Mansfield Library Subject Guides
Archives and Special Collections:
A Description of Holdings
For more information, contact: Donna McCrea, Head of Archives (406.243.4403) or Jordan Goffin, Special Collections Librarian (406.243.4036).
The Archives and Special Collections area is located on Level Four and contains these circulating collections:
- Books related to Montana and the Intermountain West—the "Montana Collection"
- Oral Histories
There are also the following non-circulating collections:
- Rare books and other books that require special handling identified as "Special Collections"
- Pamphlet files
- Photographs
- Manuscript collections
- Microfilm clipping file
Circulating Collections
Montana Collection
Books relating to Montana and the West— fewer items the farther away you get from Montana. This collection does not include fiction.
Also material produced by governments in Montana, including state documents, University catalogs and other publications, the Kaimin, and copies of all bills introduced into the Legislature since 1941.
The Montana Collection is located in room 414, next to the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, which is room 410. There is an additional shelving sequence in room 414 for Oversize items.
Oral Histories
Since 1968, the Mansfield library has collected over 2,000 cassette tapes of oral history interviews. Interview subjects are mostly Western Montanans. Interview topics include the depression in Montana, the history of smokejumping, Montana’s feminists, and the history of The University of Montana. Most of the interviews have transcripts or summaries.
The Oral Histories are also located in Room 414, on your left as you walk back toward the Reading Room. Oral Histories and most Montana Collection items can be checked out and taken home. For help in finding these materials, ask at the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room service desk in Room 410.
Non-Circulating Collections
All remaining Archives and Special Collections items are normally used only in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, Room 410. These items are kept in closed stacks, and researchers must request them at the Reading Room service desk. There are two separate Use Agreements for users of Archives and of Special Collections. One of these forms must be read and signed for each use of a collection. On the other side of that form is an area for listing the specific material needed. Archives and Special Collections staff will bring the material to the Reading Area. If you need copies of any items, our staff will make them for you.
Special Collections: Books
There are many different Special Collections. The most outstanding holdings are in the areas of Western history, the fur trade, Native American studies, and English and American literature. These items are kept in closed stacks because they are rare, valuable, fragile, at risk of being stolen or vandalized, or for some combination of these reasons.
Special Collections: Pamphlet Files
Many thousands of pamphlets, brochures, clippings and ephemeral items. The Montana pamphlet file is the largest single segment. There are also files on World War One, politics, and several other subjects. The Small Press Collection consists of thousands of zines organized by title. Finding aids that list each folder of material in every pamphlet collection are available online.
Archives: Photographs
The archives has nearly 100,000 historic photographs of Montana, Missoula, and the University that date from the 1870s to the 1990s. Copies of many of these photographs are available for researchers to view any hour the library is open; these are in the large burgundy binders on shelves in the Montana Collection Room, room 414. Subject access to a portion of the photographs is provided through a card catalog located with the burgundy binders. You may order copies of any photograph in the archives’ collection. See the staff member at the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room desk for assistance.
Archives: Manuscripts
The archives holds over 600 manuscript collections relating to Montana, and especially to western Montana .Subject strengths include Montana state and national politicians, western Montana business, Montana journalists and writers, the forest products industry, and faculty and students of the University. Holdings include papers, ledgers, audio, film and video, blueprints, and photographs. Information about many of these collections is available through the Mansfield Library catalog and through the Northwest Digital Archives website: http://nwda.wsulibs.wsu.edu/ . Contact the Archives or see the staff member at the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room desk for assistance.
Archives: University Archives
The archives holds 1,200 linear feet of the records of The University of Montana, including the papers of the presidents, copies of many university publications, film and video of campus events and performances, photographs and memorabilia. This collection is not represented in the Mansfield Library catalog; contact the Archives or see the staff member at the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room desk for assistance.
Last revised: 30 March 2007