A Commentary Regarding ZMM-Book-Related Materials Found in the Montana State University Archives.

By Dennis Gary], BS, Montana State College, 1960. MS, University of Oregon, 1964.

This Page Shows Mr. Gary's Discussion and Memories, Which Were Prompted By His Reading The Documents and Articles Concerning Sarah Vinke, Louis Vinke, and Robert Pirsig, Found In The Archives at Montana State University Bozeman.

[Site Master’s Note: Montana State College was renamed Montana State University in 1965. This change was just 4 years after Robert Pirsig was an English Professor there, from Fall 1959 to Spring 1961. ]

[Editor’s Note: Each of Mr. Gary’s below comments and memories, shows a Blue Hyperlink, which if ClickedOn, will go to the specific discussed Archive Document, which is located on the ZMMQ MSU Archives Page. This Archive Document, is that which elicited that Specific Dennis Gary Comment/memory. Simply click on the Blue Link to view the archive document. When done, ClickOn your Browsers Upper Left, “< Back Arrow”, to return where you were. ]

[Second Editor’s Note: Blue Hyperlinks have ALSO been provided, that lead to => Pertinent of Mr. Gary’s memories, contained on Mr. Gary’s several WebPages on the ZMMQ WebSite, that detail his personal connections to Mrs. Professor Sarah Vinke. ]

Below, Dennis Gary, (In An Overview and General Summary), States His Thoughts As To How The Archives Commentary Project, Has Taken Shape.

I am glad to see that we now have definite birthplace and date, etc. on Sarah and much more information on her connections to MSC/MSU.. Now other researchers of yours insisting on that information have it readily available.

About Sarah Vinke’s early teaching career. [what is said in] detailed in the Brief Biography jibes with her undergraduate training at (and graduation from) Grinnell College, etc. We discussed this midway through our e-mail correspondence. Our exercise doing this was good, and we need do more investigating. The hints we got from Grinnell, and from Florida (where Sarah retired), are worth following up.

The Divine Sarah: Populist Oriented Teacher, World Traveler, & Woman’s Movement Pioneer.

…I feel that my characterization of Sarah as multi-faceted is verified by the archives as well as what I drew from my anecdotes. She was very much the scholar, as well as the populist, and certainly a women's movement pioneer. Also like Dr. Kreisman of Southern Oregon College, Sarah believed that country kids deserved a good education, too. My parents had some cultural interests based on life in Chicago during the 1930s and 40's, but still it scarcely included the Greek classics or Shakespeare. (My mother did spend a summer at the University of Chicago in the early 1930s during the presidency of Robert Maynard Hutchins.)

As suggested earlier, Sarah was a world traveler. The Archives documents on her tour of Europe certainly bear this out. It is interesting that she quit teaching during her marriage. Her devotion to Louis Vinke fits in well with her devotion to Shirley Luhrsen, and indeed to all of her students, etc. I wonder if, as with Shirley in the 1940's, the marriage of a female faculty member was a problem back in the 1930's? Also we have the evidence of the thank you letter from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, that => Her financial support of that organization indicates Sarah's willingness to support liberal, not very popular causes.

My dating of her arrival at MSC in the 1930s may need an editor's note as it appears, from looking at the Archives, that she came there [MSC] originally in the 1920s.

Many names [of persons] in the archive relating to an AAUW meeting are familiar. [For example:] Alice Oliver taught at Gallatin County High School, probably Spanish and/or French. Peculiarly, Spanish was canceled for lack of interest at Gallatin County High School {GCHS). Having spent much of my life in California, this now seems ironic.

Many other last names on the AAUW attendance list are familiar. Many of the sons and daughters of faculty members were at Gallatin High when I was.

In the sheep ranch report that discusses the role of Sarah’s husband Louis Vinke in the development of the ranching interest that would later become the Denecke Ranch Company (which is perhaps peripheral to our interest), the Denecke name stands out. Not only was our family ranch in the same area, but I also went to school with Dick Denecke, I think a son. Not a ranch boy, but then his father was an investor.

My father's boss in Chicago, William F. Sloan, an early graduate of MSC and my grandmother Gary's old beau, used to come home to Montana to inspect his Montana ranch. I was there when his wife Dixie, from Texas, said, "Mr, Sloan, you're wearing your $500 Italian shoes and the irrigation water's getting them wet." His response, "If they can't take it, they ain't worth it." Everybody call him Mr Sloan, except his doorman, who called him by his middle name, Frank. After the death of his first wife, he bought himself a grand piano and learned to play classical music. When he reopened his old engineering firm after WWII, he gave my father a thousand dollars a year more than they had negotiated. When my father pointed this out, Mr. Sloan said, “Ron, some of your colleagues were better negotiators than you and you're worth as much as they are.” Talk about Quality, Values!

Kittell in Archives and Dennis Gary Memories.

Also, my mention of Dr. Kittell under Montana radicals seems good. You're the Pirsig expert, but Kittell sounds almost “Pirsigian” in his talk introduced by Sarah. What do you think of his talk? As I've said before, it seems as if MOQ was in the air at MSC back in the day. Good radicals all. Amazing again, that someone of her generation was associating with (and encouraging) Kittell as well as Pirsig.

Shirley's comment on the Education Department pretty much corresponds to mine at MSC, U of Oregon, & San Jose State: next to worthless.

Letter to Sarah J. Vinke from Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

Found in Fannie Lou Hamer Archives at Tulane University

Considering Sarah's origins – Iowa 1894 and age, quite remarkable that she was interested in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. But then, again, Sarah's interest in the women's movement and the fact that Fannie Lou Hamer was the first black woman in Mississippi to register to vote all fits together.

Sarah's address in Florida confirms information given by Shirley Luhrsen and now definitively confirmed by the MSC (MSU) archives. Also the internal date – October 23, 1968 shows Sarah still active mentally.

Commentary Regarding Sarah Vinke's Letter To Mrs. Stella Anacker. By Dennis Gary], BS, Montana State College, 1960. MS, University of Oregon, 1964.

Here are some thoughts on Sarah Vinke's Letter To Mrs. Stella Anacker..

Where did Sarah get the Terms “Oxford: Home of Lost Causes” and “Hostages to the Future” ?
… First, a link giving the origin of phrase used by Sarah, “Oxford: Home of Lost Causes” :http://www.antiwar.com/stromberg/s071399.html
…I wonder what Anthony McWatt will think of that?
…..[NOTE by Henry Gurr => The phrase “Oxford: Home of Lost Causes” is fairly well known. For example, Google finds this above italic phrase, in 37 WebPages. For the origin => See ESSAYS IN CRITICISM 6 inches below.]

I found Sarah's attempt at dialect and reference to our "dusky brother" of interest.

Sarah's stand on the Vietnam War, particularly the phrase "Hostages of the Future" in her concern for future of youth, all seem to fit Sarah. [Same for USA] False sense of pride versus the cost in lives of Americans and Vietnamese.

Her political donations fit the letter we got from Tulane (see below). I wonder if the donation to “Humphrey” was Hubert Humphrey, as the name Humphrey is set off from previously mentioned state politicos?

"Riders of the World" appears to be a motorcyclist term. Where did Sarah get that? Or perhaps another usage exists? Pause for thought.

Her “Niebuhr” comment on “Original Sin “ is of much interest, perhaps of more interest to those with more of a religious/philosophical bent than I.

Amazing how much comes out of a letter.