By Suzanne Waring
Thomas Minckler has bought and sold historical art, books, letters, diaries, and other ephemerae related to the American West and early Montana history as his life’s work. Along the way, he started collecting for himself those items that he especially coveted for his collection.
Born in Cut Bank, Montana, Minckler grew up in Great Falls and graduated from the University of Montana, majoring in history and philosophy. He had a part-time job while enrolled at the university and learned the skill of bookbinding. One day while at work he had the opportunity to meet the renowned Senator Burton K. Wheeler. Today, having years to reflect on that general conversation, Minckler bemoans the poor use of the opportunity to question Wheeler about his many experiences.
Graduating from college, Minckler found a job in San Francisco as a hand-colorist. His employers’ company, Burger and Evans, was printing a book that had black and white lithographs of 19th century San Francisco. Minckler colored the lithographs for this large book. When printed, the book weighed thirty-two pounds and sold for $375. Only 150 copies were printed. Today this book is usually found only at universities and in museums.
Of course, Burger and Evans did more than produce this one book. Its primary focus was to buy and sell historical documents, paintings, books and ephemeral treasures. Bill Burger was instrumental in introducing Minckler to this unique occupation. Later when Minckler was more established in his own business of collecting, he turned down the opportunity to buy the Burger and Evans business.
After that San Francisco experience, Minckler moved to Billings, Montana, where he found a job as an oil and gas reporter. Over the phone, he attained and then posted reports on different oil wells. When the company started a newsletter called Petroleum Information, he wrote for it. He liked the job; the problem was that history was his first love.
One day he found for sale Frank Bird Linderman’s book, Indian Why Stories, which was signed by the artist of the book’s illustrations, Charles M. Russell. Minckler bought it for $75 and sold it for $500. This sale motivated Minckler into thinking, “I can do this.” He started buying and selling and became an authority in four different areas: 1) art, 2) vintage photography, 3) historic letters and documents, and 4) rare books. He had success in all areas by attending rare book shows, getting to know other collectors, and reaching out to museums. “Over the years, I bought what I liked and made money on it. Sometimes I had to part with an item that I especially liked, but most often I was able to keep it. At other times I was able to rebuy an item that I had to sell earlier to make a living,” said Minckler. Over the years, he collected 150 paintings, 9000 books and documents, and thousands of photographs for his personal collection.
“My favorite acquisition that I would never sell is an original book titled A Trip to the States in 1865, by James A. Hosmer,” said Minckler. Hosmer, who was sixteen when he wrote the book, had traveled with his father who, as a Montana territorial supreme court justice, was called back to Washington D.C. in 1866. While James was on the trip he journaled his experiences. After he returned to Montana, he wrote this story and then set it to type by hand. He also sewed the leaves together, trimmed the edges, and then bound each book in a cardboard cover. It is considered the first book written and printed in Montana. Hosmer printed only seven to nine copies of which Minckler owns one. This book is so valuable that the other copies are mostly found in state libraries in the West.
Minckler has an extensive collection of documents written by or having to do with Granville Stuart. Stuart was a prolific writer who left countless documents. It took Minckler years to have a good collection by and about Stuart.
In 2015 Minckler’s wife was on a trip, so he had the house to himself. He decided to lay out his collection by topic so he could catalog his collection. He ended up with memorabilia all over the house. Analyzing what he had collected, he decided it was time to write a book that included the different topics. He thought it would take several months when, in fact, it took seven years.
Writing the book might have taken longer. An afternoon when he was working on this book stands out in Minckler’s mind. He worked on Chapter 7 during the morning, took a break to eat lunch, went back to his computer only to discover that a whole chapter, containing a year’s research, had been erased. In desperation, he called his computer technician who was able to restore the chapter.
The book, Montana, A Paper Trail, came out in 2023 and is published by the Montana Historical Society with the proceeds going to that entity. The initial edition sold out in the first months and is still selling as new copies are printed. “Young people are buying my book,” said Minckler, “This puts a smile on my face. It tells me that history is alive and well.” MSN
