University of Montana, Mansfield Library, Archives and Special Collections
The University of Montana—Missoula
Missoula, MT 59812
406-243-2053
http://www.lib.umt.edu/asc
library.archives@umontana.edu
Mss
233
Montana Study research collection
Montana Study Research Collection
1943-1954
3.5 linear ft.
The Montana Study was a sociological
project conducted by the University of Montana with funds provided by the
Rockefeller Foundation. Records include correspondence, conference materials,
local study group records, minutes, reports, speeches and writings, and
miscellany.
Materials are in
English
The Montana Study was a project conducted by the University of Montana
in Missoula with funds provided by the Rockefeller Foundation. The project was
conceived by Ernest O. Melby, Chancellor of the University of Montana System.
He believed that by creating a common awareness of Montana's heritage, the
people of the state would develop a deeper devotion to the welfare of the
community, state, and country.
In the early 1940s, Montana State College in Bozeman conducted a
Rockefeller Foundation-funded project entitled "Northern Plains in a World of
Change." At a meeting in Bozeman, Chancellor Melby met David H. Stevens of the
Rockefeller Foundation. They worked together to create the Montana Study. Melby
and Stevens consulted Baker Brownell of Northwestern University, a noted
authority on problems of rural life. They created a project that would focus
the University on problems of rural life and find ways of stabilizing the
family and the small community. Melby resigned as Chancellor in 1944, became
the president of Montana State University in Missoula, and directed the Montana
Study. He hired Baker Brownell as project director. Brownell was assisted by
Paul Meadows, a sociologist from Northwestern University, and Joseph Kinsey
Howard, an author from Great Falls.
The Montana Study was conducted in three phases: a community field
work phase using local community study groups, a special projects phase, and a
leadership training phase. Local study groups were set up only in towns which
requested them. Eventually groups met in Lonepine, Darby, Stevensville, Conrad,
Lewistown, Libby, Hamilton, Victor, and two on the Flathead Indian Reservation:
the Dixon group consisting of white community members, part-blood Indians, and
Bureau of Indian Affairs staff and the Full Blood Flathead Indian Group at
Arlee. The local study groups met to discuss the problems of their local
communities, to study their local history, and to propose solutions. Several of
the groups produced historical pageants as a way of raising the self-awareness
of the community.
The Montana Study officially ended July 19, 1947, due in part to
political controversy over its mildly left wing orientation and its academic
image. However, many of the people involved in the Study continued
working on the project without official funding, and the Montana Study
continued to function on an informal basis into the early 1950s.
This is an artificial collection, created by photocopying records from
several different institutions to gather in one place all pertinent records of
The Montana Study. Records include correspondence (1943-1954) among Baker
Brownell, Bert Hanson, Ruth Robinson, Joseph Kinsey Howard, the Rockefeller
Foundation, the University of Montana, and others concerning the planning of
the grant, the administration of the Study, and the progress of the various
local study groups. In addition, there are conference materials; employee
records; financial records; records of local study groups in Arlee, Conrad,
Darby, Dixon, Hamilton, Lewistown, Libby, Lonepine, Stevensville, Troy, Victor,
and Woodman; scattered minutes; organizational materials; reports; speeches and
writings by Brownell, Hanson, Robinson, Howard, and others; and miscellany. A
small subgroup of Secondary Materials includes a Masters thesis by Carla
Homstad entitled
Small Town Eden : the Montana Study (University of
Montana, 1987) and a manuscript of the 4th edition of
Life in Montana, as seen in Wibaux, a Small Community by
John L. Schwechton and Ray Gold (1976).
Contributing institutions hold their original records. Special
Collections and Archives at Montana State University-Bozeman and the Montana
Historical Society in Helena also hold copies of this photocopied
collection.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of
Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and
The University of Montana--Missoula.
Any citation of this collection must include a credit to the source of
the original. Publication of any material from the collection must have
permission of source of original.
[Name of document or photograph number], Montana Study Research
Collection, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield
Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
Gift of Montana Historical Society Foundation.
Finding aid in the repository.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online
catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or
places should search the catalog using these headings.
Brownell, Baker, 1887-1965--Correspondence
Hansen, Bert B.--Correspondence
Howard, Joseph Kinsey, 1906-1951--Correspondence
Robinson, Ruth W.--Correspondence
Rockefeller Foundation
University
of Montana (System)
Arlee (Mont.)
Conrad (Mont.)
Darby (Mont.)
Dixon (Mont.)
Hamilton (Ravalli County, Mont.)
Lewistown (Mont.)
Libby (Mont.)
Lonepine (Mont.)
Montana--Rural conditions--20th century
Montana--Social conditions--20th century.
Stevensville (Mont.)
Troy (Mont.)
Victor (Mont.)
Woodman (Mont.)
Community
education--Montana
Humanities--Study and teaching--Montana
Sociology,
Rural--Montana
Montana
The Montana Study
General Correspondence
1/1-11
Miscellaneous (correspondents
include Ernest Melby, University of Montana, David H. Stevens, Rockefeller
Foundation, Baker Brownell, Joseph Kinsey Howard, et al.)
