Manuscript Group 363
Records, 1943-1984
6 cubic feet
The records of the Moscow Elks Club were donated to the University of Idaho Library by the Club in August 1987. They were processed by Judith Nielsen in August 1993.
Moscow Lodge 249 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is the oldest lodge in the state of Idaho. It had its beginnings on December 28, 1892, when a contingent of Spokane Elks, Exalted Ruler George Turner presiding, officiated in chartering the new lodge. Thirty two charter members were initiated in the meeting which took place in the I.O.O.F. Hall. The first officers were: C.S. Scott, exalted ruler; J.H. Forney, lecturing knight; I.C. Hattabaugh, leading knight; P. Tillinghast, loyal knight; R.S. Brown, treasurer; Morgan Tillinghast, secretary; the Rev. P. Murphy, chaplain; George N. Hinckley, inner guard, and John Almquist, tiler.
The lodge did not have its own home until 1905, when a temple was built at the corner of First and Main at a cost of $20,000. The Two Forty-Niner, the lodge newsletter, reported that when the building was finished, "the bondholders held a jubilee and burned most of the bonds, thus putting the lodge in good financial shape."
By 1920 the membership had grown from the original 35 to 750. World War I took the lives of two members, C. Boyd Maynard and William M. Green, and affected the lodge in other ways, as the newsletter pointed out: "During the Great War the lodge practically ceased lodge work. The temple was turned over to the S.A.T.C. boys as a convalescent hospital and but two meetings were held during the winter of 1918."
Things began to pick up after the war. A bowling alley was installed in the temple in 1916, and a band, organized in 1920, began providing music for important occasions. In keeping with the Elks emphasis on American traditions and ideals, the lodge initiated Flag Day ceremonies on June 18, 1922. World War II did not have the drastic effect of World War I. In 1941 the lodge purchased the nine-hole Moscow Golf Club and in 1942 completed some remodeling of the temple. Extensive remodeling of the Elks Temple was conducted in 1962, and a new clubhouse was constructed at the golf course in 1967.
The records of the Moscow Elk's Club span the years 1943 to 1984, with the bulk of the records covering the years 1960 to 1980. Included are minutes of the meetings of the board of trustees, 1943-1966; financial records, 1951-1980, daily calendars of events, 1975-1980, visitors registers, 1971-1973, 1978-1979, and other material. Many records are missing from the collection; for example the first warrants are for May 1970, the next are March 1973, then there is another gap until April 1975. There are also gaps in the financial statements, daily cash sheets, daily calendars, and visitors registers.
Related material in the Special Collections Department include issues of the Two forty-niner, and a Daily Idahonian supplement published in 1968 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Elks Lodge in Moscow.
The material in this manuscript group was in no apparent order when received, therefore three series were created during processing.
The first series contains the typewritten minutes of the meeting of the board of trustees, 1943-1966. These were originally in ledgers, but were separated and placed in folders during processing.
The second series consists of the financial records of the lodge. Included are warrants, check stubs, bank statements and paid checks which were retained if the check stub books for the period covered were not present, payroll ledgers, financial statements daily cash sheets, and treasurer's receipt books. The warrant numbers correspond to the check numbers. The lodge checking account included two colors of checks with the same account number; pink checks with one numbering sequence for general payments, and green checks with a separate numbering sequence for payroll. There are no check stub books for the payroll checks, there are however, payroll ledger sheets. Also included are liquor purchase records and bar inventories.
The final series contains dimit records, daily calendars of lodge events maintained by the office, visitors registers, duplicate membership cards for one year (1977/78), two surveys on building sale and use, form letters, tickets, place mats, and other memorabilia, and three copies of the Gem State Elk.
Invoices were discarded since purchases can be traced through the warrants. Paid checks and bank statements were discarded when the check register or corresponding warrant was present; likewise, payroll checks were discarded if there was a payroll ledger for the time period. Employee time cards were also discarded since they were for a period covered by the ledgers. In all the records were reduced by 3 cubic feet.
Box Folder Description Items
Box 1 1. 1943-1946. 91 items. 2. 1947-1948. 62 items. 3. 1949-1951. 95 items. 4. 1952-1954. 78 items. 5. 1955-1957. 80 items. 6. 1958-1960. 82 items. 7. 1961-1963. 80 items. 8. 1964-1966. 74 items.
9. Warrants 8819-8886, May 1970. 63 items. 10. Warrants 1469-1579, March 1973. 88 items. 11-19. Warrants 3273-3895, April-December 1975. 638 items. 20-23. Warrants 3896-4204, January-April 1976. 306 items. 24-26. Warrants 4579-4819, October-December 1976. 239 items. 27-29. Warrants 4820-5040, January-March 1977. 218 items. Box 2 30-38. Warrants 5041-5640, April-December 1977. 612 items. 39-40. Warrants 5641-5781, January-February 1978. 145 items. 41. Check stubs 2357-2608, March-July 1974. 1 items. 42-52. Check stubs 3608-6364, September 1975-November 1978. 11 items. 53. Bank statements and paid checks, Master Card account, Idaho First National .Bank, 1974-1977 36 items. 54-56. Bank statements and paid checks, First Security Bank, August 1974-May .1975 1140 items. Box 3 57-63. Payroll ledgers, 1972-1978. 7 items. Box 4 64. Financial statements, April 1971-December 1972. 20 items. 65. Financial statements, 1973-1974. 28 items. 66. Financial statements, 1975; 1977-1978. 21 items. 67-70. Daily cash sheets, October 1973-March 1974. 178 items. 71-73. Daily cash sheets, July-December 1974. 145 items. 74-78. Daily cash sheets, April-December 1975. 258 items. 79-80. Daily cash sheets, January-March 1976. 100 items. 81-82. Daily cash sheets, September-December 1976. 119 items. 83. Daily cash sheets, May-June 1978. 44 items. 84. Treasurer's receipt book, March-November 1966. 1 items. 85-91. Treasurer's receipt book, April 1974-March 1977. 7 items. Box 5 92-96. Treasurer's receipt book, March 1977-April 1979. 5 items. 97. Contributions, 1951-1956. 1 items. 98. Expenses for annual events, 1972-1974. 14 items. 99. Equipment purchases, 1973-1975. 1 items. 100. Liquor purchase records, 1972-1975. 1 items. 101. Bar requisitions, January-August 1980. 14 items. 102. Liquor inventory, January-August 1980. 8 items.
103-104. Absolute dimit records, April 1971-September 1977. 2 items. 105-106. Transfer dimit records, February 1976-December 1978. 2 items. 107-112. Daily calendar, 1975-1980. 6 items. 113-114. Daily calendar, September 1983-February 1984. 2 items. 115. Daily calendar, 1984. 1 items. 116. Visitors' register book, November 1971-April 1973. 1 items. 117. Visitors' register book, March 1978-April 1979. 1 items. Box 6 118-120. Duplicate membership cards, 1977/1978. 476 items. 121. Building questionnaire, 1975. 45 items. 122. New building survey, 1979. 150 items. Box 7 123-124. New building survey, 1979. 314 items. 125. Contracts: American Federation of Musicians, 1973. 6 items. 126. Correspondence, etc., 1971-1978. 9 items. 127. Form letters, tickets, place mats, etc., 1951-1978. 15 items. 128. Gem State Elk, 1978-1979. 3 items. 129. Newspaper clippings, programs, etc., 1972-1978. 5 items.
| 