The mission statement for this website is to share information relating to Yellowstone National Park. The information is based on our personal experience. Susan was born and raised in Bozeman, Montana. Her family visited the park often and she developed a love of “All Things Yellowstone” beginning in her childhood in the 1950s.
I moved from Lake Tahoe, Nevada, to Big Sky, Montana, in 1975. My parents managed restaurants. They operated a café in Cooke City, Montana, in the summer of 1976. I drove through Lamar Valley to visit them. These were my first visits to the park.
Susan and I met in Bozeman in 1977 and were married in 1978. We established a building maintenance business in Helena, Montana. Our company expanded and we moved back to Bozeman in 1982. We have lived ever since and visit Yellowstone as often as possible.
Susan began collecting Yellowstone memorabilia the summer of 1967. Her first acquisition was a box of Haynes postcards in a small antique shop in Fromberg, Montana. This box of postcards was the beginning of a lifelong odyssey for collecting items related to the park. Susan and I worked together to expand the Yellowstone collection she started. We enjoyed visiting antique shops and shows searching for Yellowstone antiques.
We became focused on rare and unique items and realized that we would have to become dealers to have access to more collectible items. We established Olde America Antiques in 1988. This gave us the opportunity to exhibit in shows. Many of the most desirable antiques were bought and sold among dealers before the shows opened to the public. Our personal Yellowstone collection increased in size and status at each show. Dealers became aware that we were serious Yellowstone collectors and our collection increased as a result. We acquired and upgraded many of the pieces in our personal collection and sold duplication.
We bought a shop adjacent to our building maintenance building in 1990 and renovated it into an antique shop. Our store specialized in Yellowstone Park antiques and collectibles, with a focus on postcards and paper ephemera. This was the only shop of its kind between Minneapolis and Spokane. We offered duplication from our personal collection for sale and many other items we were able to acquire as dealers. Our shop became known for having Yellowstone National Park antiques and collectibles. We were in the right place at the right time when Yellowstone postcards and antiques increased in popularity.
Isabel Haynes, widow of Jack Haynes, passed away in Bozeman in April 1993. The Haynes family were important photographers and concessionaires in Yellowstone National Park. They were active in the park for 87 years, from 1881 through 1968. Isabel was the last heir of this influential family. Three Haynes family estate auctions took place in Bozeman that year. The main auction in July was the largest in the history of Gallatin County. This auction had 25 categories of items. The most significant and historically important category was Yellowstone National Park.
The Yellowstone National Park items in the Haynes estate included rare and unique pieces from their personal collections, plus Haynes Photo Shop store inventory. We realized that these auctions were a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire important items relating to Yellowstone National Park, and the Haynes family. We focused our efforts on this group of items hoping to acquire rare and unique pieces for our personal collection. There was also an assortment of Haynes Photo Shop inventory that had been in storage since the 1930s. This old store inventory represented valuable merchandise we could sell in our shop.
We were able to acquire many Yellowstone and Haynes-related items at these auctions. Our personal collection increased substantially in size. The items we purchased at the auction were historically important because they came directly from the Haynes family. These were all new to the market. The only items we offered for sale from the auction were duplication. Our intention was to acquire as many Yellowstone and Haynes-related items as possible to keep together to go to the park. We felt very strongly that these items should be in the park’s collection. We were very pleased that we were successful in obtaining as many of these items as we did. Collections tell a story, and much of the story of what the Haynes family members collected would have been lost.
We were also able to acquire a large volume of store stock from the Haynes Photo Shops to offer for sale in our shop. The Haynes family estate auctions gained regional, national, and international media publicity. Yellowstone National Park and Haynes collectibles became a recognizable subject and a popular subject among collectors. These items were bought and sold throughout the country. Yellowstone and Haynes became well known throughout the antique and collectibles markets.
Susan and I decided to promote a national park paper and antique show in Bozeman in the fall of 1993. This was the only national park antique show in the country. The wide-spread publicity from the Haynes auction was the impetuous for this show. We advertised the show nation wide and had dealers attend from 15 states. The show became very popular and successful. We hosted the show for six years, from 1993 through 1998, and acquired many valuable pieces for our personal collection. Antiques shows were adversely affected by the advent of the internet. We will discuss this in more detail in a separate article. The internet fundamentally changed the way antiques and collectibles were bought and sold. This transformation in the marketplace was set in motion when eBay was founded in 1995 and has become more widespread and consequential since then.
Susan’s original Yellowstone collection morphed into the Davis Collection. It ultimately numbered more than 20,000 items by 2000. The Davis Collection now resides in the Heritage and Research Center at the northern entrance to the park in Gardiner, Montana. The items in the collection are available for research. The largest category is postcards, which number more than 10,000. The other categories in the collection include photos, stereo views, prints, posters, artwork, souvenirs, records, books, brochures, advertising, ephemera, and various other items. Another category is Haynes-related material. The Davis Collection goes back to Susan’s first acquisition of the box of Haynes postcards in 1967. This is the largest and most comprehensive private Yellowstone collection ever assembled.
The information we will discuss on this website is based on our experience as collectors and dealers. It is a unique perspective that won’t be found anywhere else. We will be posting a wide range of articles on various subjects as time permits. We have owned and operated several businesses and retired in 2018. Our goal is to share as much information with you as possible. Susan’s passion and love of “All Things Yellowstone” was the genesis of this project. Our goal is to cultivate a better appreciation of Yellowstone through sharing the items we collected one at a time. It was truly a labor of love.
Thank you for your interest,
Jack and Susan Davis
Leave a Reply