. |
17 |
| |
|
|
11 |
|
1935 |
14 |
| |
|
|
12 |
|
1936 |
13 |
| |
|
|
13 |
|
1937 |
5 |
| |
|
|
14 |
|
1938 |
4 |
| |
|
B |
|
Miscellaneous Notes [Notes on |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Research
Topics] |
1900-1939 |
252 |
| |
|
|
|
Powder
River country; Bozeman |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Trail;
Wagon Box Fight; Fetterman |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Massacre;
"Cody-Yellow Hand |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Duel
is Bunk," by A.E. Long |
|
|
| |
|
|
1 |
Folder
1 |
1928-1935
18 |
|
| |
|
|
2 |
Folder
2 |
1928-1932
18 |
|
| |
|
|
3 |
Folder
3 |
1919-1930
17 |
|
| |
|
|
4 |
Indian
battles, Miscellaneous trail |
ca.
1921-1935 |
6 |
| |
|
|
|
notes,
Indian lore, Jim Bridger |
|
|
| |
|
|
5 |
Notes
of the Battle of the Little Big |
1926-1933
16 |
|
| |
|
|
|
Horn
(Custer's Last Stand) |
|
|
| |
|
|
6 |
Oregon
Trail material: Field notes |
1930-1931
19 |
|
| |
|
|
|
and
plans for trip over route (1931) |
|
|
| |
|
|
7 |
Oregon
Trail material: Field notes |
1931-1932
19 |
|
| |
|
|
|
and
plans for trip over route (1932) |
|
|
| |
|
|
8 |
Notes
on the Battle of Beecher's |
1900-1933
14 |
|
| |
|
|
|
Island
Oregon Trail notes, |
1928-1930
53 |
|
| |
|
|
|
Battlefields
of the West |
|
|
| |
|
|
9 |
Folder
1 |
1928-1929
18 |
|
| |
|
|
10 |
Folder
2 |
1928-1929
18 |
|
| |
|
|
11 |
Folder
3 |
1929
July-1930 Feb. |
17 |
| |
|
|
|
Oregon
Trail, Marysville, Kans., |
1927-1937 |
25 |
| |
|
|
|
1935;
Oregon Trail notes; Pony |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Express
notes; California gold; |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Morman
hegira |
|
|
| |
|
|
12 |
Folder
1 |
1927-1937 |
18 |
| |
2 |
|
13 |
Folder
2 |
1932-1935 |
17 |
| |
|
|
14 |
Oregon
Trail material, Notes & |
1926-1935 |
4 |
| |
|
|
|
printed
information on emigration, |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Route
of the trail |
|
|
| |
|
|
15 |
"Explorations,"
1936-Nebraska, |
1932-1936 |
9 |
| |
|
|
|
Wyoming,
Montana, Dakotas; |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Retreat
of Chief Joseph; Sioux and |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Cheyenne
Accounts of Battle |
|
|
| 1226 |
|
|
16 |
Santa
Fe Trail notes (1927) |
1924-1927 |
2 |
| |
|
|
17 |
Santa
Fe Trail notes (1929-1930) |
1925-1930 |
5 |
| |
|
|
18 |
The
Southwest (1933) |
1920-1934 |
5 |
| |
|
|
19 |
The
Southwest (1935) |
1933-1937 |
8 |
| |
|
|
20 |
The
Southwest (1937) |
1931-1939 |
4 |
| |
|
|
|
Vol. |
|
|
| |
|
C |
|
Memorandum
Books |
1933-1936 |
8 |
| |
|
|
1 |
v.1 |
1933 |
1 |
| |
|
|
2 |
v.2 |
[1933?] |
1 |
| |
|
|
3 |
v.1 |
1934 |
1 |
| |
|
|
4 |
v..2 |
1934 |
1 |
| |
|
|
5 |
v.3 |
1934 |
1 |
| |
|
|
6 |
v.4 |
1934 |
1 |
| 1227 |
|
|
7 |
|
1935 |
1 |
| |
|
|
8 |
|
1936 |
1 |
|
