Collection
M 203:
|
Years this material was
created:
1902-2003 (bulk 1902-1915)
Quantity:
.4 linear shelf feet (in
1 document case)
©2005 by Fort
Lewis College Foundation, Center of Southwest Studies account
Links to contents
| Preface | Introduction/ Scope and contents | |
| Administrative information | ||
| Container list | Center of Southwest Studies collection inventories | Center of Southwest Studies |
Introduction/ Scope and contents
This collection consists of papers and photos pertaining to Ernest and (more especially) Edith Shaw and their Sunset Ranch on Weminuche Creek in Archuleta County, Colorado. Ernest Wakefield Shaw built a log ranch cabin with his own hands on the couple’s federal homestead grant in the Weminuche region of southwest Colorado. The picture at right is of Ernest and Edith Shaw at the ranger station at Silverton, Colorado, in 1908 with their sons Bradford and Donald (click on picture for larger image).
More specifically, the contents of this collection are 15 letters, 42 small photoprints (in an album along with an index), and 1 drawing, pertaining to Ernest and Edith Shaw and their Sunset Ranch on Weminuche Creek in Archuleta County, Colorado. More specifically: fifteen letters (April 6 through Dec. 10, 1902) written by the donor’s grandmother Edith Taylor Shaw, and forty-two photoprints taken during 1902-1905 at or near the log ranch cabin that the donor’s grandfather Ernest Wakefield Shaw built with his own hands on the couple’s federal homestead grant in the Weminuche region of southwest Colorado. Weminuche Creek is northwest of Pagosa Springs, Colorado. The property is now owned by Robert Lindner. The letters are in good condition and have been transcribed, annotated and published by the Center of Southwest Studies with information derived from Mrs. Shaw’s diary as well as with information from her brother in law Alfred Victor Shaw’s unpublished memoirs. The letters, together with the notes, total approximately 39 typed pages. The photos are in a small photo album entitled Sunset Ranch, Dec. 25, ’05. The album includes an index (prepared by the donor’s grandfather, probably in 1905) dating or describing each of the photos. In addition, the donated photos include other photoprints taken in 1902-1905 of the surrounding area, and some photoprints dating from 1907-1915 when Mr. Shaw was successively the head of the Montezuma Forest, the San Juan Forest, and the Durango National Forest. Also, this accession includes the copy loan a pencil drawing dating from 1902 by the artist/ writer Rose O’Neil (when she and her novelist husband were camping nearby): it is a sketch of the donor’s grandmother. (O’Neil is known for later creating the Kewpie Doll.)
The collection also includes a student paper by Kathleen Shaw Anderson, May 9, 1962, entitled "Gifford Pinchot and the early days of the U.S. Forest Service." (Accession 2003:06006) Ms. Anderson noted that her father, Ernest Wakefield Shaw, was Supervisor of the Absaroka (sp?) National Forest at the time of her birth. She "could tell, as the years went by, that the years in the USFS were the happiest for him as far as work was concerned. He maintained friendships with those he had known and my brother Donald became a Forest Service employee -- to Dad's delight."
Administrative information
Acquisition information: This material was donated to the Center by deed of deed of gift signed 9/22/2002 (accession 2002:09005) and deed of gift signed 7/2/03 by Kathleen Shaw Anderson for accession 2003:06006.
Processing information: Center of Southwest Studies archival assistant Linda Baker produced the folder list on 7/29/2005. The collection inventory and web mastering were by Todd Ellison, C.A. Edith Shaw's correspondence was edited by Ruth Cross for publication by the Center of Southwest Studies. 300 copies of a Center of Southwest Studies booklet entitled Letters from a Weminuche Homestead, 1902 were printed in 12/2002, as the first in an envisaged Center of Southwest Studies Occasional Papers series on Women’s History in the West. The Lindner family of Cincinnati, Ohio donated $5,000 for the production of the book.
Arrangement scheme/ about the organization of this collection: This material is organized in a single series of folders, arranged chronologically for the most part. (The book that was published from this material is in Folder 1.)
