Raymond H. Fogler Library
Special Collections: Guide to the Walter L. Arnold Papers
Arranged and described by Brenda Howitson Steeves
Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Department
June 2004
Introduction and Summary Information
Collection Title: Walter L. Arnold Papers.
Dates of the Collection: 1893-1980 (inclusive); 1920-1959 (bulk).
Provenance: The Arnold papers were a gift to the Special Collections Department, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine from Walter Arnold in 1971 and subsequent years.
Collection Number: MS 23.
Box Numbers: 1-6 (formerly Boxes 68-71a).
Size and Arrangement: The collection consists of four archival record cartons and two document boxes of material (6.0 cubic feet).
Conservation Note: The collection has been re-housed in acid-free folders and boxes.
Preferred Citation: Walter L. Arnold Papers, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine.
Restrictions on Access and Use: Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.
Biography
The collection contains the personal papers and business records of Walter L. Arnold, a businessman, guide, fur trader, trapper and author from Greenville, Maine.
Walter Arnold was born in 1894 in Willimantic, Maine, the son of Alonzo and Alice Arnold. His father was a market hunter in the 1870’s, and as a young man Walter hunted, trapped and guided with his father. After service in World War I, he started a mail order business, selling trapping supplies and animal trapping scents and lures nation-wide. In the late 1930’s, he also worked for Campbell-Fairbanks Expositions, installing trapping exhibits for sportsmen’s shows in New York and Boston. He was one of the original founders of the Maine Trappers Association and served as its president, secretary and treasurer, as well as the editor of its newsletter, Maine Trapper. He was the author of several books about trapping and preparing scents as well as numerous articles published in trapping and hunting magazines and newspapers. His book, Professional Trapping, which appeared in four editions between 1935 and 1947, was widely used by state and federal officials to train trappers to handle troublesome wild animals
In 1959 he sold his business to Oscar Cronk of Wiscasset and went back to the woods, living by himself until 1980 in one of the northern townships of Maine, a place accessible only by snowmobile or airplane. His life became the subject of many articles in various magazines and newspapers, and the book, Goodbye Mountain Man by Donald Anderson featured him and his lifestyle.
Walter Arnold remained active until his death in 1980. As he put it in a letter to the Fogler Library Special Collections Department in 1971, “I am not like all these woods hermits you hear about that sit around, grow fat and pass on. I am 78 and still do probably more hard work summer and winter than nearly all the men in the state do at the age of 45.”
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains diaries, letters and bills, business catalogs, books and articles by and about Walter Arnold, as well as a small group of books owned by him. Arnold was very much aware of the historical value of his papers and carefully annotated many items in the collection, giving insight into their history and meaning.
Walter Arnold kept a daily diary from 1919 through 1976 in which he recorded his activities, the weather, and the wildlife he saw and hunted. Written in his vivid style, the diaries give a clear picture of his long and adventuresome life. He also kept two scrapbooks throughout his life which contain photographs, correspondence, information about other trappers all over the country, articles he wrote, etc. One of them also contains extensive information about the exhibits he installed at various sportsmen’s shows.
A large part of the collection is made up of letters and bills, 1912-1980. Much of the correspondence is from trappers nation-wide who did business with Arnold and became his friends, including many he had never met in person. Found with the correspondence are lists of Arnold’s supplies and equipment and an inventory of items on hand at the start of each business season. Arnold’s mail-order business catalogs from the 1920’s through 1956 are also included in the collection, as well as many advertisements, catalogs and price lists of companies with which Arnold did business.
Arnold kept both draft copies of the numerous articles he wrote as well as the magazines in which they appeared. The collection also contains copies of the books he wrote, including the four editions of Professional Trapping. A small group of books and magazines owned by Walter Arnold has also been kept with the collection because of the context they provide.
