Archives West Finding Aid

This collection contains records from various Divisions, Bureaus, and Boards within the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. The Montana Department of Labor and Industry records were integrated under one collection number to help facilitate access and reduce redundancy in the MTHS catalog. To learn more detail about the records in each subgroup, please click on the links below in the arrangement section to be redirected to those finding aids.

Subgroup 1: Employment Standards Division

This subgroup (1891-2003) contains records of the Employment Standards Division, and particularly records from the sub-subgroup, Professional and Occupational Licensing Bureau. The Bureau is responsible for supervising the Occupational and Professional Licensing Boards, which are mandated by state law, and is responsible for overseeing activities of specific jobs and professionals in Montana.

Sub-subgroup 1: Professional and Occupational Licensing

Records (1917-1977) of the Board of Architects and Landscape Architects and its predecessor, the Montana Board of Architectural Examiners, consist of license registers, cash books, and a register of applicants. Records (1929-1980) of the Montana Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists and its predecessors the Montana State Examining Board of Beauty Culturists and the Montana State Examining Board of Cosmetology, consist of general correspondence, financial records, minutes, organizational records, reports of beauty school inspections, printed materials regarding laws and regulations, ephemera, including certificates of registration and operators' licenses, and miscellany, including examinations.

Records (1930-1965) of the Board of Funeral Service, formerly named Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, consist of mortician licenses, arranged alphabetically. Each license contains information on the mortician, their workplace, education, and license applications and renewals. Records (1968-1983) of the Montana Board of Massage Therapists, and its predecessors the Montana Board of Masseurs, and Montana State Board of Massage Therapists, consist of subject files, including correspondence and financial records, kept in alphabetical order by the originating office.

Records (1889-1996) of the Montana Board of Medical Examiners include minor correspondence, financial records, including budget problems and financial reports, agendas of board meetings, several pages (1889) from a minute book licensing physicians; subject files including files on Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), family planning centers, Montana Family Practice Satellite Unit, and Warm Springs State Hospital, and organizational records. There is a certification register (oversize volume, 1889-1967) for doctors certified to practice in Montana. This register is continued (1968-1996) by a loose-leaf file, arranged both alphabetically and by certificate number. There are also reports of examination for licenses [home addresses restricted]. Records (1997-2003) for the Board of Optometry, formerly named Board of Examiners in Optometry, consist of minutes and bylaws, and it also contains a register of licensed optometrists in Montana from 1907 to 2003.

Records (1909-1969) from the Board of Public Accountants consist of two volumes containing minutes with topics covering approval/denial of applications for examination and granting of certificates, administered laws regulating the practice of public accounting, administered examinations, and issued certificates of competency (Passed, Conditioned, Failed), naming of committee members, and more. Records (1891-1947) from the Boiler Operator Program, formerly named Boiler Inspector’s Office, consist of licensing records for engineers, hoisting engineers, and traction engineers, financial records, including cash books, journals, a ledger, and receipts, and a register of licenses issued.

Records (1950-1979) of the Board of Abstracters (defunct) consist of minutes, an operational file, a complaint file, and case files of several court cases involving title companies. Records (1915-1971) of the Industrial Accident Board (defunct) consist of a financial journal, Board minutes, and two subject files concerning the Speculator and Bear Creek (Smith Mine) mine disasters.

Sub-subgroup 2: Employment Relations/Women's Bureau

The sub-subgroup (1973-1981) Employment Relations contains the records of the Women’s Bureau (defunct), which operated under the (former) Employment Relations Division, and consists of general and interoffice correspondence, news releases, copies of Newsbriefs (the Bureau newsletter), monthly reports, project reports, subject files, miscellany, including mailing and referral lists, and clippings.

Sub-subgroup 3: Human Rights Bureau

The sub-subgroup (1974-1987) Human Rights Bureau consists of interoffice and general correspondence, minor financial, hearing, and legal files, minutes of the Commission, minutes of the Executive Committee (RESTRICTED), minutes of the Interdepartmental Coordinating Committee for Women, organizational materials, including organizational charts, work plans, and bylaws, reports, legal research files on various discrimination issues, miscellany, and clippings.

Subgroup 2: Unemployment Insurance Division

This subgroup (1976-1989) consists of records from the Unemployment Insurance Division. It includes correspondence, minutes, and assorted subject files. The correspondence includes interoffice correspondence of Mary Margaret "Peg" Hartman, Charles "Chuck" Hunter, and David L. Hunter, commissioners and administrators of the Division. It also contains records from the Employment Security Advisory Council, consisting of minutes and subject files.