H.G. Merriam & Creative Writing Program

Born 6 September 1883 in Westminster, Massachusetts, Harold Guy Merriam moved westward throughout his life. He received a BA from Wyoming University in 1905 and earned more degrees at several other institutions, including his MA at Oxford University in 1907. He briefly studied at Harvard, but moved on to teach in Wisconsin and Oregon. During World War I, he taught France and London. He returned the U.S. in 1919 to become the chair of the English Department at the University of Montana. He introduced Creative Writing courses to the curriculum by 1920. 

Merriam was influential in shaping the creative writing curriculum. The H.G. Merriam Papers includes letters to university officials expressing serious concerns about faculty quality, low salaries, grading patterns, and financial instability. Merriam cared deeply for students, expressing a desire to provide the English students with a “focal place for . . . group life.” Merriam also had a wry sense of humor. In another letter, he joked: “P.S.: I understand that the English staff looks, when assembled, like a kindergarten group!!!”

Merriam oversaw the introduction of new classes, included in course catalogs beginning in 1920, including Shakespeare and story writing. He designed and taught many of these courses himself. In 1920, he created the magazine The Frontier and Midland to encourage students from all around the west to write. The journal was published until 1939.

Simultaneously, Merriam left UM to teach at at the University of Oregon. Merriam founded several writers' conferences from 1930 through 1960. He became the state supervisor of the Federal Writers Project in 1935. He also participated in the creation of the Montana Institute of the Arts, serving as editor and president from 1957 to 1964. On March 26th of 1980, Merriam passed away at the age of 96 in Missoula, Montana.

Although the College of Humanities and Sciences remains under financial stress today, the Creative Writing Program offers more than 30 courses in Creative Writing, as well as requiring literature courses. Missoula, Montana has been home to numerous published authors, including Richard Hugo, Kim Barnes, Michael FitzGerald, and James Welch, among others. Today, undergraduates publish and edit The Oval, and graduate students manage Cutbank, both literary journals housed at UM.

1967-1968 Course Catalog, University of Montana. Accessed November 24th 2019. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/coursecatalogs_asc/3/.

About Our Program, College of Humanities and Sciences / Creative Writing. University of Montana. Accessed November 3rd 2019. http://hs.umt.edu/creativewriting/about.php.

Creative Writing (CRWR), University of Montana. Accessed November 3rd 2019. https://catalog.umt.edu/course-pages/crwr.

H.G. Merriam, CloudPedia. Accessed November 3rd 2019. https://cloudpedia.org/h-g-merriam.

H.G. Merriam Papers. Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library., especially "Concerns for the University of Montana, Correspondence & Proposals 1921-1950 " Box 6, Folder 5.

Publications and Organizations. State University of Montana (Missoula, Mont.), "The Sentinel, 1920" (1919). University of Montana Sentinel Yearbook, 1904-1989. 71. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/sentinel/71

Regionalism: Commentary 6. The Frontier, Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington. Accessed November 3rd 2019. https://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Reading%20the%20Region/Aggressive%20Regionalism/Commentary/6.html

"University of Montana Budget Cuts of 20% in 3 Years Bite College of Humanities and Sciences." The Missoulian (Missoula). 2019.