Container listing (all, in Box 1)
Folder 1 Edith Taylor Shaw’s letters from a Weminuche homestead, 1902/ book, published by Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, 2003. [1 volume; 60 pages].
Folder 2 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her “folks at home” Samuel and Harriett E. Shaw, 1902 April 6 [2 sheets of pages and 1 envelope].
Folder 3 Edith Shaw, correspondence to Samuel Shaw, 1902 Apr. 24 (postmark date)(3 pieces of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 4 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her family, 1902 May 8 [4 sheets of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 5 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her mother Harriett E. Shaw, 1902 June 2 [2 pieces of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 6 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her mother Harriett E. Shaw, 1902 July 6 [3 pieces of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 7 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her mother Harriett E. Shaw, 1902 July 29 [3 pieces of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 8 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her mother and ‘dear everybody”, 1902 Aug. 12 and 23 [5 sheets of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 9 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her mother Harriett E. Shaw, 1902 Sept. 6 [3 pieces of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 10 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her parents and three brothers, 1902 Sept. 15 [2 sheets of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 11 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her mother Mrs. Harriett E. Shaw, 1902 Oct. 17 and 1906 Oct. 25 [3 pieces of paper and 2 posted envelope].
Folder 12 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her mother Harriett E. Shaw, 1902 Nov. 4 [3 pieces of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 13 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her mother, 1902 Nov. 10 [3 pieces of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder 14 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her family, 1902 Nov.- Dec. 4 [2 pieces of paper; no envelope].
Folder 15 Edith Shaw, correspondence to her mother Harriett E. Shaw, 1902 Dec. 10, and one from her Ernest to his mother (undated) [3 pieces of paper and 1 envelope].
Folder
16 Ernest W. and Edith T. Shaw land patent deed records and
correspondence, 1997 Aug. [4 pages].
Folder 17 Edith Shaw’s Sunset Ranch photo album, 1902-1905 Dec. 25 [40 photoprints and index]. This is a small leather photo album marked “Sunset Ranch, Dec 25, 05, Brownies” (i.e., snapshots taken with a Kodak Brownie camera). Contents: forty-two photoprints and index. The album is in poor condition. The Center of Southwest Studies has digitally scanned all of these photos.
Folder 18 Edith Shaw’s Weminuche property photoprints, circa 1902-1909 [12 photoprints]. The Center of Southwest Studies has digitally scanned all of these photos.
Folder 19 Ernest and Edith Shaw photos, (photocopies of).
Folder 20 Edith Shaw’s Weminuche property digital photographic paper printout et al., made in 2003 [18 pages].
Folder 21 The Spenders/ by Harry Leon Wilson, illustrated by O’Neill Latham (Grossett & Dunlap, 1902 May) [1 volume, hardback]. Inside its front cover is a photoprint of H. L. Wilson and Rose riding horses.
Folder 22 Gifford Pinchot and the early days of the U.S. Forest Service, student paper/ by Kathleen Shaw Anderson, 1962 May 9 [19 p.].
Folder 23 Edith Taylor Smith correspondence, 1902, photocopies of typescript and cover letter from Jonathan A. Shaw, 1997 Aug. 25.
Folder 24 Typescript/ transcript and notes for production of the book, 2002-2003.Doing your own research: This description of a portion of the collections at the Fort Lewis College Center of Southwest Studies is provided to inform interested parties about the nature and depth of the repository's collections. It cannot serve as a substitute for a visit to the repository for those with substantial research interests in the collections.
This collection is located at the Center of Southwest Studies on the campus of Fort Lewis College. Researchers wanting more information about using this material at the Delaney Southwest Research Library at the Center may email the archivist at archives@fortlewis.edu or click here to use our E-mail Reference Request Form (or phone the archivist at 970/247-7126). The Center does not have a budget for outgoing long-distance phone calls to answer reference requests, so please email if you wish to receive a response from the Center. To request reproductions/copies, click here for instructions.