Scope and Contents
The collection documents the life and career of Helen Solberg Fowler, 1890-1962. Correspondence primarily consists of personal correspondence relating family news. Personal papers include her school records, a teaching contract, her parents' marriage certificate, ephemera, and a lock of her hair. The bulk of the collection comprises photographs, including photograph albums and scrapbooks. Present are family photographs ranging from Fowler's childhood to her married life and photographs and ephemera from Fowler’s time at Montana State University and Omnibus College, as well as her career as a teacher in Montana. The collection also includes photographs and ephemera from Fowler’s social and religious life, including teaching Sunday school at her church and cultural events in Montana.
Dates
- circa 1890-1962
Creator
Language of Materials
Chiefly in English, some correspondence in Norwegian.
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Helen Solberg Fowler Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from McBride Rare Books on the Arthur Corbitt Hoskins Memorial Fund, 2022.
Arrangement
Organized into three series: I. Correspondence, circa 1909-1962. II. Personal Papers, circa 1890-1960. III. Photographs, Photograph Albums, and Scrapbooks, circa 1900-1959.
Extent
6.21 Linear Feet (8 boxes)
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Biographical / Historical
Helen Solberg Fowler (1905-1972) was a teacher in Montana. She was born in Big Timber, Montana to John S. Solberg and Hannah Becken. Her father was a Norwegian immigrant who owned a clothing store. Fowler studied at Montana State University and Omnibus College, a traveling caravan of college students and professors which made field trips to historic sites, national parks, and cultural institutions across the United States. After graduating from college, Fowler became a teacher in Darby, Montana. She married Francis Fowler in 1934, and they had two children, John and Nancy.
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.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Processing Information
The collection was put in its current arrangement during processing in 2023. When acquired by the library, the papers were arranged primarily by size, with no discernible original order.
- Big Timber (Mont.)
- College students -- Montana
- Darby (Mont.)
- Fowler, Francis, 1900-1977
- Human hair
- Montana -- Description and travel
- Montana -- Pictorial works
- Montana -- Religious life and customs
- Montana -- Social life and customs -- 20th century
- Montana State University -- Bozeman -- Students
- Omnibus College -- Students
- Photograph albums
- Photographs
- Scrapbooks
- Solberg, Hannah Becken, 1866-1929
- Solberg, John S., 1863-1933
- Teachers -- Montana
- Tourists -- West (U.S.)
- West (U.S.) -- Pictorial works
- West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
- Women -- West (U.S.)
- Women college students -- Montana
- Women teachers -- Montana
- Title
- Guide to the Helen Solberg Fowler Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Stephanie Bredbenner
- Date
- 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
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.