Box List
Box 1
Folder
1 Obituary of Walter Arnold and letter from Elaine Arnold Robinson, 1980
2 Daily calendar, 1919
3 Diaries, 1920’s
4 Diaries, 1930’s
5-6 Diaries, 1940’s
7 Diaries, 1950’s
8 Diaries, 1960’s
9 Diaries, 1966-1970
10 Diary, 1970
11 Diaries, 1971-1972
12 Diary, 1972
13 Diary, 1973
14 Diary, 1974
15 Diary, 1975
Box 2
1 Diary, 1976
Scrapbook Scrapbook compiled by Walter Arnold, 1952-1960’s [Located physically in Box 6]
Scrapbook Scrapbook “mostly about the 3 winters I furnished a log camp, trapper’s exhibit at the Boston and the New York sports shows” [Located physically in Box 6]
2 Letters and bills, 1912-1916, 1918-1919
3 Letters and bills, 1920-1923
4 Letters and bills, 1924-1925
5 Letters and bills, 1926-1927
6 Letters and bills, 1928-1929
7 Letters and bills, 1930-1931
8 Letters and bills, 1932-1935
9 Letters and bills, 1936-1937
10 Letters and bills, 1938-1939
11 Letters and bills, 1940-1942
12 Letters and bills, 1943-1946
13 Letters and bills, 1947-1949
14 Letters and bills, 1950-1953
15 Letters and bills, 1954-1956
Box 3 Folder1 Letters and bills, 1961-1965
2 Letters and bills, 1970-1980
3 Sam White clippings and letters, 1970’s
4 Letters and bills, A-J, undated
5 Letters and bills, K-W, undated
6 Holiday letters from Walter Arnold
7 Yearly earnings and fish caught, 1915-1952
8 Ledger, 1950’s-1960’s
9 Walter Arnold’s business catalogs, 1920’s
10 Walter Arnold’s business catalogs, 1930’s
11 Walter Arnold’s business catalogs, 1940’s
12 Walter Arnold’s business catalog, 1958-1959
13 Walter Arnold’s business circulars
14-15 Miscellaneous circulars and advertisements for other businesses
16-17 Catalogs and price lists for other businesses
18 Statistics re furs, etc., 1940-1949
19 Guide’s licenses
20 Military records, World War I and II
21 Selective Service medal, World War II
22 Record kept by Walter L. Arnold, Supr., Borestone Mt. Hatchway, 1917-1918
23 Maine Trappers Assoc. constitution, by-laws, etc.
24 Maine Trapper, 1948-1958
25 Rules governing the organization and operation of ATA [American Trappers Assoc.] locals
26 Miscellaneous articles by Walter Arnold
27 Arnold’s professional fox trapping, by WA, 1973
28 Hunter, trader, trapper, 1934-1937, with articles by WA
29 Hunter, trader, trapper, outdoorsman, 1938, with articles by WA
30 North American trapper, 1938, with article by WA
31 The Northland trapper, 1930, by WA
32 Professional trapping, 1935; 2nd ed., 1939, by WA
Box 4
1 Professional trapping, 3rd ed., 1944, by WA
2 Professional trapping, 4th ed., 1947, by WA
3 Professional trapping ... beaver, by WA
4 Professional trapping ... bobcat, by WA
Box 4 cont.
5 Professional trapping ... mink and muskrat methods, by WA
6 The steel trap by WA
7 Trapping, 1921, by WA
8 As I remember life at Borestone [Mountain Fox Ranch] by WA
9 Ghost town at Caribou Bog; submission to Down East, by WA
10 Unpublished drafts of articles, A-G, by WA:
About scents
Allagash waters, Part 1 and 2
Backwoods trapline
Bear pay me a visit
Camp stoves
A complicated performance
Conservation and beaver
Dirt sets
Fall trapping
Fishing news
For the common good
Forty years with small-mouth
Fox and scent
Fur and meat
Glory or dollars
Gum pails rattle again
Gumming
11 Unpublished drafts of articles, I-O, by WA:
I worked around log haulers
Lady luck
The last trip
Life on the trap line
The lone trapper, parts I and 2
Looking ahead
Maine black-cat
Me and Paul
Mink raising, parts 1, 2, and 3
More about ‘cats
Much ado about cats
The muskrat
Musks, herbs and oils
Old eagle eye
The otter
Out of the past
Box 4 cont.
