Daniel S. McCorkle papers, 1910-1974

Overview of the Collection

Creator
McCorkle, Daniel Spencer, 1880-1956
Title
Daniel S. McCorkle papers
Dates
1910-1974 (inclusive)
Quantity
3.5 linear feet of shelf space
Collection Number
MC 59 (collection)
Summary
Daniel McCorkle (1880-1956) was a Presbyterian minister in Sunrise, WY, and Conrad, Montana. The collection contains general correspondence (1911-1956), subject files (1910-1956), writings (1912-1953); and other materials documenting his works as a minister, social worker, educator, and socialist. There is a small subgroup about Dorothy Floerchinger's biography of McCorkle, To Speak of Love Was Not Enough.
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov
Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Daniel Spencer McCorkle was born on March 29, 1880, in Ridge Prairie, Missouri, the son of Archibald and Hepsabeth McCorkle. He received his early education at area schools while working on his father's farm. In 1903 McCorkle entered Missouri Valley College (Presbyterian), located in Marshall, Missouri. He worked as a farm hand in the Midwest during the summers between 1903 and his graduation in 1909. After graduation, he joined the Socialist Party and organized a chapter of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society on the Missouri Valley campus. In 1910 he enrolled at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, while studying for a master's degree in sociology at Columbia University. In the summer of 1911 he wrote his master's thesis, "An Agricultural Community, or the Social Phenomena of a Rural District," based upon his experiences as a miner in Bearcreek, Montana. In 1913 after graduation from the seminary, he met Panayiota Alexandrakis, a Greek immigrant and graduate of Springfield International College. They married a year later and moved to Sunrise, WY, where McCorkle served as a Presbyterian minister. Improving the life of the miners and their families in the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company-controlled town became one of McCorkle's major goals. As a part of his effort, he testified in 1915 before the United States Commission on Industrial Relations. McCorkle was elected as moderator of the Cheyenne Presbytery in 1916. However, early the following year his wife's failing health necessitated a move to Chance, Montana, where McCorkle served as a circuit minister while teaching at Bearcreek High School. In 1930 the McCorkles and their two sons moved to Conrad, Montana, where he became Presbyterian minister for the town and surrounding farm region. In succeeding years, Conrad was the center for the many activities McCorkle pursued. In 1941, McCorkle was appointed by Governor Sam C. Ford to the Board of Public Welfare. He used this position to publicize the plight of the mentally ill and the retarded. Encouraged by public support, he established the Montana Welfare Association in 1947, to extend the work of the State Board of Public Welfare. Throughout his life, McCorkle maintained his membership in the Socialist Party, an often unpopular stance, which caused some difficulty in his ministerial career. He continued his public work until his death in July 1956.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

This collection consists of general correspondence (composed in part of incoming and outgoing correspondence without reciprocal response), financial records, legal documents, subject files, writings reflecting McCorkle's various interests, clippings, and miscellany. The collection documents his efforts as a Presbyterian minister, educator, and social worker, and his involvement in the Socialist Party. The General Correspondence series (1911-1956) includes correspondence with other Presbyterian ministers, and with a variety of political and social organizations. Correspondents include the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, the Presbyterian Church, E.S. Gaddis of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, the United Mine Workers of America, the U.S. Industrial Relations Commission, S.K. Markley, Robert S. Lynd, the Montana Education Association, the Montana School Boards Association, the Montana Board of Public Welfare, and various other Montana state agencies. The Financial Records series (1915-1955) consists of receipts and statements. The Legal Documents series (1919, 1924) contains an agreement and a lease. The Subject Files series (1910-1956, undated) includes files on agriculture; the Intercollegiate Socialist Society; labor in Montana, WY, and Colorado; the Montana State Board of Public Welfare; the Montana State Industrial School and other Montana state institutions; the Montana Welfare Association; the National Popular Government League; the peace movement; the Presbyterian Church, including the WY Presbytery; public education; the Socialist Party in Conrad, Montana; McCorkle's testimony before the U.S. Industrial Relations Commission; and a file on Sunrise, WY. The Miscellany series (1910-1951, 1972, undated) includes a printed biography of Daniel McCorkle's father entitled "Rev. Archibald McCorkle, Pioneer Minister and Teacher of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Missouri and Texas, 1795-1870," by the Rev. Louis McCorkle, published by the Memphis Theological Seminary in 1972. A small subgroup, Dorothy Floerchinger Subgroup, contains correspondence (1967, 1973-1974) relating to Floerchinger's biography of McCorkle, To Speak of Love Was Not Enough, and hand-written fragments of the biography.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.

