Special Collections & Archives
Manuscript Group 65
WARREN THOMPSON SHEPPERD
Papers, 1899-1969
4 linear feet
The papers of Warren T. Shepperd were donated to the University of Idaho by Virgil Shepperd, Hannah (Shepperd) Oldham, son and daughter of Warren, and John T. Trueman in June 1971. Processing began as a Special Collections group project in October 1984 and was completed by Judith Nielsen in February 1985.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF WARREN T. SHEPPERD
Warren Thompson Shepperd was born on a farm 10 miles east of Moscow, Idaho, on August 15, 1883, the son of George W. and Rutha J. (Woody) Shepperd. He graduated from the University of Idaho Preparatory School in 1905, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering at the University in 1910. He worked as a private surveyor from 1911 to 1914, chiefly in connection with lumbering roads and homestead property claims around Worley, Kootenai County, Idaho. In 1912 he married Mildred Dodge, they had five children. He and his family moved to Benewah County where, in 1915, he was appointed County Auditor and Recorder of Deeds. He held these positions until he moved to Coeur d'Alene in 1920. There he was cashier and office manager for the Fred Herrick Lumber Company. In 1928 the Coeur d'Alene Mill Company, one of Herrick's companies, was placed in receivership, and from March 1929 until 1932 Shepperd operated the mill for the mortgage holder Baker Fentress Company. He was Kootenai County Assessor from 1932 to 1935, and Treasurer from 1945 to 1948. He was also secretary of the Kootenai County Planning Commission from 1935-1937, as well as being active in I.O.O.F. and Kiwanis.
Shepperd was named to the board of Coeur d'Alene Junior College, a private school, by the local Kiwanis Club in 1933 and served as chairman of the board for several years. In 1939 the Idaho Legislature passed a Junior College Law and by June of that year he and the other board members had organized the North Idaho Junior College. In addition to his duties as secretary of the board he was named treasurer in 1949. He retired in 1960.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The papers of Warren T. Shepperd span the years 1899 to 1969, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1925 to 1950.
The papers include personal correspondence and tax returns, correspondence generated by his official duties in both the I.O.O.F. and Kiwanis, and correspondence with Baker-Fentress Company during the time he was handling the affairs of the bankrupt Coeur d'Alene Mill Company. There are financial records of the Hayden Lake Irrigation District and the North Idaho Junior College as well as material relating to the projects of the Kootenai County Planning Commission, and correspondence from the county auditor's office. Also included are several surveyors notebooks and various Coeur d'Alene Mill Company ledgers.
ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION
The material in this manuscript group was originally stored in several letter transfer boxes, bundled file folders, and envelopes of various sizes. An attempt was made to bring like material together while, at the same time, maintaining the original order of each group.
In this regard, the personal correspondence presented the greatest problem. A small collection of Christmas cards with personal notes was retained and placed in a file folder. A second folder contains letters to Mildred Shepperd from various friends. There is no arrangement within these folders. The remaining folders, arranged alphabetically, contain Warren Shepperd's correspondence. Several different alphabetical files were melded into one sequence, but in no case were the contents of the folders combined. Therefore, there are folders for letters of the alphabet followed by folders for individuals, usually family members, or on subjects, i.e., Insurance, Legal (this contains correspondence relating to the estates of family members), and Sunswheat Deal (Sunswheat was a new breakfast cereal developed at the University of Washington). The taxes are arranged chronologically, with all taxed, property, state and federal income tax returns, for a given year in the same folder.
While secretary and Grand Chaplain of I.O.O.F. Lodge 34, Shepperd kept two alphabetical files. The second of these, all from late 1938, contained so very few items and were merged with the first which also contained 1938 correspondence. The correspondence to and from Shepperd as secretary of the Coeur d'Alene Kiwanis Club is also alphabetical.
The Baker-Fentress material was in one transfer box. With the exception of the first three sections (A-C) which were separated by subject, the letters appeared to be in no order. No attempt was made to reorganize this material.
The items in the Kootenai County Planning Commission are arranged alphabetically by project; Shepperd's original folder headings were retained.
Many Christmas and birthday cards in the collection contained no message and were removed. Several duplicate annual reports of the mill company were also withdrawn from the collection as was an eleven volume mimeographed set of jokes and speech ideas. A small sample of J.M. Carey's daily scale reports were retained, but since summary sheets were available., the remaining daily reports were not. In all about .5 c.f. of material was removed.