Folder
12 Unpublished articles, P-T, by WA:
The paying pages
Preparedness, no. 2
Ramming about the woods
Saucy mink
Sir Reynard, parts 1 and 2
Some notes on the fisher
Stoves for trappers
Tales we tell
That all-around gun
Then and now
Those troublesome‘cats
Timely hints
Tonquin and Siberian musk
The trapper and his problems
Trapping equipment
Trapping tricks
Traps, gum pails and guns
Traveling in traffic
Trout and bees
13 Unpublished articles, U-W, by WA:
Useful hints to trappers, no. 1
Watch that breath
The water set for fox
Wildcat
Wings over the woods
Winter beaver sets
14 Miscellaneous articles by WA
15-16 Articles about Walter Arnold
17 Newspaper clippings about furs, trapping, etc.
Books and magazines belonging to Walter Arnold
18 American Forests, Oct., 1953
19 Brown’s fox book, undated
20 Conner, J.D. The art of trapping, 1923
21 Davis, Jesse J. Facts about minks, undated
22 Devoe, Luther J. Fox and coyote trapping: the mystery method, 1944
23 Frieman, Kenneth E. Expert skunk and opossum trapping
24-32 Fur-Fish-Game, 1929-1964
Box 5
Folder
1 Fur-Fish-Game, 1969-1971
2 Gotch, Frank. Wrestling, 1908
3 Hawbaker, S. Stanley. Red and grey foxes: how to trap them, 1947
4 Hunter, trader, trapper, 1914-1915
5 Keith, E.F. Foxology: a complete guide to successful fox trapping, undated
6 Kreps, E.H. Woodcraft, 1923
7 Lindroos, Ray W. Practical farmland trapping, 1946
8 Louisiana Dept. of Conservation. The fur animals of Louisiana, 1931
9 Michigan State Dept. of Conservation. Game Division: reprint from eleventh biennial report, 1941-1942 + other pamphlets
10 Narratives of trapping life, 1922
11 National Board of Fur Farm Organizations. Facts and figures on the United States, 1949?
12 New Mexico Dept. of Game and Fish. Practical predator control, 1936
13 North, Nov.-Dec., 1966
14 North Dakota State Game and Fish Dept. Annual reports, 1942-1947
15 Oregon State Game Commission Bulletin, 1946
16 Palmer, Ralph S. Rufus Philbrook, trapper, 1949; The whitetail deer of Tomhegan Camps, Maine,
with added notes on fecundity, 1951
17 The Pennsylvania trapper, 1958
18 Pete Rickard’s fox trapping methods, undated
19 Profitable outdoor pursuits, 1922
20 Scribner’s lumber & log book, 1893
21 Seeback, Harry. Scientific bag punching, 1905
22 Selected vaudeville jokes, undated
23 Singleton, Ray. Deodorizing the skunk by surgery, 1947
24 Stephens, Gard. Trapping tips for rural trappers, 1934
25 The trapper’s companion, 1919
26 The trapper’s hand book, 1923
27 Trapping as a profession, 1922
28 Miscellaneous magazine articles, etc.
Box 6
Scrapbooks
Box 7
Items added to the collection in 2011
Folder
1-2 Letters and bills, 1930s-1970s
3-4 Letters and bills, 1940s-1970s
5-6 Letters and bills, 1960s-1970s
7 Diary, 1968
8 Diary, 1969
9 Journal, 1958-1959 + records of mail order business, 1919-1958
Finding Aids for selected manuscript collections in the Special Collections Department at Fogler Library are accessible online in URSUS, in a browsable Guide to Manuscript Collections. Please contact Special Collections at spc@umit.maine.edu or (207) 581-1686 for further information.
Special Collections Staff: spc@umit.maine.edu | Revised: 01/08/2013
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