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Montana Department of Transportation, Billings District Office records, 1947-2001

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Montana. Department of Transportation.
Title
Montana Department of Transportation, Billings District Office records
Dates
1947-2001 (inclusive)
Quantity
30.4 linear feet
Collection Number
RS 492 (Formerly RS 405)
Summary
This collection is a sub-subgroup (Office) of the Montana Department of Transportation records, RS 492. The Billings District Office currently (as of 2024) operates under the Director's Office Division. Please see the primary finding aid for more Montana Department of Transportation records. This collection contains correspondence, subject files, reports, and minutes of the Montana Department of Transportation Billings District Office, and Lewiston Area Office.
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)
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Historical Note

The Montana State Highway Commission was created in 1913 by the state Legislative Assembly. The original Commission was composed of three members. In 1917 new legislation altered the organization of the Commission by authorizing the appointment of twelve members according to geographic highway districts. Membership was changed again in 1921 to three members appointed by the Governor and in 1941 to five members, also appointed by the Governor. In 1971 the Commission was renamed the Montana Department of Highways, created by Chapter 7 of the Executive Reorganization Act of 1971 and implemented by executive order of the Governor on December 16, 1971. The Department of Highways took over all but the advisory functions of the State Highway Commission.

By 1972, the Department consisted of seven divisions: the Legal Division, Personnel Division, Centralized Services Division, Engineering Division, Motor Pool Division, Gross Vehicle Weight Division, and the Maintenance Division. Each division is headed by an administrator. The Centralized Services Division, Engineering Division, Motor Pool Division, Gross Vehicle Weight Division, and the Maintenance Division are furthered sub-divided into bureaus, headed by Chiefs. In 1991, the Department of Highways became the Department of Transportation. This was primarily a name change. However, there were some structural and administrative changes.

The Highway Department, the Department of Highways, and Department of Transportation maintained regional offices in the five commissioner districts: Billings, Butte, Glendive, Great Falls, and Missoula. The District Engineer (later called the District Administrator) was the chief administrative officer in each district office. District office files document the activities of the district administrators, engineers, maintenance crew, and other district office employees. The district offices addressed administrative, functional, and project related issues of their particular area, including: highway needs, current construction projects, HR/training for employees, road design, federal and state aid and grants, reports to the Department of Highways/ Department of Transportation in Helena regarding general maintenance, construction, and area concerns, etc. District administrators held meetings every 6 weeks. Other employees in the district and area offices also attended duty-specific meetings with outside district staff members; including maintenance crew meetings, engineer meetings etc., in order to maintain consistent communication among the districts and with other state agencies regarding programs, projects, and district goals.

The files of the Billings District Office and the Lewistown Area Office were kept by the District Engineers/Administrators Ray Ventura and Bruce Barrett

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Content Description

These records of the Billings District Office includes the files of the Billings office along with those of the district area office located in Lewistown. Montana Department of Transportation Billings District records include the district’s records as part of the Department of Highways, and after reorganization in 1991, as part of the Department of Transportation. There were some structural and administrative changes for the Department. Though the function of the Billings district did not significantly change, the files were kept separate.

The Billings District Office subgroup includes interoffice correspondence (1971-1983, 1989-2001); incoming correspondence (1989-2001); outgoing correspondence (1989-2001); general correspondence (1967-1982, 1989-2001); minutes of Project Managers meetings (1986-2001) and of Supervisors meetings (1986-2001); Engineer meetings (1989-2001); and reports and subject files (1947-1984, 1989-2001). Correspondence and subject files document such things as various maintenance projects, historical markers, rest areas, snow removal, vandalism, long-range building plans, the Emergency Building Temperature Restrictions Program (1979), gasoline allocation, weed control, and public and municipal concerns. The majority of the files were those kept by Ray Ventura, Billings District Engineer (1989-2001). The interoffice correspondence includes separate files for internal Billings Division memos, and memos and correspondence coming in from and going out to headquarters in Helena. The correspondence documents area projects, coordination on projects with other district and area offices, coordination with other MDT agencies such as Right-of-Way, Rail, Maintenance, Planning, and Construction. The minutes consist of meetings of the Project Managers, Division Supervisors, Administrative and Office Staff. Some maps and photographs are included. The files were kept by the District Engineers, later called the District Administrators, Ray Ventura and Bruce Barrett.

The Lewistown Area Office subgroup is divided into two separate series, Correspondence and Subject Files. Topics documented in the files include flood control, general maintenance, collaboration with the Highway Patrol, bridges and building maintenance and construction, as well as federally funded projects and maintenance, including Works Project Administration (WPA) projects.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The Montana Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

Preferred Citation

Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Files are arranged into two subgroups: Billings District Office and Lewistown Area Office. The subgroups are divided further into series.

Location of Collection

40:2-1

Processing Note

In 2024, the various collections of the Montana Department of Transportation were integrated under one collection identifier, RS 492, in order to help facilitate access, reduce redundancy in the MTHS catalog, and to follow best archival practices.

Collections from Montana Department of Transportation's various Divisions and Bureaus that were previously treated as separate entities are now integrated into this collection, RS 492. Rather than reprocessing over 280 linear feet of Transportation materials, MTHS staff decided to keep the past arrangement of those collections/finding aids, and provide access to them via links through the central finding aid. This decision has allowed the MTHS archival staff to maintain intellectual control over the collection, while removing the need to reprocess it. It also keeps State Agency finding aids at manageable sizes. Please read the scope and content note carefully to determine if this subgroup/sub-subgroup pertains to your research needs.

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Roads--Design and construction--Administration--Montana.
  • Transportation. --Montana.

Geographical Names

  • Helena (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Lewistown (Mont.)
  • Billings (Mont.)

Finding aid prepared by Ellie Letterman; Updated by Lindsey Mick
2012; 2024

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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