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Audio Recording Conversation with Lester and Ruth Johnson at Johnson's Cafe, St. Mary, Montana, part 1

Lester Johnson, conversation

About this Item

Title

  • Conversation with Lester and Ruth Johnson at Johnson's Cafe, St. Mary, Montana, part 1

Names

  • Johnson, Paula J., 1954- (Collector)
  • Toelken, Barre, 1935- (Collector)
  • Johnson, Lester (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Saint Mary, Montana, September 3, 1979

Headings

  • -  Marriage customs and rites
  • -  Wit and humor
  • -  Food habits
  • -  Rodeos
  • -  Copper mines and mining
  • -  Frontier and pioneer life
  • -  Folklore
  • -  Restaurants
  • -  Bears
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  Interviews
  • -  Sound recordings
  • -  United States -- Montana -- St. Mary

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Field recordings
  • Interviews
  • Sound recordings

Notes

  • -  Index data: Part 1 of a 4-part interview with Lester Johnson at Johnson's Cafe (with motel and campground), St. Mary, MT; the fieldworkers' notes state that the recording started with two channels but that ambient sounds were a problem and one of the channels was soon turned off to reduce the unwanted noise: Johnson says, "I've always been skeptical of experts because of something that happened to us a few years ago," and he tells of selling a recently made bow to a museum where it was wrongly taken to be very old; about a birthday cake for Gretchen, a girl working for Johnsons (19 years old); Johnson discusses his family and the whereabouts of his children; about his own birth in a lumber wagon, about gold mining; about the WPA [New Deal era] days; went to Butte for mining, "rustling card"; about the history of Johnson's involvement in cafe business; about the origin of the buildings and of their family-style meals; about his family and his kids' attitude toward the family business; says that his son Hugo was born "100 years out of date"; about being an outfitter/packer; about Butte mining; Cousin Jacks and Jennies, the Irish; Johnson says he never witnessed a major accident in his life, even though in hazardous professions, recalls lowering injured man in a mine during which they scrape his nose on a timber; "There's humor in anything if you see it"; comparing the value of a man and a horse in the mines; about lowering horses into mine; Butte is "a mile high and a mile deep"; the tunnels in the mines had street signs; anecdote about throwing stone up into mine timbers during lunch break, other miners nearly trampled him to death getting out of the way when they thought the mine was about to cave in; about Johnson's station-tender's job at the mine, how he was offered $5000 to go to India and work in mines there; Butte was clannish, people didn't always know their neighbors in one part of town; about controversies on Indian Reservation; Johnson is a member of MOD, Montanans Opposed to Discrimination [sometimes described as a white rights group]; about the friendliness of St. Mary community, best neighbors in the world (except for 3 months in summer); about local weather; the questions most asked by tourists; fieldworker Barre Toelken tries to get Johnson to tell yarns or jokes about the weather.

Medium

  • 7-inch reel

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1981/005: AFS 20467
  • MBRS shelflist: RXA 0953
  • Field project identifier: MT9-BT/PJ-R10

Source Collection

  • Montana Folklife Survey collection (AFC 1981/005)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use or reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

In addition, the American Folklife Center and the professional fieldworkers who carry out these projects feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people they have visited and who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these collection materials should contact the Folklife Reading Room for assistance. Rights assessment is your responsibility. The written permission of the copyright owners in materials not in the public domain is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Permissions may additionally be required from holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights). Whenever possible, we provide information that we have about copyright owners and related matters in the catalog records, finding aids and other texts that accompany collections. However, the information we have may not be accurate or complete.

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Credit line: Montana Folklife Survey collection (AFC 1981/005), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Johnson, Paula J, Barre Toelken, and Lester Johnson. Conversation with Lester and Ruth Johnson at Johnson's Cafe, St. Mary, Montana, part 1. Saint Mary, Montana, September 3, 1979. Audio. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1981005_afs20467/.

APA citation style:

Johnson, P. J., Toelken, B. & Johnson, L. (1979) Conversation with Lester and Ruth Johnson at Johnson's Cafe, St. Mary, Montana, part 1. Saint Mary, Montana, September 3. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1981005_afs20467/.

MLA citation style:

Johnson, Paula J, Barre Toelken, and Lester Johnson. Conversation with Lester and Ruth Johnson at Johnson's Cafe, St. Mary, Montana, part 1. Saint Mary, Montana, September 3, 1979. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1981005_afs20467/>.