Papers of William M. Koehler, 1951-1978
MSS 220
This collection consists of photocopies of typescripts of stories, poems, and essays, in one small box, by William McKinley Koehler, of Pocatello, Idaho. Most are undated. They were presented by Mr. Koehler’s sister, Lois Koehler Boyd, to the Idaho State Library in 1981, and were placed in the Idaho Author File. They came to Boise State University when the Idaho Author File was transferred here in 1988 and removed from it to form a separate collection in 2003. Some biographical material remains in the Idaho Author file (MSS 88).
William M. Koehler was born in Perrysville, Indiana, in 1896. A veteran of World War I, he wrote contributed to the “Flu Dust” column in the Gary Post-Tribune while working in the steel mills in Gary, Indiana. He moved to Pocatello in the 1920s and held various jobs until 1953, when he went to work as a maintenance engineer for the heating and cooling plant of Idaho State University. He retired in 1966 and died in Pocatello in July 1978. He was a member of the Idaho Writers League. The longest single work in the collection is his reminiscences of his World War I service with the Medical Corps, which included combat in France. Also included is a description of a Native American sun dance near Blackfoot, Idaho, in 1951.
The Koehler collection forms part of the Idaho Writers Archive.
-- Alan Virta, 13 October 2003
Folder list
Entirely photocopies
Folder 1 Biographical material
Folder 2 World War I experiences (ca. 1968)
Folder 3 World War I experiences (ca. 1968) (Version 2)
Folder 4 Beauty Queen
Folder 5 The Beginning
Folder 6 The Black Cat
Folder 7 My Blind Friend, Jerry O’Connor
Folder 8 Childhood Sweethearts
Folder 9 Cutting the Christmas Tree
Folder 10 Dr. Straddley
Folder 11 Fred’s Perilous Journey
Folder 12 How Paul Bunyan Lost His Leg
Folder 13 Indian Sun Dance (Blackfoot, Idaho, 1951)
Folder 14 Interpretation of a Dream
Folder 15 Levi Wildcat
Folder 16 Pinto, the Lame Pony
Folder 17 Strictly Feminine
Folder 18 Transient Labor
Folder 19 The Unknowing Apostle
Folder 20 Poems
Folder 21 Miscellaneous
Folder 22 Notes
Folder 23 Penitence (Author unknown)