The American National CowBelles was organized in 1952. That same year the Montana CowBelles was organized in Butte as an auxilliary of the Montana Stockgrower's Association. The group's original purpose was to organize social activities for the Stockgrower's meetings and conventions. By 1962 the Montana CowBelles organization had incorporated with forty local groups and 1600 members working to promote the beef industry through education and advertising. Programs include working with home economics departments in high schools and universities teaching students nutrition and the preparation of beef dishes; beef cook-off contests at the local, county, and state levels; scholarships for home economics majors; lobbying for legislation to assist and promote the beef industry; commercials promoting beef on radio and television; all-beef cookbooks; Beef for Father's Day beef give-away; beef recipe packets; Calcutta auction and dinner; a youth camp for future ranchers; Nutrition Month; and three major annual promotions including Farm City Week (co-sponsored by the Kiwanis), Beef Week in Montana, and Ag Day, recognizing the impacts of the beef industry nationally.
The state organization functions with elected officers including a president, president elect, second vice president, and secretary-treasurer, composing an executive board. The state is divided into ten districts and each district has one representative elected to the Board of Directors. The past president also serves on the Board. In addition, committees are appointed to work on projects for the organization. The local CowBelle groups are organized by region (North Central CowBelles, Southeastern CowBelles, Western CowBelles, etc.), by county (Phillips County CowBelles, Yellowstone County CowBelles, etc.), by town (Wibaux CowBelles, Baker CowBelles, etc.), or by other geographical designation (Blackfoot Valley CowBelles, Fallon Creek CowBelles, etc.). These organizations promote the beef industry on the local level in a variety of ways including programs, fashion shows, place mats, napkins, calendars, etc. The local CowBelle groups submit annual reports of projects to the Montana CowBelles. In the late 1980s Montana CowBelles changed its name to Montana CattleWomen.
The records of the Montana CowBelles include general correspondence (1951-1984, n.d.); minutes (1952-1984) of board meetings, conventions, and workshops; organizational materials (1952-1985) including articles of incorporation, lists of officers and members, and convention booklets; subject files (1957-1985) of materials sent to the state organization from the local CowBelle groups arranged alphabetically by name of the local group; writings (n.d.) by CowBelle members on local ranches, ranchers, early settlers, etc. which were compiled in a scrapbook entitled "Tales to Treasure"; miscellany (1972-1983) including histories of the organization, etc.; and clippings (1967-1981).
by series
Acquisition information available upon request
Printed materials, artifacts (including Montana CowBelles scrapbooks), and photographs have been separated to the Library, Museum, and Photo Archives respectively.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society Archives catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search under these terms.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection