Palmquist's Lucy Thompson File

Title: Palmquist's Lucy Thompson File

Dates: 1895-1992

Collection Number: 2000.01

Creator/Collector: Peter Palmquist

Extent: .5 cubic foot

Repository: Humboldt State University Library

Abstract: Peter Palmquist's wide ranging research interests included the Thompson Family, starting with Burtha Thompson's (spelled Bertha in many sources) work as a model for photographer Emma Freeman. Palmquist granted permission to the HSU Library's Special Collections to photocopy items from his information file on Lucy and Milton J. Thompson. In 2012 the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library granted HSU Library permission to include digital files of selected items from the Peter E. Palmquist Collection. This collection provides information about the extended Thompson Family and the timber and land related activities of Milton J. Thompson. Lucy Thompson (Yurok) is the author of To the American Indian: Reminiscences of a Yurok Woman, first published in 1916, republished in 1991 with a foreword by Palmquist.

Language of Material: English

The collection is open for research.

Copyright has not been assigned to Humboldt State University. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce in any format, please contact the Special Collections Librarian. For permission to reproduce a digital file contact the Western Americana Curator at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

Palmquist's Lucy Thompson File. Humboldt State University Library

Peter Palmquist's wide ranging research interests included the Thompson Family, starting with Burtha Thompson's work as a model for photographer Emma Freeman. Palmquist granted permission to the HSU Library's Special Collections to photocopy items from his information file on Lucy and Milton J. Thompson. Palmquist's file is comprised of materials gifted to him by the Zampatti Family and other information he gathered about the extended Thompson Family. Materials in this collection were photocopyed before this part of Palmquist's vast collection was shipped to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Yale University) as part of the Peter E. Palmquist Collection. In selecting materials for copying Edie Butler focused on Milton J. Thompson's survey book and maps of land ownership and land transactions along the Klamath River and on Thompson Family correspondence and photographs. Additional documents from Palmquist's collection were selected by Edie Butler in April 2012. George Miles, Western Americana Curator at Beiencke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, granted permission (in an email message on July 10, 2012) for the digital files of these documents to be available to HSU Library patrons. Most of the materials came to Palmquist as a gift from Nina Zampatti (maiden name) who was the daughter of Victor Zampatti, attorney for Milton J. and Lucy Thompson. Palmquist noted that Zampatti was a Eureka attorney from 1923-1963. After Lucy Thompson's death, granddaughter Loleta (adopted by Lucy and Milton Thompson in 1926 after the death of Burtha Thompson White Elk in 1924) lived with the Zampatti Family. Nina and Loleta were about the same age. At age 16 Loleta was emancipated and no longer lived with the Zampatti Family, according to Palmquist.

Information compiled by Susie Van Kirk (folder 1) explains the family relationships and chronology of events for the materials assembled in this collection. Many persons are mentioned in the documents. Maps and survey records annotated by Milton Thompson provide substantial information about timber surveys, land ownerships and transactions in the lower Klamath River area from Weitchpec to Requa.