H. E. WHEATON:
An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
| | |
| Creator: |
Wheaton, H. E. (Herbert E.),
1871-1954, creator.
|
| Title: | Herbert Wheaton and family
papers. |
| Dates: | 1888-1954. |
| Language: | Materials in English.
|
| Abstract: | Papers of the publisher (1912-1952) of a small-town weekly
newspaper (Hokah, Houston County, Minn.) documenting his political and social
opinions, Republican politics in Minnesota, the operation of the Hokah Chief newspaper, and incidentally, his teaching
career (1898-1910) and his local insurance agency. |
| Quantity: | 1.75 cubic feet (3 boxes). |
| Location: | See Detailed Description for shelf
locations. |
Herbert E. Wheaton was born in Janesville, Minnesota on July 14, 1871, the son of
Hudson and Fannie E. (Boehm) Wheaton. He graduated from the Wisconsin State Normal
School at LaCrosse, following which he worked in the Hokah public school as a
teacher (1898-1910) and principal (1910-1912). In 1912 he became editor and
publisher of the Hokah Chief, a weekly newspaper that
he ran until his 1952 retirement. During his tenure the newspaper was known for
scathing (conservative) political commentary and racy humor.
Wheaton also served as mayor of Hokah (1938-1940), represented the first district in
the Minnesota House of Representatives (1940-1941), and was active in newspaper
associations and in the Republican Party.
He married Louisa E. Wiegand [Allie Snure] (d. 1925) in 1898, her sister Matilda E.
Snure [Tillie] in 1928, and Sophie Kaemerling Arnold in 1934. Wheaton died in
Caledonia on July 27, 1954, and was survived by his wife Sophie, a son (Herbert H.,
Fresno, California), and three daughters (Gladys Ahrens, Cleveland; Marilouise
Jackson, Birmingham, Michigan; and Dorothy Tinsley, Arlington, Texas).
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Papers include correspondence, newspaper opinion pieces and other articles
(1931-1954), poems submitted to the newspaper (undated, 1942, 1949), a diary
1894-1896) of Wheaton's father Hudson, and a Hokah public school principal's pupil
record (1906, 1910). The collection also includes family correspondence and related
materials, printed materials, and correspondence and papers from various businesses
and from his teaching career that were all originally filed with the Herschel V.
Jones and family papers.
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Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here].
Herbert Wheaton and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional
examples
Accession Information:
Accession number: 7166; 16,323
Processing Information:
Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project
grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission
(NHPRC).
Catalog ID number: 990017374200104294
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Location | Box |
| P2321 | 1 | Biographical information compiled by cataloger, 1998. |
| | | Obituaries of Wheaton, and biographical sketches of him and his father from
various published sources, supplemented by typed extracts of information
from the Minnesota state census (1885, 1895). |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Correspondence and related papers, undated, 1888-1898,
1909-1946. 12 folders. |
| | | The series of correspondence documents Wheaton's succesive careers as
teacher, insurance agent, and country newspaper owner and editor, as well as
his Republican Party activities and his relationships with his children. |
| | | The undated materials include the constitution of the Houston County Press
Club, a petition for rural free mail delivery to Hokah, a letter from
Republican legislator Roy E. Dunn on political matters, and a pamphlet
entitled Why I Am a Klansman. |
| | | The 1888-1898 materials largely document Wheaton's teaching career and
include credentialing certificates (1888-1894) and letters of
recommendation. There are also a few press-related items, an Odd Fellows
certificate (1896-1898), and a First District Republican Convention (1896)
badge. The 1915-1921 papers are largely concerned with his local insurance
agency. |
| | | Materials from the 1930s through 1946 consist largely of letters commenting
on articles and poems appearing in the paper, commentary on local and state
political matters and other current events (especially in Hokah and
LaCrosse), and business and accounting matters regarding the newspaper.
