Archives West Finding Aid

This series contains outgoing and incoming correspondence regarding First National Bank operations. Correspondence sequences are relatively complete from 1873 to 1900; however, significant gaps exist after 1900 and the sequence ends in 1921. This series also includes one file of correspondence with K. Ross Toole, dated 1965. This file documents K. Ross Toole's efforts to secure the collection for the Archives, an instructional essay written by Toole regarding archival processing in Montana, and transcriptions of letters from the S.T. Hauser collection at the Montana State Historical Society he deemed relevant to the First National Bank collection.

This series contains three documents relating to the incorporation of the First National Bank. Included is a copy of the 1866 Articles of Incorporation for the First National Bank of Helena, Montana (used as a template for the Missoula National Bank's articles of incorporation), a copy of the 1873 Articles of Incorporation for the Missoula National Bank, and a 1913 amendment to the First Nationa Montana Bank of Missoula's Articles of Incorporation. These materials document the early organization of one of western Montana's first corporate ventures.

This series contains financial records from the First National Bank, primarily bound ledgers. Materials include general operating ledgers, individual account records, daily balance logs, regulatory reports of assets and liabilities, cash and credit transaction documents, and client signature books. Federal records include reports to and notices from the U.S. Treasury Department. Materials in this series present significant documentation of Missoula's early economic history, the town's foundational business relationships, the ebb and flow of western Montana economic development from the late nineteenth century through the early twentieth century, the impacts of national procedural/regulatory changes upon rural banks, and daily operations at the Missoula institution.

This series contains three newspaper scrapbooks detailing developments within the First National Bank from 1903-1939, samples of internal forms, and two examples of Bank promotional materials. The items in this series provide broad insights into First National Bank operations and public relations.

This series contains financial records from the Missoula Trust and Savings Bank. The exact relationship between Missoula Trust and Savings Bank and the First National Bank is not established by collection materials.