Description
The bulk of this collection consists mainly of research notes, correspondence and manuscript material pertaining to Theressa
Gay's historical research on the California Gold Rush. This collection also includes materials relating to other areas of
historical research as well (see contents listings for specific topics); some biographical material and teaching files. The
focus of this collection are the original manuscript of Thressa Gay's biography of James W. Marshall, and a group of about
two hundred Gold Rush Songs that she collected. The papers in this collection reflect her work over a period of approximately
fifteen years, from about 1946 to 1960. It comprises about ten and a half linear feet of material.
Background
Theressa Gay was born on Febrary 3rd, 1894 in Illinois. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin.
She moved to Wyoming shortly after graduation and lived in several western states including Montana and California. She did
graduate work at the University of Montana on the history of the trans-Mississippi West. She received her M.A. from the University
of California, studying under Dr. Herbert E. Bolton. She wrote her Master's thesis on the Establishment of Territorial Government
in Montana. She also did post-graduate work at Stanford University under Dr. Edgar Robinson.
Restrictions
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.