Mary Cutlip Bean Papers

Collection

Identifier: 95-10

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The bulk of the Mary Cutlip Bean Papers relate to Pyramid Lake and the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch (also known as The Sage). There are few business records of the Ranch but there is a wealth of information about the guest ranch contained in the lists of guests and other guest ranches in 1936; clippings about the lake, Ranch, and Kitselman family; and articles about the Kitselman law suit in 1947-1948.

One of the most informative folders contains notes compiled by Mary Bean which include biographical sketches of her parents, reminiscences of incidents in her life, information about the Kitselman family, and a chronology of the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch, 1936-1957. See folder 10 for more details about any of the above subjects.

Dates

1934-1967

Creator

Bean, Mary Cutlip, 1939- (Creator, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Materials must be used on-site; advance notice suggested. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Biographical Note

Mary Bean was born in November 1939, in Reno, Nevada. Her parents were Mary Bernice Hood Cutlip (known as Bernice or Bernie) and Wayne Gordon Cutlip.

Bernice (Hood) Cutlip was born and raised in central and southern California; her parents were Frances Patterson Hood and Allen Roy Hood. After high school she attended business college and then typed scrips for a movie studio. She continued to do secretarial work throughout most of her life and died in 1981.

Wayne Cutlip, born in 1906, was a rodeo cowboy and did stuntwork and stock wrangling for the movie industry in Hollywood, California. The Cutlips were married in 1935 in Minden, Nevada. Wayne worked in the Reno area for various riding stables, then in 1936 the Cutlips moved to the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch where he was employed as a wrangler and Bernice worked as a secretary and postmistress at Sutcliffe Post Office. After the birth of Mary, their only child, they moved first to Reno and then to other ranches in northern Nevada. Wayne continued to work with the movie industry until 1972. He died in 1988.

The Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch was a privately owned resort in the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe reservation and was located on the west side of Pyramid Lake at Sutcliffe. It was owned by members of the Kitselman family from 1936 to the 1950s. It was purchased by Alva LaSalle (Beau) Kitselman in 1936 who transferred ownership to his sister, Marjorie Kitselman Dunn Hanson O'Shea Rautzahn, and his mother, Leslie Kitselman Figeroa in 1940. They incorporated the ranch as The Sage. Beau sued to recover the ranch in 1947 but lost the suit in 1948. Marjorie died in 1953 and Leslie died in 1962.

Additional biographical information about the Cutlip and Kitselman families and about the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch, may be found in Series 2.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Mary Cutlip Bean (1939- ), was born in Reno, Nevada and raised at the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch where her parents, Wayne and Bernice (Hood) Cutlip, worked as a wrangler and secretary, respectively. The collection includes materials related to the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch (also known as the Sage Dude Ranch); horse breeding; Wayne and Bernice Cutlip; ranch owners Alva Lasalle (Beau) Kitselman, Marjorie Kitselman Hanson Rautzahn, and Leslie Kitselman Figeroa; ranch manager and horse breeder Harry Drackert; articles about Pyramid Lake by journalist Basil Woon and others; and historical and biographical information on the above topics compiled by Mary Bean.

Arrangement

Arranged into the following series: 1) Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch; 2) Bernice Hood Cutlip; 3) Wayne Cutlip

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Mary Cutlip Bean in 1994 and 1995.

Separated Materials

Photographs transferred to the Special Collections Department photo archive as collection number UNRS-P1995-41.

A Part of

Nevada women's archives.

Processing Information

The ranch is referred to variously throughout this collection as the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch, the Pyramid Lake Dude Ranch, and The Sage. The name has been standardized to the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch in this guide and in the University Library's online catalog.