The Montana Institute of the Arts was organized April 3, 1948 at a meeting in Helena. This organization's main purpose was to give like-minded individuals an opportunity to celebrate cultural pursuits in the state in fields such as art, literature, drama, and history. The Bozeman history group was a local organization that was established from the state parent. It was this branch's goal to preserve the history of Gallatin Canyon through collecting county and local histories, strengthening the State Historical library, preservation of buildings and geographical regions, and history projects for students. Beginning in the early 1950s, this group began recording both oral histories and prepared speeches presented at their meetings.
The Montana Institute of the Arts Bozeman History Group collection contains compact disc recordings taken from the original reel-to-reel and cassette magnetic recordings of their meetings, their interviews with selected individuals, and their special projects such as radio dramatizations. A separate series of meeting notes and transcripts has been created to correspond with the recordings. A third series of documents includes administrative files of the Montana Institute of the Arts along with materials pertaining to the groups special projects, such as the creation of a special Gallatin County history map. The fourth series in the collection is restricted and contains the original reel-to-reel magnetic recordings from which the CD surrogates were produced.
As each meeting session or individual interview was recorded, a separate accession number was originally assigned by Special Collections staff and catalog cards were prepared that listed subject headings and speakers. The information from these cards has been incorporated into this scope and content note. Speakers and people discussed in the meetings include: Dorothy Aasheim, Mary Stuart Abbott, Joe Alberda, Effie Atkins, Joe Ballinger, Edward J. Bell, Frank L. Benepe, Lucien Benepe, Leander M. Black, John V. Bogert, Mildred Boylan, Marvin Brooke, Merrill G. Burlingame, Clara A. Bush, Norma Carmin, Robert A. Chadwick, Lawrence Christie, Garrett Cole, Frank Conley, F.S. Cooley, Harriette E. Cushman, Amelia Brown Demarest, Mary Hunter Doane, Dorothy Dudley, John Fabrick, Burt Fisher, Oalf B. Fjare, Marie Flaherty, George W. Flanders, Bill Fogsly, Harvey P. Griffin, George H. Haine, Aubrey L. Haines, Marlyn Hauseman Jones, Peter Karst, George W. Krattcer, Christine Kundert, Michael Langohr, Don Langohr, Jr., Garrett Lansing, Ike LeForge, Marjorie Ann Leigh, Ora Michener Lemon, W. W. Lessley, Howard Lewis, F.B. Linfield, Mignon Quaw Lott, Winifred Lovelace, Fred J. Martin, Thomas Michener, Grace Miller, Dan Morrison, Oscar O. Mueller, Francis Niven, A. J. Ogaard, E. Paul Orcutt, Francis Smith Patten, John Paugh, Carl H. Peterson, J. Bruce Putnam, Bob Roberts, George Sager, Chris Schlecten, James A. Shedd, George Sinton, Guy Stemba, Malcom Story, Nelson Story, Dewey Street, Granville Stuart, George Stublar, J.C. Taylor, Lester H. Todd, Nick Van Dyke, Dorothy M. Vick, Art Watson, Milburn Lincoln Wilson, Fred Ypma, Ralph Zimmer.
The subjects of the meetings and interviews include: Agriculture; Aviation; Bear Creek; Bear Canyon; Big Timber; Bozeman ; Bozeman Deaconess Hospital ; Bridger Canyon; Chesnut (Mont.); Chinese; Deer Lodge Farms; DHS Ranch; Diamond City; Drought; Electrical Power; Elkhorn Ranch; Farmer's Institutes; Federal Surplus Relief Association; Fergus County; Gallatin Canyon; Gallatin County; Gallatin Gateway; Gallatin National Forest; Geology; History Rock; Holland; Homesteading; Hylite Canyon; Insurance; Lewis and Clark Caverns; Logging; Manhattan State Bank; Mellville ; Missouri Breaks; Montana Extension Service; Montana State Prison Farm; Montana State College; Montana Winter Fair; Morrison Cave; Mortgage Companies; Mount Hagen Livestock Company; Newspapers; North American Mortgage Company; Norwegians; Paradise Valley; Photography; Pompey's Pillar; Pony ; Presidential Electors; Ranching; Red Bluff; Salesville; Shedd's Bridge; Sheep; Siksika Indians; Skiing; Sweet Pea Festival; Three Forks; Tourism; Vigilantes ; Virginia City; Water Rights; Wibaux County; Willow Creek; Yellowstone National Park.
Series 1: Compact Discs, 1950-1977
Series 2: Meeting Notes and Transcripts, 1950-1977
Series 3: Other Montana Institute of the Arts Records, 1948-circa 1960s
Series 4: Reel to Reel and Cassette Audio Tapes, 1950-1977
The reel to reel and cassette magnetic tapes in Series 4 are restricted due to fragility. Researchers should use CD surrogates of Series 1 to access the audio recordings of the various MIA meetings and interviews. Permission to use original tapes must be granted by the Special Collections Librarian.
Montana Institute of the Arts Bozeman History Group recordings were donated to the Montana State University Library over a twenty year period beginning around 1955. The following accession numbers originally assigned to the various recordings, transcripts, and other documents were incorporated into the present collection: 298, 299, 450, 454, 475, 482, 574, 575, 576, 581, 584, 597, 625, 640, 647, 660, 665, 742, 810, 870, 871, 872, 894, 905, 978, 1009, 1010, 1051, 1063, 1122, 1123, 1128, 1242, 1270, 2005, 2048, 2357, 2358, 2361.
This collection was processed 2004 September 14
The contents of this series consists of digital recording discs taken from the original reel to reel or cassette magnetic tapes that were accessioned over a period of about twenty years. Discs one through sixty-five are arranged chronologically and represent either recorded general meetings of the Montana Institute of the Arts group or special interview projects from June 21, 1958 through April 15, 1977. Beginning with disc number sixty-six, the chronological arrangement of the recordings is disrupted due to the complexities in reconstructing the actual original order during the processing of this collection.