1943-1945
2/1-10
Miscellaneous (correspondents
include George Selke, University of Montana, David H. Stevens, Rockefeller
Foundation, Baker Brownell, Joseph Kinsey Howard, G.M. Brandborg, Ruth W.
Robinson, Frank H. Smith, Bert Hansen, et al.)
1946-1947
3/1-10
Miscellaneous (correspondents
include George Selke, University of Montana, David H. Stevens, Rockefeller
Foundation, Baker Brownell, Joseph Kinsey Howard, G.M. Brandborg, Ruth W.
Robinson, Frank H. Smith, Richard Posten, et al.)
1947-1954
Conference Materials
4/1
Conference on American
Thought, Princeton, N.J.
May 1944
4/2
"First Carload Dinner for the
Montana Study groups"
1946
4/3
Roundup of Regional Arts
conferences
1950-1952
4/4
Rural Education and Life
Conference, Helena
1946
Diaries
4/5
Daily log of activities
April 1944- July 1947
Employment Records
4/6
Payroll
1944-1947
4/7
Staff appointment
recommendations
1945-1946
Financial Records
4/8
Financial statements and
budgets
1944-1947, 1950-1953
4/9
Grant-in-aid to University of
Montana from Rockefeller Foundation
1944-1952
4/10
Travel authorizations
1945-1947
Local Study Group Materials
5/1
Arlee Full Blood Flathead
Indian Study Group (includes minutes, historical articles, stories)
1947
5/2
Conrad Study Group (includes
minutes, reports, letter)
1945-1946
5/3-4
Darby Study Group (includes
minutes, report, "Darby Looks at Itself" drama)
1945
5/5
Dixon-Agency Study Group
(includes minutes, historical articles, general information on Flathead
Reservation, resolution)
1946-1947
5/6
Dixon-Agency and Arlee Study
Groups (includes "A Tale of the Shining Mountains" drama)
1947
5/7
Hamilton Study Group (includes
minutes, reports)
1945
5/8-9
Lewistown Study Group
(includes minutes, historical articles, "Echoes from the Mountains" drama by
Tom Moore)
1945-1947
5/10-11
Libby Study Group (includes
minutes, historical articles, report on forest products industry, annual wild
life report, Greater Libby Association materials)
1947-1957
5/12-13
Lonepine Study Group (includes
minutes, historical articles, reports, "Lonepine Historical Drama")
1945-1947
5/14-15
Stevensville Study Group
(includes land utilization report, "A Tale of the Bitter Root" drama)
1946
5/16
Troy Development Association
(includes minutes)
undated
5/17
Victor Study Group (includes
historical notes)
1945-1946
5/18
Woodman Study Group (includes
minutes, historical articles, poems)
1946
Minutes
6/1
Montana Committee Organizing
Conference
February 1945
6/2
Montana Study Group
undated
6/3
Montana Study Liaison
Committee
1947
Organizational Records
6/4
Organizational chart and
program objectives
undated
Reports
6/5-6
"Life in Montana" Series I-II
study guides
1945 and undated
6/7
"Life in Western Montana"
(reports of meetings in Hamilton, Darby, and Lonepine)
1945
6/8
"Memorandum to the Rockefeller
Foundation" (report for grant application)
circa 1943
6/9
"Montana State College and the
Northern Great Plains Region" (and related reports)
1943
6/10
"A Plan of the U.S.D.A.
Council, Ravalli County, Montana for carrying out the provisions of Memorandum
No. 1132, of the Secretary of Agriculture"
1948
6/11-13
Progress reports
1944-1947
6/14
"A Proposal for Continuance of
the Montana Study" by George A. Selke, chancellor University of Montana (also
includes related, undated, unattributed proposal)
1949 and undated
6/15
"Report of the Second Annual
University Institute for Social Welfare"
1948
6/16
"R[ockefeller] F[oundation]
Appropriation to Montana State University for Regional Studies, 1944-1947"
1949
6/17
"A State Takes Stock of
Itself" (excerpt from Trustees Bulletin)
1946
6/18
"University of Montana
Descriptive Statement of Project for which Financial Aid Is Requested from the
Rockefeller Foundation"
1948
Speeches and Writings
6/19
O.E. Baker, "The Conservation
of the Family"
1945
6/20
O.E. Baker, "The Family, the
Church, and the State (Government)"
1945
6/21
O.E. Baker, "Population
Trends, National, State, Local"
1945
6/22
O.E. Baker and Arthur E.
