Nellie: Preservationist

Patricia, Nellie, and Conrad Warren II in the living room of their home, 1947

Nellie had over a decade to visit with her grandmother-in-law, Augusta Kohrs. Con remembered later

"They'd giggle like a couple of school kids."

It was during these times Nellie learned all she could from Augusta. Where did all these beautiful things come from? Where did you have them in the house? She carefully recorded Augusta, Anna, and Katherine's recipes in a ledger.

In the 1950 and 1960s, her children raised and her husband's business established, Nellie had time to explore her love of history and that of the ranch. She personally cared for Kohrs home belongings she had learned about. She kept the old parlor furniture out of the sunlight. She had the old house cleaned top to bottom twice a year. Upholstered chairs infested with moths and carpets full of silverfish were removed. Nell and Con refinished a couple of the old chairs and repaired a china doll. The journals from Kohrs' days as a butcher were cleaned with art gum, a technique still used by conservator's today. When the roof went bad on the old house, the furnishings were stored off-site. Nellie was the site's first collection manager.

During this time, Nellie happened to read Gods, Graves, and Scholars: The Story of Archeology written by C. W. Ceram in 1951. Her son credits this book for providing the impetus behind her vision of preserving the ranch as a museum for a larger audience. As an example, family acquaintances, the Boveys, had been restoring historic Virginia City, Montana since the late 1940s. The National Park Service recognized the significance of the ranch, notifying the Warrens in 1958 that it could be designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1966, Nellie read about the Eisenhower Farm acquisition by the National Park Foundation as a national historic site. She asked her husband, "Wouldn't the Foundation want to acquire their ranch for the same purpose?" At her insistence, Conrad Warren wrote the National Park Service and put the ball in motion. But, he always gave his wife full credit for preserving the ranch, "If it hadn't been for her, we wouldn't be standing here right now." Like many historic homes and sites throughout America, it was a woman who ensured the preservation of a national treasure. Nellie was the site's first preservationist.

Conrad Warren wanted to save his family's historic ranch. He wanted to hold together the land and the buildings they had established, a place he had grown up on and managed since the 1930s. But Nellie Warren recognized the importance of the collections. She knew they must remain in place so the site could be presented to the public as it was in the time of John Grant and Conrad Kohrs. You can almost hear Nellie's voice when Conrad writes the Assistance Secretary of the National Park Foundation, "you would also have to agree that . . . none of the antiques or artifacts would be removed from the premises." When all was said and done, Conrad and Nellie Warren gifted the entire collection to the Foundation. Nellie was the site's first curator.

Not only did Nellie recognize the importance of the material culture of the family, she researched the family's place in the history of the west. Before federal historians appeared to work on official scoping and planning documents, Nellie poured over family business records, papers, and photographs. Expandable files and photo albums were assembled by subjects - mining, butcher shops, irrigation companies, and eastern Montana operations. She kept "digging and digging" until she was able to establish a clear picture of the Kohrs' business operations through time. Nellie carefully edited Conrad Kohrs: An Autobiography for publication. Conrad honored his wife with the first copy of this edition. She was the site's first historian.