SERIES LIST
Containers
I. Personal Papers, 1905-1962 1
A. Correspondence
B. Financial
II. Service Clubs, 1919-1962 1
A. Independent Order of Odd Fellows
B. Kiwanis
C. Other
III. Lumber Interests, 1899-1934 1
A. Baker-Fentress
B. Coeur d'Alene Mill Co.
C. Other Papers
IV. Civic Interests, 1915-1960 2
A. Hayden Lake Irrigation District
B. Education
C. Politics
D. Kootenai County Planning Commission
V. Surveying Material, 1921-1957 2
VI. Journals & Ledgers, 1920-1964 o.s.
A. Coeur d'Alene Mill Company
B. Others
INVENTORY
WARREN THOMPSON SHEPPERD
Box Folder Description Items
I. Personal Papers, 1905-1962
A. Correspondence
1 1 Greeting Cards, 1930-1948 20 2 To Mildred (Mrs. W.T.) Shepperd, 1932-1953 28 3-35 A - Z, 1905-1960 326
B. Financial
36 Promissory Notes, 1924-1928 11 37 Check register, 1956 1 38-63 Taxes, 1920-1962 245
II. Service Clubs, 1919-1962
A. Independent Order of Odd Fellows
64-75 Correspondence, 1930-1938 174 76 Receipts, 1931-1933 105 77 Minute Book, 1938 1 78 Programs, certificates. 1919-1962 13
B. Kiwanis
79-80 Correspondence, A-Z, 1938 51 81 Programs, 1935-1953 14 82 Newsletters, 1938 11
C. Others
83 Knights of Pythias, 1925-1933 6 84 Toastmasters, 1950 4
III. Lumber Interests, 1899-1934
A. Baker-Fentress
85 Correspondence A (Insurance on Property), 1929-1932 100 86 Correspondence B (Sale of Property) 1929-1931 150 87 Correspondence C (Payroll & Expenses), 1929-1932 45 88-89 Correspondence D-Z, 1929-1932 115
B. Coeur d'Alene Mill Company
1 90 Correspondence, A-Z, 1914-1931 46 91 Taxes, 1927-1934 35 92 Carroll Heights, 1913-1928 5 93 Time Book, 1899-1900 1 94 John M. Carey Book & Log Scale, 1920-1921 20
C. Other Items
95 Parody of Senate Bill 90, n.d. 1 96 Booklet: "Old Homes Made New," (Chicago: American Lumberman, 1925) 1
IV. Civic Interests, 1915-1960
A. Hayden Lake Irrigation District
2 97-99 Bank Statements: Domestic, Irrigation & Reserve Accounts, 1953 39 100-104 Vouchers: Domestic & Irrigation Funds, 1953 436 105-117 Receipt Books, Domestic Fund, 1948-1953 13
B. Education
Coeur d'Alene School District #1
118 Correspondence, 1927-1929 7 119 Bulletins, 1928-1930 12 120 Financial Statements, 1925/26-1930/31 44
North Idaho Junior College
121 Programs & Newspaper clipping, 1939-1952 3 122 Faculty Deposit Records, 1955-1960 3
C. Politics
123-124 Assessor: Correspondence, 1933-1943 61 125 Board Orders, 1933-1934 23 126-127 Appeals, 1924-1934 13 128 Migratory Livestock, 1934 17 129 Chief Engineer, Highway District. 1931 2 130-131 Election Campaigns & Results, 1932-1956 53 132 Certificates of Appreciation & Election, 1915-1954 6
D. Kootenai County Planning Commission
133 Minutes, 1935-1937 26 2 134 General Correspondence, 1935-1936 14 135 Bayview-Belmont Highway, 1935 5 136 Belgrove-Black Rock Road Project, n.d. 1 137 Cedar Creek Project, n.d. 2 138 Coeur d'Alene zoning laws, n.d. 6 139 Coeur d'Alene, O'Brien Addition, 1947-1949 4 140 Coeur d'Alene Junior College, 1934-1936 32 141 Coeur d'Alene River-Kellogg Road, 1935 2 142 Cougar Gulch-Mica Flat Road, n.d. 2 143 Flood Control, 1936-1949 12 144 Hayden Lake Road, 1935 1 145 Post Falls, 1936 8 146 Public Domain, 1935-1937 15 147 Re-settlement, 1935 10 148 Wolf Lodge-Bennett Bay Road, 1935 3 149 Worley School, 1935-1937 23 150 Worley Sidewalks & Water, 1936 3 151 Worley-Chatcolet-State Line Project, 1935-1936 5 152 State Planning Board - Circular Letters, 1935-1936 31 153 American Society of Planning Officials, 1935-1936 4
V. Surveying Material, 1921-1957
154 Notebooks, 1930-1935 6 155 Licenses, 1921-1957 51 156 Correspondence, 1953 3
VI Journals and Ledgers, 1920-1965
A. Coeur d'Alene Mill Company
o.s. 157-160 Annual Reports, 1922-1927 4 161 Bills Payable, 1928 1 162 General Journal, (includes North Idaho Junior College Budget Balances, 1957/58-1959/60) 1925-1927 1 163 General Journal #4, 1928 1 164 General Ledger; Sinking Fund Accounts, 1928 1 165 Orders, 1923 1 166 Purchase Journal, 1925-1928 1 167 Lumber Purchased Journal, (includes check register for unidentified company, 1933-1934)1928 1 168 Sales Journal, 1928 1 o.s. 169 Accounts of Clearwater Operation, 1924-1927 1 170 St. Joe Camp General Journal, (includes WTS personal accounts, Jan. 1958) 1925-1927 1 171 St. Maries River Camp Payroll Book. Nov. 1927 1
B. Other Companies
172 Hauser Lumber Co. Memorandum Ledger, 1927 1 173 Store Sales #2. (includes WTS personal accounts, Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958) 1926-1927 1 174 Tuscor Lumber Company. Journal, (includes WTS personal accounts, 1961-1965) 1925-1927 1
Unidentified Companies
175 Ledger, Nov.-Dec. no year 1 176 Time Book, 1920 1 177 Payroll Ledger, n.d. 1
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