Montana State University Historical Photographs Collection, 1893-1975

The photographs in the University Pictures Collection were initially gathered into folders bearing a unique alpha-numeric classification that attempted to follow a similar schema that had been developed for all university printed matter. The classification numbers conformed to both subject and creating entity, so its adaptation for photographic images was of limited use. Access to the folders was imperfectly gained through a set of catalog cards with very broad subject headings which attempted to add subject points in addition to the classification numbers. Starting in 2009, the photographs are being renumbered in a simple sequential format regardless of their subject classification and access is being improved by an online database available here. The following inventory lists the containers of the renumbered images in boxes 1 through 7. The remaining boxes in the collection contain folders of images which have not been scanned nor analyized in the original alpha-numeric subject classification folders. Access to these folders is still dependent on the catalog cards available in the Special Collections reading room.

NOTE: This finding aid is a work in progress and will change in container and folder arrangement as ongoing digitization activities continue. Researchers and staff should pay particular attention to the date of last revision.