Elizabeth Leroy Photograph Collection

Collection

Identifier: Photo 2106

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Elizabeth Leroy Photograph Collection contains images donated by the family to complement the extensive manuscript collection of her papers that are preserved at the Institute for Regional Studies (processed as Mss 281). A small number of photographs were donated with Leroy’s papers and have been incorporated into this collection. The photographic images include portraits and group photos of the Brown, Leroy, Keller, Kesling and Fisher families along with photographs from western North Dakota and eastern North Dakota and four photograph albums. The photographs date from the 1888 up to 1998 spanning over a century with the majority representing the decades between the 1920s and the 1950s. The Brown Family Series include portraits of Elizabeth, her brother Edward, her mother Alice and father Lewis along with various other family members. Included in Alice’s photographs are albumen cartes-de-visite of her as a baby that was taken in New Ulm, Minnesota. It also includes many card photographs of unknown Brown family members in the Aurora, Illinois area. Along with the photographs of the Brown surname there are also photos of the Kelks and Lampert family names who are ancestors of the progenitor Brown that Elizabeth belongs to. The Lampert family included the family name of Moscher which is the maiden name for Elizabeth’s paternal grandmother. The Brown Family series also includes group photographs of three or more identified people with the majority of the people represented being on Brown ancestry and group photographs of three or more people that are believed to be of Brown ancestry but are unidentified. The Leroy Family Series, like the Brown Series, includes portraits of important family members including Walter, Elizabeth’s husband and Beverly their daughter along with various others. It also includes photographs of the Hatch, Philon and Rychner families which are related to the Leroy family. The Hatch family being related though Hattie Marie Hatch Langworthy who is Walter Leroy’s (Elizabeth’s husband) grandmother and with the Philon family being Elizabeth’s daughter Lois’s married name. The Philon photographs include velox polyester prints of Lois as an adult with her Husband and young son (Elizabeth’s grandchild) in front of their house and what seems to be on vacation. The Leroy series also includes group photographs of three or more identified people with the majority of the people represented being on Leroy ancestry and group photographs of three or more people that are believed to be of Leroy ancestry but are unidentified. The Keller Family Series includes photographs of the various family names that have branched off of the Kellers, the maiden name of Alice, Elizabeth’s mother. These surnames include Brown, Rebillard, Spears, Vercoe, and Wellington families. Individual portraits of Kellers are also included in this series. Included in these individuals are Ann, Anna, August, Edith, Elsie, Emma, Emily, Eunice, and Gussie. There are multiple photographs of portraits or couples that are unidentified with many of them being taken in the Chicago, Illinois area and dating back to late 1800s. The Keller series also includes group photographs of three or more identified people with the majority of the people represented being on Keller ancestry and group photographs of three or more people that are believed to be of Keller ancestry but are unidentified. The Kesling Family Series contains photographs of the family name of Huns along with photographs of groups of three or more people both identified and unidentified. The Fisher Family Series contains mostly photographs of identified portraits or couples including Allen, Ann, Annie, Elsie, Marilyn, Monroe, Lewis, Louise, Toni, Una, and Wallace. It is unknown exactly how all of these people fit into Elizabeth Leroy’s family. The Fisher series also includes photographs of groups of three or more people identified and unidentified portraits and groups. The Friends Series includes gelatin silver prints of many of Elizabeth’s while she was in her teens and twenties before she met Walter Leroy. The Elizabeth Leroy collection also contains photographs of Western North Dakota where the Browns had their ranch and Elizabeth grew up. The Western North Dakota Series contains photographs of the Bar Z and Diamond Ranches with buildings and or equipment. Included in the buildings is a gelatin silver print of Uncle Joe (Lewis’s Brother) Brown’s sod house. There is also a gelatin silver print of Lewis Brown hauling hay with the barn in the background. The Bar Z ranch was located outside of Killdeer, North Dakota and this is where Elizabeth taught Sunday School so also included in the Western North Dakota series is a group of gelatin silver prints with the school house and the children and or church members outside. There are also many gelatin silver prints that were taken by Edward Brown of the Killdeer Rodeo and various types of photographs of Western North Dakota landmarks including the stage at Medora. Included in the Eastern North Dakota Series are pictures of Valley City, a Fargo train operator, the house in Fargo and the family house in Cass County. The gelatin silver print of the house in Fargo seems to be taken a short time after she moved to Fargo and is located at 919 29th St South. The Albums Series includes four albums with pictures dating from the 1920s to the 1950s. Album Number One contains mostly gelatin silver prints from the 1930s and 1940s of Elizabeth’s young children and various other family members, most as children. Album Number Two contains mostly gelatin silver prints from the 1940s to the late 1950s. These pictures represent various family portraits in front of houses and or on the Ranch. Then the album moves to pictures of the summer vacation in 1946 and from there continues mostly chronologically following her children and other family members till approximately 1957. Album Number Three seems to be more similar to a scrapbook. Most of the photographs seem to be gelatin silver prints and date from the 1920s to the 1930s or 1940s. There are a few poems clipped from newspapers and other paper artifacts that have been pasted amongst the pictures. Included in this album is a series of tourist photographs from Minneapolis of various buildings and landmarks. Then later in the album is what seems to be a series of college photographs from Dickinson State University, some being professional others amateur snapshots. Album Number Four is a more modern album with plastic sleeves for the prints and was assembled many years after the photographs were taken and mostly represent various family members with dates ranging from possibly the 1920s to the 1930s.

Dates

ca. 1888-1998

Creator

Leroy, Elizabeth, 1911-2003. (Person)

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute.

Copyrights

The Institute owns the copyright for images by Elizabeth Leroy, others held by creator.

Biography

Elizabeth Constance Brown was born August 18, 1911 near Oakdale, Dunn County, North Dakota along with her brother Edward Brown to Alice Keller Brown and Lewis Edward Brown. After Graduating from Killdeer High School in 1928, she received teacher’s training from the Normal College in Dickinson, North Dakota. Leroy taught Sunday school near Killdeer and then a country school for about three years before marrying Walter E. Leroy in 1933. Walter and Elizabeth Leroy had four daughters: Bette Leroy Dalbol, Lois (Trish) Leroy Philon, Sharon Leroy Simonson and Beverly Leroy Krein. The couple farmed for a few years near Killdeer, North Dakota. In 1942 the family moved to the Red River Valley because of Walter Leroy’s employment as a truck driver for a Killdeer farmer. Elizabeth Leroy taught school near Horace, North Dakota during this time. By 1946 Walter and Elizabeth were divorced and Leroy and her daughters remained in Fargo while Walter returned to the Killdeer area and remarried. During World War II, Elizabeth Leroy worked as a seamstress for the military, followed by employment with Sweetheart and Holsum bakeries. After retiring from Holsum Bakery, Elizabeth Leroy worked for St. Luke’s Hospital and at the Black Building in downtown Fargo as well as a variety of other jobs. Elizabeth Leroy was a prolific writer, and although she had only limited experience being published, she left a wealth of documentary material of her life and times. She was also active in both church and the North Dakota Peaceworkers. Only a few months before her death, she participated in a peaceful protest against the war in Iraq. Leroy continued to write in her dairies until only a couple of weeks before her death on June 19, 2003.