Preferred Citation

Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

Arranged by subgroup and series

Location of Collection

4:3-5

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

Separated Materials

Photographs separated to Photo Archives. See inventory below for more information.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection

Daniel S. McCorkle Return to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
General Correspondence
Box/Folder
1 / 1
American Civil Liberties Union (Roger N. Baldwin)
1923-1938
1 / 2
A (correspondents include Penayiota Alexandrakis, Archie Allison, American Association for Labor Legislation, William F. Anderson, Anti-Saloon League of Colorado, Appeal to Reason, Ella V. Archer, I.P. Axtell)
1911-1948
1 / 3
Ba-Bl (correspondents include H.W. Bainton, Bank of Marshall [Missouri], Ira W. Barnett, Bear Creek Schools, Leslie A. Bechtel, L.M. Berry, W.H. Bessire, George E. Bevans, Philip S. Bird, Hugo L. Black)
1914-1948
1 / 4
Bo-Bu (correspondents include A.M. Boggs, John W. Bonner, G.A. Bosley, W.T. Boult, Harry L. Bowlby, Boy Scouts of America, Ward F. Boyd, Isabel Bradshaw, Frank W. Bretnall, William Adams Brown)
1912-1956
1 / 5
Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (Sunrise, WY)
1915-1916
1 / 6
Congregational Home Missionary Society
1914-1917
1 / 7
C (correspondents include Ethelyn Campbell, George W. Campbell, James Campbell, Centralia [Washington] Publicity Committee, Eva Maxey Chenault, Lill Christiana, P.A. Chronopoulos, G.L. Clark, George A. Coe, Henry Sloane Coffin, Colorado Supply Company, Comfort, Calvin Coolidge, J.D. Currens)
1911-1948
1 / 8
Edward E. DeLong (Alexis, IL)
1916
1 / 9
William T. Dumm (Guernsey and Cheyenne, WY)
1914-1916
1 / 10
D (correspondents include Freeman Daughters, D.M. Davies, Sheldon E. Davis, [Eugene V.] Debs Memorial Radio Fund, Wesley D'Ewart, C.C. Dexter, Joseph M. Dixon, Bayard Dodge)
1911-1952
1 / 11
E (correspondents include William Eadie, Fred Eastman, Zales N. Ecton, Educational Co-operative Publishing Company, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Samuel Ekstein, A.T. Ely, Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists [Albert Einstein], Louis Espenhain)
1912-1952
1 / 12
Charles P. Fagnani (Union Theological Seminary)
1915-1923
1 / 13
Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union / Farmers Union News (Leonard Kenfield)
1914-1953
1 / 14
Ralph A. Felton (Presbyterian Church. Board of Home Missions)
1915-1923
1 / 15
F (correspondents include W.C. Faucette, Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, E.H. Fellbaum, John A. Fitch, Dorothy Floerchinger, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Henry Ford)
1911-1949
1 / 16-17
E.S. Gaddis (chaplain, Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Department of Sociology, Trinidad, CO)
1914-1915
1 / 18
J.B.. Gallaway (Bushnell, NE)
1916
1 / 19
G (correspondents include Marion G. Giffen, George M. Gordon)
1912-1955
1 / 20
E.S. and Freda Hall (Belfry, MT)
1921-1948
1 / 21
F.T. Heatley (Lingle, WY)
1915-1917
1 / 22
Grace Raymond Hebard (University of Wyoming Librarian)
1914-1917
1 / 23
H (correspondents include Herbert H. Haight, Floyd Hamilton, Clement S. Hanna, David E. Hannum, Warren G. Harding, A. Haywood, Hubert C. Herring, C.T. Hodsdon, A.E. Hoffman, John Haynes Holmes, E.L. Holsinger, Homestead Land and Loan League, Herbert Hoover, E. Huntington)
1913-1952
1 / 24
Intercollegiate Socialist Society
1911-1913
1 / 25
I (correspondents include Benjamin Iorns, A.B. Irwin)
1916-1926
1 / 26
H. Jacobs (Jay Em, WY)
1916-1918
1 / 27
J-K (correspondents include Harry E. Johnston, Mrs. Oscar Kalgaard, Florence Kelley, Glenn Kellogg, E.E. Kelso [Belfry Home Guard], Judson King, James F. Kittleson, James W. Knorr, Jay Knox, Carl Kraenzel)
