Digital Collections at Mansfield Library

The Mansfield Library’s Digital Collections consist primarily of rare or unique materials such as photographs, letters, diaries, maps, oral histories, meeting minutes, pamphlets, gray literature and University of Montana publications. The majority of these materials provide information about the people, places and events of Montana and the region.

7 members of the 1915 UM basketball team. The coach is in the upper right of the photo and all members are in their uniforms.

Archival Photographs from the University of Montana

Images in this collection include the University of Montana campus, students, employees, buildings and events. The collection also includes thousands of images of Missoula, Montana and the region. These images represent only a fraction of what is available onsite at Archives and Special Collections; new images are added to this online collection each month. Search the collection and order image reproductions from our Archival Photographs webpage.

ASUM Symbol

Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM) Records

This collection contains documents produced by the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM) and digitized from their collection in Archives and Special Collections. These records include meeting minutes, agendas, roll calls, resolutions, and votes from 1919-2007. ASUM records for 1906-1918 are available in Archives and Special Collections; they are handwritten. Similar records from 2007-present are also available online.

rare pamphlet on apples

Books, Pamphlets, and Ephemera

The books, pamphlets, serials and other publications in this collection represent a variety of subject areas documenting Montana and the region. They promote opportunities (such as homesteading, fruit growing and mining), share information about events (such as Arbor Day), and provide pictorial and textual overviews of places (such as Missoula, Fort Benton, and Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.) Several early histories of Montana are included in this collection. Most items were published between the 1880s and the 1920s.

screenshot from meeting minutes of Boone and Crockett April 1888.

Boone and Crockett Club Records

Founded by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club was the first hunting and big-game conservation organization in the United States. This online collection includes meeting minutes from 1888-1980 and the Club’s early correspondence. Learn more about this collection and other Club documents available at Archives and Special Collections through the Guide to the Boone and Crockett Club Records.

Man and dogs

Bud Moore Photographs and Sound Recordings

William Robert "Bud" Moore (1917-2010) was a well-known Montana forester, trapper, conservationist, and author of The Lochsa Story: Land Ethics in the Bitterroot Mountains. This collection contains over 4,500 photographs Moore took and 1,400 stories he recorded about those photos or the places in them. Learn more about Bud Moore and the other materials in his archival collection, available at Archives and Special Collections, through the Guide to the Bud Moore Papers.

charkoosta newspaper header

Char-Koosta News

The Char-Koosta newspaper is published by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation. It started in November 1956 and continued through five decades, with the exception of a ten-year hiatus from December 1961 through May 1971. The paper continues to publish a weekly issue.

Chippewa Cree Tribal Water Resources Department logo

Chippewa Cree Tribe Water Rights Settlement Records

This collection includes the historical files used by the Chippewa Cree Tribe, and in particular the Tribal Water Resources Department, during their negotiations in the 1990s with the Montana Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission and the Federal Negotiating Team for the Rocky Boy's Reservation to settle the Tribe's water rights claims. To learn about the complete contents of the Water Rights Settlement Records available at Archives and Special Collections see the Guide to the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy’s Reservation Water Rights Settlement Records.

screenshot from diary entry of James Ball

Diaries, Letters, Ledgers, and Manuscripts

These diaries, letters, reports, manuscripts and other unpublished materials represent a variety of subject areas. They share lives, events and experiences from Montana’s distant and recent past.

Image of an early elementary school class.

Jack L. Demmons' Photographs of Bonner, Montana

Assembled in the mid-1970's by Bonner School Superintendent Jack L. Demmons, this collection of approximately 1,600 photographs depicts life in and around the Bonner and Milltown areas of Western Montana from the late 1800s through the 1950s. Browse the collection and order image reproductions from the Demmons’ Photographs web page.

A Butte townsite map

Mapping Montana and the West

This collection includes maps selected from the Mansfield Library's Regional and Historic Map collection, the Montana Historical Society Research Center, and other repositories around the state. The collection includes everything from territorial maps to present day topographic maps, and represents Montana and the greater northwest region.

Mike Mansfield

Mike Mansfield

Artifacts

Mike Mansfield served Montana in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1942-1952, in the U.S. Senate from 1952-1977, and was Ambassador to Japan from 1977-1988. This collection contains photographs of a selection of the thousands of artifacts and artworks he received throughout his time in government service. The content in this collection represents a fraction of the extensive Mike Mansfield archival collection held in Archives and Special Collections.

Speeches and Interviews

This collection highlights Mike Mansfield's legacy of leadership in public service as represented through his speeches and interviews. Mansfield served Montana in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1942-1952, in the U.S. Senate from 1952-1977, and was Ambassador to Japan from 1977-1988. Learn more about Mike Mansfield and the other materials in his archival collection, available at Archives and Special Collections, through the Guide to the Mike Mansfield collection.

Four plains indians in traditional dress

Mountain-Plains Native Americans

A collection of publications and reports produced by federal agencies and related in some way to Native Americans in the mountain-plains area, including what is now Montana. Topics include education, culture, history, land, treaties and more. Also included are digitized microfilm reels of indexes to letters and letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs. The materials in this collection date from the 1860s to the 1980s.

A Tipi

Natives of Montana Archival Project (NOMAP)

The Natives of Montana Archival Project (NOMAP) contains over 65,700 documents photographed at the National Archives from Montana Agency files in Record Group 75 (Bureau of Indian Affairs). Learn more about the Natives of Montana Archival Project.

un identifiable mountain scene

Oral Histories

This online collection is a sampling of the thousands of oral history interviews, mostly with Western Montanans, available from Archives and Special Collections. Topics in this online collection are wide-ranging and include Montana politics and politicians, specific towns and regions in Montana, the history of smokejumping, Montana’s second wave feminists, and University of Montana history, to name just a few. Both audio and transcripts are available for most collections; new oral histories are added frequently.

Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson in front of the Grizzly statue on the UM campus.

Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson Collection

In 2007, Archives and Special Collections acquired the literary manuscripts of Patricia Goedicke and her husband, Leonard Wallace Robinson. This collection features excerpts from those papers, providing insight into the writing process and careers of both authors, and includes drafts of works, journal entries, and correspondence. To learn more about the authors’ complete archival collection see the Guide to the Goedicke and Robinson Papers.

Commencement banner

University of Montana Commencement Banners

These University of Montana commencement banners were created from 1898-1970 and then again from 1993-present. Traditionally, the class banner is made by a student of the graduating class and presented during commencement ceremonies.

image from course catalog cover 1995-1996

University of Montana Course Catalogs

University of Montana course catalogs generally include application and registration information, academic policies and procedures, degree requirements, an overview of each school and college, a description of each program, a list of faculty in that program, descriptions and course numbers of every course offered by that program at the time of the catalog, and suggested courses of study.

historic black and white photo of university hall

University of Montana Electronic Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers

This collection represents a collaborative effort among the Graduate School, the Mansfield Library, graduate degree granting departments, and graduate students. It includes University of Montana graduate student theses, dissertations, and professional papers from 1899 to the present.

um news logo with mountain

University of Montana News Releases

This collection of press releases chronicles the activities, events, individuals, and organizations associated with the University of Montana in Missoula. Physical copies of all extant news releases created by UM between 1928 and 2011 are held by the Mansfield Library’s Archives and Special Collections.

sentinel logo in brass

University of Montana Yearbooks - The Sentinel

The University of Montana was founded in 1893 and its first yearbook was produced in 1904. Over the next eighty years The Sentinel expanded to include photographs and stories documenting all aspects of life at UM.