Content Description Interview with Bennie Holmes of Helena, Montana on February 25, 2005, at the home of Mr. Holmes on Green Meadow Drive. The interviewer is Jodie Foley for the Montana Historical Society. The interview subjects include Mr. Holmes’s longtime residence in Helena beginning in 1915 with his birth in Radersburg, his family’s running of a saloon in that area for many years, going into the nineteen teens and the diphtheria epidemic, the 1920s and 1930s years and the depression. His experiences in...

Abstract Nickolas Kessler (1833-1901), a German immigrant, and his son Charles N. Kessler (1874-1957) were Helena, Montana, brewers, brick makers, and businessmen. Collection consists of six subgroups: Nickolas Kessler (1854-1900); Kessler Brewery (1865-1952); Kessler Brickyard (1877-1901); Saloon (1880-1901); Charles N. Kessler (1892-1950); and Nick Baatz Company (1914-1923). Collection includes correspondence, financial records, legal documents, subject files, production records, etc. reflecting...

Abstract Wellington Rankin was a Helena, Montana, attorney, rancher, state attorney general, associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court, U.S. district attorney, and Republican national committeeman. He also ran unsuccessfully for Governor, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives. This collection includes personal papers of Wellington Rankin and of several family members including Jeannette Rankin; political files; records of several businesses he owned; records of his ranch operations; and...