1911-1952
1 / 28
Lawrence, Massachusetts (re strike)
1912
1 / 29
M. DeWitt Long (Sheridan, WY)
1915-1921
1 / 30
Robert S. Lynd (New York, NY)
1921-1923, 1953
1 / 31
L (correspondents include Robert LaFollette campaign, Scott Leavitt, Samuel H. Lee, Robert C. Line, S.R. Logan, Gertrude Looker, Lord's Day Alliance, George H. Lowry)
1915-1952
2 / 1
S.K. Markley (Hillsdale, WY)
1916-1926
2 / 2
R.R. Marquis (Basin and Sheridan, WY)
1916-1930
2 / 3
McCorkle family (includes A.R., Benjamin R., Hugh, Penayiota, Virginia, William E.)
1914-1944
2 / 4
David S. McMartin (Cheyenne, WY)
1919-1923
2 / 5
Mc (correspondents include J.E. McAfee, Francis J. McConnell [Workers Defense League], Helen B. McGregor, Ray McKaig, Mrs. E.R. McLean)
1915-1952
2 / 6-9
Montana. Board of Public Welfare
1941-1950
2 / 10
Montana. Dept. of Public Instruction / State Board of Education (includes May Trumper, Elizabeth Ireland, Mary Condon)
1922-1950
2 / 11
Montana. Governor (includes Sam C. Ford, John W. Bonner)
1943-1952
2 / 12
Montana. Governor's Committee on Mental Health
1954
2 / 13
Montana State Hospital (Warm Springs)
1947-1949
2 / 14
Montana State Industrial School (Miles City)
1951-1952
2 / 15
Montana State Training School (Boulder)
1950-1951
2 / 16
Montana. [miscellaneous state agencies]
1924-1951
2 / 17
Montana Education Association
1929
2 / 18
Montana Federation of Women's Clubs
1947-1953
2 / 19
Montana School Boards Association
1946-1952
2 / 20
Montana Welfare Association
1947-1951
2 / 21
M (correspondents include Norman Maclean, Byron Martin, Louisa Martin, The Masses Publishing Company, Maudlow Schools, Lillie Miller, J.W. Mitchell, George Morast, James Morgan, James E. Murray, Anna Musselman)
1912-1956
2 / 22
National Popular Government League
1920-1951
2 / 23
Clarence A. Neff (Foochow College, China)
1912-1924
2 / 24
Millard F. Newport (Basin, WY)
1916-1917
2 / 25
N (correspondents include National Child Labor Committee, National Council for the Prevention of War, National Mental Health Foundation, National Nonpartisan League, George T. Needels, New York City Mission Society)
1912-1950
2 / 26
O (correspondents include James F. O'Connor, Richard B. Owen)
1911-1952
2 / 27
W.E. Patton (LaGrange, WY)
1916-1923
2 / 28
Platte County (WY) Library, Sheriff, Commissioners, etc.
1915-1917
3 / 1-6
Presbyterian Church. Board of Home Missions
1912-1928, 1950
3 / 7
P (correspondents include Paul J. Paulsen, John M. Penick, People's Voice, Fred W. Pfifer, William B. Phillips, William Pippy, Prairie County schools)
1912-1950
3 / 8
R (correspondents include Frank A. Reed, Ronan Public Schools, Roundup City Schools, O.O. Russell, S.C. Ryland)
1913-1950
3 / 9
D. Augustus Shetler; Florence Shetler (Sunrise, WY)
1916
3 / 10
Socialist Party
1911-1939
3 / 11
The Survey
1912-1946
3 / 12
S (correspondents include Huyett Sangree, Ted R. Schoenborn, Laurens Seelye, Harry G. Simpson, Newell S. Sims, Nicholas B. Skuris, Sons of American Revolution, Mike Stamanolakis, Sergius Stchukin, Charles Stelzle, August Stocker, Paul Moore Strayer, Herbert Sturges, Sweet Grass School District)
1912-1952
3 / 13
F.W. Thomas (Shawnee, WY)
1916
3 / 14
T (correspondents include Russel Taylor, Teton County schools, Norman Thomas, Lester A. Thompson, G.W. Tobin, Joseph E. Tope, Myron Tripp)
1912-1950
3 / 15
Union Theological Seminary
1912-1948
3 / 16
United Mine Workers of America
1915-1917
3 / 17
United States. Industrial Relations Commission
1915
3 / 18
U (correspondents include United States Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Attorney General, United States Bureau of Census, United States Commission on Colorado Mines and Labor, United States Forest Service, United States Immigration Service, to Utah Governor urging mercy for Joe Hill)