Morgan list of lectures
1945
6/23
A.B. Bowman, "Summary and
Brief Description of the Forest Management Plan for the Kootenai Sustained
Yield Unit"
1947
6/24
Iver M. Brandjord, "An
Interstate Currency Resembling Federal Reserve Currency for the United States
of Western Europe"
1948
6/25
Baker Brownell, "The
College--a Report on a Failure"
1945
6/26
Baker Brownell, "The College
and the Community"
1946
6/27
Baker Brownell, "The Community
Drama in Adult Education"
1946
6/28
Baker Brownell, "Community
Drama in Montana"
undated
6/29
Baker Brownell, "The Human
Community" [excerpts]
1950
6/30
Baker Brownell, "Lonepine,
Montana" [handwritten draft]
undated
6/31
Baker Brownell, "Montana Plan
[drafts and outlines]
1944
6/32
Baker Brownell, "The Montana
Project"
1946
6/33
Baker Brownell, "The Montana
Study"
1944
6/34
Baker Brownell, "The Montana
Study Groups"
1946
6/35
Baker Brownell, "Organization
and Procedures of Montana Study"
1948
6/36
Baker Brownell, "A Project in
Educational Reorganization"
1945
6/37
Baker Brownell, "Social
Implications of Forestry in the Inland Empire"
1946
6/38
Baker Brownell, "Tentative
Outline of Montana Project in the Humanities"
1944
6/39
Baker Brownell, "Three
Corrupting Principles of College Life"
1946
6/40
Baker Brownell, "The Value of
the Humanities"
1945
6/41
Karl Detzler, "The Whole Town
Goes to School" (re Nadeau, Pennsylvania)
circa 1948
6/42
Bert Hansen, "Community
Unification through Dramaturgy"
undated
6/43
Bert Hansen, "Darby, Montana,
Looks at Itself"
1946
6/44
Bert Hansen, "An Evaluation of
the Montana Study"
circa 1947
6/45
Bert Hansen, "Preliminary
Notes on the San Francisco Speech"
1946
6/46
Bert Hansen, "Sociodrama in a
Small-Community Therapy Program"
1947
6/47
Bert Hansen, "Sociodrama in a
Speech Communication Program"
1947
6/48
Bert Hansen, "A Tale of the
Bitter Root: Pageantry as Sociodrama"
1947
6/49
Joseph Kinsey Howard,
"Community is Stressed in Indian Education"
1945
6/50
Joseph Kinsey Howard, "New
Concepts of Plains History"
1946
6/51
Joseph Kinsey Howard, "On
Montana Education: an Address"
1945
6/52
Joseph Kinsey Howard,
"University Fund Allocation"
1949
6/53
Harold F. Kaufman and Lois C.
Kaufman, "Toward the Stabilization and Enrichment of a Forest Community" (re
Troy and Libby)
1946
7/1
Edward A. Krug, "The Public
School and Community Improvement: Report on Preliminary Inquiry Carried Out by
School of Education as One Aspect of the Montana Study"
undated
7/2
Ernest Lauer, "The Emotional
and Ideological Forces Active in the State of Montana"
1944
7/3
Paul Meadows, "The People of
Montana: a Report to the Montana Study"
1945
7/4
Paul Meadows, "Regional
Characteristics of Montana: a Report to the Montana Study"
undated
7/5
H.G. Merriam, "Preliminary
Report to President J.A. McCain on Establishing Work Leading to the PhD in the
Humanities"
1948
7/6
Walter H. Meyer, "Comments on
'Toward the Stabilization and Enrichment of a Forest Community' by Harold and
Lois Kaufman" (re Troy and Libby)
circa 1946
7/7
Ruth W. Robinson,
"Community-Centered Education for Montana Adults"
1947
7/8
Ruth W. Robinson, "Community
Study, Community Planning: the Story of the Conrad Montana Study Group"
undated
7/9
Ruth W. Robinson, "How We Live
in Montana" [school study guide]
1945
7/10
Ruth W. Robinson, "Montana
Handicrafts: a 1947 Directory of Montana Craftsmen"
1947
7/11
George A. Selke, "Organization
and Procedures of Montana Study"
1948
7/12
"Comments on The Montana
Study" [by wide variety of people]
1944-1946
Subject Files
7/13
Great Plains Studies (proposed
Rockefeller Foundation grant by George Smith)
1942
7/14
Handweaving in Guatamala
(Rockefeller Foundation Grant for Harriet Douglas and Mary Atwater of Montana
State University)
1946-1950
7/15
Montana Project: Fairway Farms
Company (Rockefeller Foundation grant for study of scientific farming)
1923-1924
7/16-20
Northern Plains Studies
(Rockefeller Foundation grant to joint United States and Canada project)
1942-1950
7/21-22
Northwestern University
regional studies program (Rockefeller Foundation grant to Baker Brownell)
1946-1952
7/23
Regional Studies (Rockefeller
Foundation grant to Montana State University)
1943
Miscellany
7/24
Bibliography from Small Town
Renaissance
undated
7/25
Book announcements for Montana
Margins: a State Anthology; and Small Town Renaissance
undated
7/26
"Joseph Kinsey Howard,
1906-1951 In Memoriam"
1951
7/27
Montana Institute of the Arts
constitution and quarterly bulletin
1948
7/28
Montana Study Groups
Association bulletin
1946
7/29
Proposed short courses for
community leaders
undated
7/30
University Executive Council
minutes excerpts
1945-1946
Clippings
7/31-32
The Montana Study and related
topics
1944-1950
Secondary Works
Writings
8/1
John L. Schwechton and Ray
Gold,
Life in Montana, as seen in Wibaux, a
Small Community, 4th revision
1976
8/2
Carla Homstad,
Small Town Eden: the Montana
Study (University of Montana M.A. Thesis)
1987