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Photographs of Abandoned Wooden Buildings and Artifacts in Montana

 Collection
Call Number: WA Photos 410

Scope and Contents

Photographs created by Richard Buswell of Helena, Montana, of abandoned wooden buildings and artifacts in Montana, 1975-2019, and printed by him, 1986-2020. Images include exteriors and interiors of cabins, barns, hotels, general stores, and blacksmith shops, as well as railroad trestles and cemeteries. Artifacts include examples of bedsprings, bird cages, blacksmith and carpentry tools, bottles, chairs, gardening implements, hand carts, hay rakes, mill stamps, pianos, toys, and wood stoves, as well as animal bones and skulls.

Dates

  • 1986-2019

Creator

Language of Materials

Manuscript captions in English.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Richard S. Buswell on the Arthur Corbitt Hoskins Memorial Fund, 2007-2020.

Purchased from Richard S. Buswell on the Frederick W. and Carrie S. Beinecke Fund for Western Americana, 2013-2017.

Gift of Richard S. Buswell, 2016-2018.

Arrangement

Organized into two series: I. Photographs, 1975-2019. II. Electronic Files, 2018.

Extent

3.33 Linear Feet (8 boxes)

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.buswell

Abstract

Photographs created by Richard S. Buswell of Helena, Montana, of abandoned wooden buildings and artifacts in Montana, 1975-2018, and printed by him, 1986-2019. Images include exteriors and interiors of cabins, barns, hotels, general stores, and blacksmith shops, as well as railroad trestles and cemeteries.

Richard S. Buswell (born 1945)

Richard S. Buswell is a medical doctor and photographer living in Helena, Montana. He published his first photographic work in the student newspaper of Helena High School in 1963. He continued his education at Carroll College from 1963 to 1966 and earned his medical degree from Oregon Health & Science University in 1970. The following year he began photographing abandoned towns, mining camps, and homesteads across Montana. In 1997 the University of Montana published his first book, Echoes: A Visual Reflection. Since then Buswell has published five more books including Close to Home: Photographs (New Mexico, 2013) and What They Left Behind: Photographs (New Mexico, 2017). In addition to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, his images are held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art (material formerly held by the Corcoran Gallery of Art), and the George Eastman House.

Processing Information

Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards. For more information, please refer to the Beinecke Manuscript Unit Processing Manual.

Each folder in the collection contains a single photographic print.

Title
Guide to the Richard S. Buswell, Photographs of Abandoned Wooden Buildings and Artifacts in Montana
Author
by Matthew Daniel Mason
Date
January 2018
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Revision Statements

  • February 2021: Integrated prints acquired in 2020-2021
  • December 2019: Integrated prints acquired in 2018-2019 and renumbered folders in the collection.

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

Contact:
P. O. Box 208330
New Haven CT 06520-8330 US
(203) 432-2977

Location

121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours

Access Information

The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.