1911-1939
3 / 19
V (correspondents include Vasilike Vaitses, George F. Vanderveer, Tertius Van Dyke, J.H. Varner, Willys Violett, John R. Voris)
1913-1952
3 / 20
William L. Wade (Wheatland, WY)
1916-1918
3 / 21
Frank P. Walsh (Kansas City, MO]
1914-1926, undated
3 / 22
J.R. Walter (Powell, WY)
1925
3 / 23
Burton K. Wheeler
1938-1945
4 / 1
Lloyd T. Williams (New York, NY)
1914-1924
4 / 2
Warren H. Wilson (New York, NY)
1913-1914, undated
4 / 3
Wisconsin Rural Schools Association
1949
4 / 4
Burton H. Woodford (Guernsey, WY)
1914-1915
4 / 5
Wyoming Labor Journal / Wyoming State Federation of Labor (Harry W. Fox)
1915-1925
4 / 6
W (correspondents include Thomas J. Walsh, Hazel Walter, Booker T. Washington, Rufus W. Weeks, William Weldon, Wheatland (WY) Hospital, M.L. Wilson, William B. Wilson, Cline H. Witteman, Milus Womack, George Woodard, Miriam L. Woodberry, Woodmen of the World, Ralph M. Woolley, Frank Wynkoop, WY Anti-Saloon League, WY Children's Home Society, WY Public Health Association, WY Trust and Savings Bank)
1912-1952
4 / 7
Y (correspondents include Young Men's Christian Association [YMCA], Gilford Youst)
1915-1923
4 / 8
Unidentified
1913-1954
Financial Records
Box/Folder
4 / 9
Miscellaneous (includes bills and receipts)
1915-1955
Legal Documents
Box/Folder
4 / 10
Miscellaneous (includes lease of house in Park County, WY; life insurance agreement)
1919, 1932
Photographs
Box/Folder
4 / 11
List of photographs transferred to Photo Archives
Subject Files
Box/Folder
4 / 12
Agriculture (includes brochures, resolution of Farmers Union, description of Canyon Creek neighborhood in Billings)
1945-1947, undated
4 / 13
Government (includes Progressive Party of Montana bulletin, Cascade County Legislative Committee notes on legislature, press release by Earl Warren)
1946-1951
4 / 14
Intercollegiate Socialist Society
1911-1913
4 / 15
Labor: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado (includes Bearcreek United Mine Workers union dues card, People's Cooperative Society dues book, Colorado Fuel and Iron Company labor contract, "Lawson Case: a Brief History," "The War on Colorado Miners," "The Church and Industrial Warfare: a Report on the Labor Troubles in Colorado and Michigan,")
1910-1928
4 / 16
Labor: miscellaneous (includes "Labor Temple Bulletin," "Sacco-Venzetti Bulletin," writings by Frank P. Walsh, National Mooney-Billings Committee, The People's Lobby, socialist pamphlets)
1911 - circa 1940s
4 / 17
Montana. Board of Public Welfare (includes agendas, circulars, etc.)
1941-1947, undated
5 / 1-2
Montana. Board of Public Welfare (includes financial and statistical data)
1937-1949, undated
5 / 3
Montana. Board of Public Welfare (includes minutes)
1942-1944
5 / 4
Montana. Board of Public Welfare (includes publications)
1946-1952
5 / 5
Montana. State Industrial School (includes report on conditions, 1951; bulletins; etc.)
1942-1955
6 / 1
Montana. Governor's Committee on Mental Health (includes minutes, reports on State Hospital at Warm Springs, State Training School at Boulder, etc.)
1942-1956
6 / 2
Montana Welfare Association (includes constitution, membership lists, circular letters, agendas, minutes, etc.)
1946-1952, undated
6 / 3
National Popular Government Association (includes news bulletins, financial reports, Judson King articles)
1918-1951, undated
6 / 4
Peace movement (includes materials of Organization of American Women for Strict Neutrality, Presbyterian Church, National Council for the Prevention of War, American Civil Liberties Union, Montana A.P.C. Peace Pilgrimage, emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists)
1915-1951, undated
6 / 5
Presbyterian Church and WY Presbytery (includes publications, reports, application for financial support, minutes of Sheridan Presbytery, salary subscriptions)
