The Montana Historical Society (MHS) is a

historical society A historical society (sometimes also preservation society) is an organization dedicated to preserving, collecting, researching, and interpreting historical information or items. Originally, these societies were created as a way to help future g ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

that acts to preserve historical resources important to the understanding of Montana history. The society provides services through six operational programs: Administration, Research Center, Museum, Publications, Historic Preservation, and Education. It is governed by a 15-member Board of Trustees, appointed by the governor, which hires the director of the society and sets policy for the agency. Founded in 1865, it is one of the oldest such institutions in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

History and organization

On December 21, 1864, seven months after the creation of the

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

, Council Bill 15 was introduced into the Territorial legislature by Francis M. Thompson, a representative from Beaverhead County who would only live in Montana two and a half years, to create the Historical Society of Montana. The bill, "An Act to Incorporate the Historical Society of Montana", was signed into law February 2, 1865 "in order to collect and arrange facts in regard to the early history of this Territory, the discovery of its mines, incidents of the fur trade, etc." and was incorporated by Hezekiah L. Hosmer, Christopher P. Higgins, John Owens, James Stuart,

Wilbur F. Sanders Wilbur Fisk Sanders (May 2, 1834 – July 7, 1905) was a United States senator from Montana. A leading pioneer and a skilled lawyer, Sanders played a prominent role in the development of Montana Territory and the state's early political hi ...

, Malcolm Clark, Francis M. Thompson, William Graham, Granville Stuart, Walter W. deLacy, C.E. Irvine, and Charles S. Bagg. The society is the second oldest state historical society west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

. On March 25, 1865, members of the society elected Wilbur Sanders President, Granville Stuart Secretary-Treasurer, and the Honorable Hezekiah L. Hosmer Historian. At the time of its founding, Granville Stuart was a merchant, Walter deLacy was the Territorial Surveyor, Hezekiah Hosmer was the Chief Justice of the Territorial Court and Wilbur Sanders was prominent in the Virginia City vigilante movement. The Society was reorganized as a state agency March 4, 1891 and by "An Act to Perpetuate the Historical Society of the State of Montana" March 1, 1949. Originally located in

Virginia City Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boom ...

, it was moved to

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer *Helena, mother of Constantine I Places Greece * Helena (island) Guyana * H ...

in 1874 after a disputed election approved Helena as the territory's new capital. In 1902, it was located in the basement of the new Montana State Capitol building.

Collections

The

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...

s collections include

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...

s from the early 1860s to the present, in addition to a large number of

oral histories Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

, mostly from the 20th and 21st centuries. The archives has served as the legal repository, or state archives, for

Montana state Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 field ...

and

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loc ...

since 1969, and therefore includes a great number of government records. The

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

archives are extensive, housing over half-a-million images from the 19th and 20th centuries. The

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

collection comprises books and pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, maps, federal and state publications, posters and musical scores, as well as the state's largest collection of newspaper clippings and magazine articles. The

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

program has a substantial collection of art and artifacts documenting all of Montana history, including a large and representative group of materials documenting Montana

Native American culture Native American cultures across the United States are notable for their wide variety and diversity of lifestyles, regalia, art forms and beliefs. The culture of indigenous North America is usually defined by the concept of the Pre-Columbian ...

Publications

The first significant publications of the society were the ''Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana'' published in ten volumes between 1876 and 1941. Under the leadership of Society director

K. Ross Toole Kenneth Ross Toole (August 8, 1920 – August 13, 1981) was an American historian, author, and educator who specialized in the history of Montana. Perhaps the best-known and most influential of the state's twentieth-century historians, Toole ser ...

, in 1951, the society began publication of the quarterly journal ''The Montana Magazine of History''. In 1953, under the masthead "To Preserve, To Publish, and To Promote interest in, The History of Montana", the journal was renamed: ''

Montana, The Magazine of Western History ''Montana: The Magazine of Western History'' (formerly ''The Montana Magazine of History'') is a quarterly journal published by the Montana Historical Society. It publishes articles about the history of Montana as well as the western United St ...

''. The Society operates the Montana Historical Society Press to publish books for students and adults on subjects related to the people, places and events in Montana history.

Montana Historical Society Museum

The Montana Historical Society Museum, also known as Montana's Museum, is located in

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the capital city of Montana, United States, and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena would be ...

. Open year-round, the museum's displays include the state's fine art, history, archaeological and ethnological artifacts. The Mackay Gallery of Russell Art features works by Western-artist

Charles M. Russell Charles Marion Russell (March 19, 1864 – October 24, 1926), also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, an ...

in many media. Other displays include Native Americans, settlers and home life, mining, frontier weapons and a white bison mount.

References

External links

*
Historic Montana
(MHS project) * {{authority control 1865 establishments in Montana Territory Historical societies in Montana History of Montana

Historical Society A historical society (sometimes also preservation society) is an organization dedicated to preserving, collecting, researching, and interpreting historical information or items. Originally, these societies were created as a way to help future g ...

State historical societies of the United States State history organizations of the United States