Study of Vigilantes with the daughter of Granville Stuart
Early Bozeman; Sales Family; Social life in Gallatin Valley
Willow Creek and Three Forks
Trip through Yellowstone National Park in 1883 and 1886
Chinese living in Virginia City
North American Mortgage Company; Homesteading and drought in Montana
Morrison Cave/Lewis and Clark Caverns
Deer Lodge Farms; Mount Haggin Livestock Company; Montana State Prison Farm
Homesteading in Montana; Wibaux County; M.L. Wilson; Jack Taylor
Montana Newspapers; Park County Weekly; Failing Newspaper Act
Powder River Cattle Company; Federal Surplus Relief Association; Drought Conditions; Ranching
Microfilming archives in Yellowstone National Park for Montana State University
History of Naming of Yellowstone National Park
Montana Bar, Montana mining; Ghost towns; Diamond City
Early Bozeman; Gallatin Valley Enterprises; Montana State College; Frank Benepe
White Family History
Gallatin Valley Pioneers; Ranching; Flour milling
Madison Valley Homesteading
History of Pony; Madison County Families; Mining
Autobiography of Irish immigrant; Ranching in Montana; Pompey's Pillar; Manhattan
Mike Langohr, first Forest Ranger of Gallatin Forest; Early Bozeman businesses
Bozeman's early business men; Bozeman history; Nelson Story
Bozeman's early business men; Bozeman history; Nelson Story
Beginning of Montana Extension Service; Farmer's Institute; Montana State College founder of Extension
Early day Bozeman; Sweet Pea Carnival; Location of State Legislature
Reminiscences of Big Timber; Travel from 1899 Norway; Ranching and raising sheep
Beginning of Elkhorn Dude Ranch; Gallatin Canyon; Staff member at Montana State College in 1922
Commentary on a set of slides prepared from work of Albert and Alfred Schlechten to show the progress of photography. Schlechten family and community of Bozeman.
History of Bozeman Deaconess Hospital and present status
History of Montana Agriculture; Gallatin Valley
History of private aviation in Montana
Winter Fair in Bozeman
Chestnut people; Gallatin County
Memories of Gallatin Canyon, Dude ranching; Thomas Michener
Ladies division of Bozeman Winter Fair
Collecting Railroad memorabilia
Growing up in Bridger Canyon
Early days of Bridger Canyon Forest Service, roads, sawmills, schools, household chores
History of the Missouri Breaks; Trips in 1961 and 1966; Historic preservation
History of Bear Canyon Ski Area; Gallatin Valley
Adjudication of water rights in Gallatin Valley
Holland Settlement; Gallatin Valley
Lewis and Clark Expedition
Practicing law in Bozeman during and since 1911
History of Bozeman based on Master's thesis
Early Days at Whitlash in Liberty County
Joint meeting with the Montana Ghost Town Preservation Society
Coal, Montana's Prosaic Treasure
History of the Montana Institute of the Arts
Radio drama by Verne Dusenberry and class
Radio drama by Norman Fox, performed by Verne Dusenberry and class
Interviewed by Merrill G. Burlingame
Oral interview by Robert Dunbar
Reminiscence of Three Forks
This series contains the materials directly related to the meetings recorded on the CDs, including publicity announcements, photographs, and occasionally transcripts or summaries of the meeting's presentation. The CD number in brackets [ ] indicates the recorded meeting to which the materials refer. Not all meetings have supporting documentation. These files are arranged in the same order as the CDs to which they relate.
[CD 1]
[CD 3]
[CD 4]
[CD 5]
[CD 6]
[CD 7]
[CD 8]
[CD 9-10]
[CD 11]
[CD12]
[CD 14]
[CD 15]
[CD 18]
[CD 19]
[CD 20]
[CD 22]
[CD 23-33]
[CD 34-35]
[CD 36-37]
[CD 43]
[CD 48-49]
[CD 50]
[CD 56]
[CD 59-60]
[CD 65]
[CD 66]
[CD 68]
meeting of August 21, 1966 [no corresponding CD]
Organizational papers from the Montana Institute of the Arts parent group; report on a proposed dam and National Park for the Missouri Breaks region by Larry Gill; Radio Drama script "Treasure Trails" by the Montana Institute of the Arts Butte group; historical sketch of Havre by the Montana Institute of the Arts Havre group; material pertaining to the publication of a historical map of Gallatin County; miscellaneous Montana Institute of the Arts correspondence.
This series consists of the original recorded material collected during the course of Montana Institute of the Arts, Bozeman History Group meetings. The various reels and cassette tapes bear the same numbers as their corresponding compact disc copies, and as a result some reels have more than one number assigned because more than one interview or meeting is recorded on that particular reel. The number in brackets [ ] following the title indicates the original accession number(s) that were assigned to the recordings prior to their incorporation into this collection. All reel to reel and cassette tape use has been restricted and researchers should use the compact disc recordings in series one. Any use of these materials in this series must be approved by the Special Collections Librarian.
[298]
[454] (2 reels)
[482]
[475]
[597]
[576] (2 reels)
[581] (2 reels)
[584]
[575]
[640]
[870]
[299]
[383/630/867] (2 reels)
[647]
[660/871]
[742]
[872]
[894] (4 reels)
[905]
[978]
[876/2357]
[1009]
[1010] (one reel and one cassette)
[1063]
[920/2358]
[1122]
[1128]
[1157]
[1255]
[1123]
[2005]
[2048]
[1051]
[849C]
[849D]
[847D]
[847f]
[847I]