1912-1926, 1943, undated
6 / 6
Public education (includes minutes of community meetings of Council for the Improvement of Public Education, reports, petitions, financial data sheets, circular letters, etc.)
1947-1952, undated
6 / 7-8
Public education: publications and writings (includes exerpts from thesis by Agnes B. Wiggenhorn, "Administration and Reorganization of Montana School Districts," "Report of the Montana Committee on Public Elementary and Secondary School Organization and Finance," public education section of Montana Constitution, proposed legislation, "The Function of Education in a Democracy," by Alexander Rosen)
1918-1953, undated
7 / 1
Socialist Party, Conrad, Mont. (includes account book, application for charter, minutes, membership cards)
1912-1916, 1932
7 / 2
Socialist Party (national: includes constitution, pamphlets, Arizona Socialist Bulletin re Clifton miners' strike, application for charter, minutes, membership cards)
1912-1932
7 / 3
Sunrise, WY (includes Colorado Fuel and Iron Company Industrial Bulletin, proposed constitution for non-denominational Church, petition against liquor, wage scale, petition for a new hall, list of residents,)
1915-1917
7 / 4
U.S. Industrial Relations Commission testimony of Daniel McCorkle (re conditions at Colorado Fuel and Iron Company camp at Sunrise, WY)
1915
Writings
Box/Folder
7 / 5
Miscellaneous (includes "A Purchased Conviction," "Twenty Months in a Mining Camp," "Liberty for John Lawson," "Farm Incomes in Wayne County, Ohio," "Alexander Miller," "Politics, Religion and Coal," "The Political Boss of Cheyenne Presbytery," "Conditions at Sunrise, WY," "Remember Lawrence [Mass.]," "The labor Union as the Greatest Moral Force of the Present Age," "What Became of Sabre-Tooth?" "Labor Haters," "The Pondera Duckling")
1912-1919, undated
7 / 6
Miscellaneous (mostly untitled and fragments: re Montana State Hospital, Montana State Industrial School, Industrial Conditions Committee of Y.M.C.A., Ohio Rural Life Survey, etc.)
1932-1953, undated
7 / 7
Robert Wells Rogers (includes "The Reverent Life," "Normal World Federation," "A New Civilization," "What Will Win")
1945, undated
Miscellany
Box/Folder
8 / 1
"Rev. Archibald McCorkle: Pioneer Minister and Teacher of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Missouri and Texas, 1795-1870," by Louis McCorkle
1972
8 / 2
Pamphlets, flyers, reports on conditions of farm workers, outline of thesis on Bear Creek, etc. [no order]
1910-1951, undated
Clippings
Box/Folder
8 / 3
Miscellaneous (re Sunrise, WY, John Lawson, Industrial Commission, labor, Centralia, Wash., Belgium, etc. [no order])
1913-1932, undated
8 / 4
Miscellaneous (re education, race relations, mental hospitals, McCarran Act, farm cooperatives, Montana State Industrial School, etc. [no order])
1942-1953, undated

Dorothy Floerchinger Return to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Incoming Correspondence
Box/Folder
8 / 5
Re Daniel McCorkle (correspondents include Anne Needham, Harry L. Billings)
1967, 1973-1974
Writings
Box/Folder
8 / 6
To Speak of Love Was Not Enough, (draft of portion of one chapter)
undated

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Clergy--Montana
  • Coal mines and mining--WY
  • High schools--Montana
  • Labor and laboring classes--Montana
  • Pacifism
  • Political parties--Montana
  • Presbyterian Church
  • Reformatories--Montana
  • Teachers--Montana

Personal Names

  • McCorkle, Daniel Spencer, 1880-1956 (creator)

Geographical Names

  • Bearcreek (Mont.)
  • Bearcreek (Mont.)--Church history
  • Chance (Mont.)
  • Clark (WY)--Religious life and customs
  • Conrad (Mont.)--Religious life and customs
  • Empire (WY)--Church records
  • Jay Em (WY)--Church records
  • Sunrise (WY)
  • WY