Louis L’Amour Story: Louis L’Amour and the University of Jamestown

Phyllis Bratton, University of Jamestown,  Raugust Library Director

Shortly after Louis L’Amour’s death, Kathy L’Amour gave the University of Jamestown’s Raugust Library copies of all of his books, and continued to do so for many years after his death, as more were found among his papers and published.  In this gift, she included many translations of his works.

As a result, Raugust Library holds 387 volumes of his work, 189 of them in a language other than English.  These include Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Czech, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Greek, Hungarian, Slovak, Dutch, Hebrew, and Slovenian.  This might be the largest collection of his works in foreign languages in the world, outside of the Library of Congress!

Mrs. L’Amour also gave Raugust Library a set of his bound works in English.  For many years, these were on display with pictures and articles about him in the library’s lobby.  Now, they are housed in the “Listening Room”, where students go to watch DVDs and to use other audio/visual technology.  Library staff added western pictures and photographs to the room to enhance the theme.

Raugust Library welcomes residents of Stutsman County to use our collections.  Library cards are available and users may check out a limited number of items.  We have only two main restrictions:  we do not do interlibrary loan, and we ask that people in the community not come during exam week, as we are very busy helping students finish their semester.

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Louis L’Amour Story: L’Amour Family, Alfred Dickey and a Reporter

Keith Norman

Keith Norman is a published author. He is a photographer. He is a reporter for the Jamestown Sun. He is a constant researcher at Alfred Dickey Library looking for historical stories about Jamestown and its citizens including Louis L’Amour.

L’Amour Family, Alfred Dickey and a Reporter

Sometimes doing research on a story with the assistance of the Alfred Dickey Library, turns into research about the library.

Recently, during a project gathering information on the Battle of Big Mound, fought in Kidder County in 1863, the books the library supplied gave me an unexpected look at the town of Jamestown and the people who made the Alfred Dickey Library possible.

The book was “Yet She Follows” written by Edna LaMoore* Waldo, sister of western writer Louis L’Amour, about their grandmother Betty Freeman Dearborn. Betty’s father, Ambrose Freeman, was killed at the Battle of Big Mound near Tappen, N.D.

Ambrose’s death and scalping was noted in the author’s notes of a couple hundred million Louis L’Amour westerns over the decades as proof of his western roots.

Edna’s story, actually the recollections of her grandmother about the incident, point out going hunting for antelope in the vicinity of hostiles and a battle can lead to disaster.

The story did not end with young Betty losing her father but continued with her marriage to Abraham Truman Dearborn and their life in Jamestown in the 1880s. It was a glimpse of a Jamestown that was only a decade old.

The Dearborn home, just down the hill from the former site of Fort Seward, was on the wrong end of Jamestown. Even living amidst the seedier side of the frontier town, the family had friends of importance.

According to Edna’s story in “Yet She Follows” the Dearborn family, especially daughter Emily the mother of Edna and Louis, had a friendship with Jamestown businessman Alfred Dickey.

In the fall of 1890, Emily wrote a letter to Dickey asking if he thought she could work as a clerk at the upcoming session of the North Dakota Legislature.

Dickey was a good man to ask, he was the Lieutenant Governor for that initial session after statehood had been granted.

“I would not advise you to do it,” wrote Dickey in response. “The work is light and the pay is good, but unless you have some very good friends to board with, you had better not.”

*LaMoore is the traditional spelling of L’Amour. Louis changed it to a French version.

Louis L’Amour Story – Louis L’Amour and My English Class

Bruce Berg

Bruce has taught in the Speech, and English departments at Rugby High School and Jamestown High School. He has taught in the Speech, English and Education departments at the University of Jamestown. He is a published author and frequent contributor to public radio programs.

Louis L’Amour and my English Class

IN 1972 LOUIS L’AMOUR CAME BACK TO JAMESTOWN TO BE HONORED BY JAMESTOWN COLLEGE. I WAS TOLD THAT HE WOULD BE AT THE LIBRARY IN THE LATE  MORNING SO I MADE QUICK PLANS TO TAKE MY 3RD PERIOD ENGLISH CLASS TO THE LIBRARY TO CHECK OUT HIS AGENDA.  NOT MUCH HAD BEEN SCHEDULED FOR HIM AND I FOUND HIM AVAILABLE TO SIT AT A TABLE WITH ME AND ENGAGE IN A BRIEF CHAT.

HIS WRITING SISTER EDNA L’AMOUR WALDO  WAS AT THE EAST END OF THE LIBRARY GIVING A TALK ABOUT HER WRITING.  I WAS CONSCIOUS OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO WRITERS AND HAD HEARD THAT LOUIS WAS NOT GENUFLECTED TO BY HIS SISTER. I HAD A PAPERBACK COPY OF L’AMOUR’S “SITKA” AND I ASKED HIM TO SIGN THE BOOK FOR ONE OF THE FEW AUTOGRAPHS I HAVE.  HE TOLD ME THAT THE LIBRARY WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO HIM DURING HIS JAMESTOWN DAYS, 1908-1923,AND HE THOUGHT HE’D READ EVERY BOOK IN THE ALFRED DICKEY LIBRARY.

I DON’T REMEMBER HOW MUCH EXPOSURE MY JAMESTOWN HIGH SCHOOL CLASS HAD WITH L’AMOUR THAT DAY IN 1972, BUT I KNOW HE WAS THE FAVORITE WRITER FOR A NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO READ LITTLE ELSE.

A Library Story: a Family of Readers

Diane Jolin

Retired Title 1 Reading Teacher, K-8

Literacy has always been important to me. That is one of the reasons I became a reading teacher. I would tell my students that to become good readers they would have to read. The more they read, the better readers they would become.

I grew up with parents who loved to read. My father read just about every book I brought home, even some of my college textbooks.  We always had books around and at times my mother would have to tell us to quit reading and do our chores. We checked out books from our school library because we did not have access to a city library. We also received books as gifts. To me, reading is a necessity in my life. I do a lot of reading for pleasure.

In my own family both my daughters are readers. In our town we have a public library, a bookmobile, and a school library where they could check out books. As a reading teacher I was always encouraging them to take advantage of these opportunities.

My grandchildren love going to their local libraries. They check out a box of books and videos to take home every time.  My oldest grandchildren went on date days with their other grandfather. On rainy days they would hang out at their local library.  My youngest grandchildren enjoy their trips to the library with their mother.  Having their own library card was exciting and my youngest grandson couldn’t wait until he was 6 to get his card like his older brother. Their library has an afterschool program they attend once a week during the school year. When they check out books at the public library they receive a printout stating what it would have cost them to purchase all the materials they had checked out. By the first week in September their cost would have been $1,600.

Libraries are so important. The economic and educational advantage they have for all families is priceless. Everyone has the opportunity to use these resources no matter who they are. Every library contributes to the quality of life in the community.