Included are a letter (April 7, 1931) upon the 75th anniversary of the Hokah Chief with information on its founding and
philosophy, followed by congratulatory letters from readers; letters from
his civil engineer son Herbert (1931, 1934), one of them from Oslo where he
was attending a conference on world hydro-electric power and the
International Conference on Large Dams; a number of letters on Minnesota
politics and one on the national Farmer-Labor convention (1934); and sundry
Wheaton family information including an incomplete genealogical chart. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Location | Box |
| P2321 | 2 | Correspondence and related papers, 1947-1952. 3 folders. |
| | | The later correspondence continues the themes from the earlier period
including a fair number of letters concerning the 1948 elections. As was the
case in the political letters from the previous decade, the postwar
correspondence reveals opinions of the Republican Party's conservative wing
within the state and national party organizations, with particularly bitter
feelings against Harold Stassen and his supporters. A letter (November 7,
1951) from Robert Taft thanks Wheaton for supporting his potential
presidential campaign. Several leaflets express antisemitic or isolationist
sentiments. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Poems submitted to Hokah Chief, undated, 1942, 1949. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Wheaton's article manuscripts, undated, 1941-1948. |
| | | Typescript articles written by Wheaton, presumably for the Hokah Chief, and dealing with local, national,
and world politics. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Newspaper clippings, undated, 1931-1954. |
| | | Articles on local, national, and world political affairs, many of them from
the Hokah Chief. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Hudson Wheaton diary, 1894-1896. |
| | | The diary (December 20, 1894-April 1, 1896), kept by Wheaton's father,
contains brief entries concerning the weather; family events; holiday
celebrations; social activities including meetings of the Grand Army of the
Republic, the Women's Relief Corps, and the Odd Fellows lodge; lectures and
dramatic presentations; Knute Nelson's election to the U.S. Senate (January
23, 1895); his sons' ownership of the Mabel
Enterprise (1895); his election (March 1896) as justice of the
peace, with occasional mention of cases handled; Methodist and Episcopal
worship services; formation of an Eastern Star group; and other details on
life in a small town in the 1890s. |
| | | The last two pages in the volume contain very brief entries for 1909-1915 by
an unknown diarist. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Hokah public school principal's record book, 1906, 1910. |
| | | Very brief records kept by two departing principals of the Hokah common
school, in order to provide an adequate record for their successors with
regard to promotional recommendations for individual students and similar
matters. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Location | Box |
| 129.E.1.3B | 3 | Business correspondence: Mrs. Anna Snure, 1909-1910. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Business correspondence and receipts, 1905-1938. 9 folders. |
| | | Includes Darn EZ Laboratories and Wheaton Laboratories materials. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Miscellaneous, undated and 1929. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | News clippings, undated and 1925-1931. |
| | | Includes poems by Henry Peck, another name used by H. E. Wheaton. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Personal papers, 1898-1930. |
| | | Includes correspondence concerning Wheaton's wife Matilda, who was a resident
of a state hospital for the insane in 1929. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Family correspondence, undated and 1924-1932. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Louisa E. Wheaton, undated and 1900-1909. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Matilda E. Snure [Mrs. H. E. Wheaton], 1926-1930, 1947. |
| | | Includes letters from Matilda Wheaton written in 1947 from a hospital in
Rochester. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Marilouise Wheaton scrapbook. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Miscellaneous printed materials. 4 volumes. |
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Antisemitism -- Minnesota.
- Conservatism -- Minnesota.
- Episcopalians -- Minnesota.
- Insurance companies -- Minnesota -- Hokah.
- Newspapers.
- Political candidates -- Minnesota.
- Political candidates -- United States.
- Political conventions -- Minnesota.
- Politics, Practical -- Minnesota.
- Schools -- Minnesota -- Hokah.
- Isolationism -- United States.
- Persons:
- Dunn, Roy E., 1886-1985.
- Gilbert, A. B., 1887-1967.
- Haddon, Blake.
- Schmahl, Julius A. (Julius August),
1867-1955.
- Stassen, Harold E. (Harold Edward),
1907-2001.
- Taft, Robert A. (Robert Alphonso),
1889-1953.
- Wheaton, Hudson, 1840-1896.
- Wheaton family -- Minnesota.
- Organizations:
- Farmer-Labor Party (Minn.).
- Republican Party (U.S. :
1854-).
- Places:
- Caledonia (Minn.).
- Hokah (Minn.).
- LaCrosse (Wis.).
- United States -- Foreign relations -- 20th
century.
- Document Types:
- Grade books.
- Diaries.
- Poems.
- Occupations:
- Insurance agents.
- Newspaper editors.
- School principals.
- Teachers.
- Titles:
- Hokah chief (Hokah, Minn. : 1927).
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