One More “Robert Frank in Butte, Montana” Story

Not long after my wife, Darby, and I returned from last summer’s Portland-to-St. Louis road trip — which included one night at the Finlen Hotel in Butte — I started thinking how cool it would be to go back to Montana for my birthday in April, and spend a week in the room Robert Frank occupied during his trek around the U.S. shooting the photographs that became his book, The Americans. Fortunately, Darby liked the idea, too. 

I was turning 70, and it would have been almost 70 years since the Swiss-American photographer passed through town, and made his celebrated photo, “View from Hotel Window” in Room 904.

All told, of the 83 photographs in the final edit, four were shot in Butte, and at least one other, U.S. 91, Leaving Blackfoot Idaho, was taken on the way there.

I packed my 1933 Barnack Leica, fitted with the 50mm f1.4 Nikkor lens – like the kit Robert carried in 1956, and described in my earlier article for 35mmc – as well as a 1949 Leica iiic and a Leitz 90mm f4.5.

Instead of driving all the way from Portland this time, we flew to Bozeman, and rented a car. Butte is about 85 miles to the west. When we arrived, the Finlen’s manager, Sandra, greeted us at the front desk.

My darkroom teacher, Mike, and I had been debating whether Frank used his 50mm Nikkor or a longer 90mm lens for his photo.
I took a few of samples with each. After seeing the negatives, my best guess is that it was, in fact, the 50mm.

Besides the famous hotel window, attempting to find some of the other locations that Robert photographed would not be as easy to identify, or to access.

We headed to the Mike Mansfield Federal Courthouse on Main St. This was where the photo, Navy Recruiting Station, Post Office, Butte–Montana, was made. The building no longer serves as a post office, and while the three guards were friendly, they were clearly not going to grant us entry, no matter how enthusiastically we described our purpose. And they had never heard of The Americans.

Next, we visited the impressive Butte – Silver Bow Public Archives, where we met the director, Aubrey Jaap. She didn’t have any Robert Frank-specific material to show us, but she knew of him, his work, and his association with the city. She reported that other Frankophiles had been in on similar quests.

Hoping to provide a starting point for future seekers, we have since donated a copy of Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans to their collection. The expanded edition includes many pages of contact sheets, some of which show scenes from Butte that are not in the finished work.

One morning near the end of the week, I was out on a photo walk, and stopped by the library to load a fresh roll of film. Their photography section was small, but they did have a copy of The Americans prominently displayed on the shelf.

Unrelated to photography, we also explored the town’s history associated with the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World), and the labor struggles between miners and “copper kings” in the early 20th century. Most moving was a visit to the grave of Frank Little, the I.W.W. organizer, who was lynched in 1917. No one was ever charged with the crime.

 Most of the mines are now closed, but their legacy looms large, both geographically and in local legend and lore.

We concluded our stay in Butte with dinner at the 115 year-old Pekin Noodle Parlor. It seems we made it just in time. Two weeks after our visit,
they announced their closure. With its radiator-heated private booths, The Pekin was a throwback to an earlier time, even in a city with such
a rich inventory of nationally registered historic buildings.

Butte was much sunnier than I like for black & white photography. Living in Portland, Oregon, I am more accustomed to grey weather. When the sun does come out, I usually leave my camera at home.

Spending time in the same space that Robert Frank occupied during the creation of my favorite photo book was very inspiring, though, and compensation enough for the blue skies.

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