In 1979, the Montana Legislature passed a joint resolution "directing the Montana Arts Council to initiate a program of commemorative wall niches in the state capitol" honoring individuals selected by the Council as outstanding Montanans. A total of $5,000 was allocated from coal severance tax revenue to fund the commemorative niches. In March 1980, the Capitol Building and Planning Committee gave approval for the use of nine niches in the west gallery of the Capitol. Beginning in April, nominations were solicited through legislators, libraries, and the general public and 58 completed nominations were received. An additional 40 nominations were made by the selection committee made up of members of the legislature and others. Montanans nominated were "to have made significant achievements in their lives, including such diverse areas of activity as science, education and scholarship, business, politics and public service, sports, media, entertainment or the arts."
The committee selected nine persons for the first display and decided that these should be rotated on a regular basis as money was available. The first honorees were Gary Cooper, Chet Huntley, Mike Mansfield, H. G. Merriam, Chief Plenty Coups, T. C. Power, Charles M. Russell, Harold Urey, and Brother Van Orsdel. Dedication ceremonies were held on January 29, 1981.
In 1981, the Legislature transferred responsibility for the Outstanding Montanans Commemorative Program to the Montana Historical Society. Believing that the nominees prepared by the Council for rotation into the niches were "inadequate," the Society reopened the nominations in 1982. From the new nominations, two were selected to be placed in the Capitol; Marcus Daly and Maggie Smith Hathaway replaced Mansfield and Urey. The rotation of two new honorees was scheduled to take place every two years.
As of 2025, MTHS' Outreach and Education program oversees the Outstanding Montanans
Commemorative Program. In 2016, MTHS received 39 nominations for individuals. The next round
of nominations will take place in 2026. For more information, please visit the MTHS webpage
for the
These records of the Outstanding Montanans Commemorative Program include correspondence, nominations, reports, minutes of meetings, press releases, biographical sketches of nominees, criteria used for selection, etc. The records are from both the Montana Arts Council and the Montana Historical Society. Photographs of nominees were separated to the Photo Archives. A list of these photos is included in the collection.
This collection is arranged into six series: 1) General Correspondence, 2) Minutes, 3) News Releases, 4) Photographs, 5) Reports, and 6) Miscellany.
Collection open for research
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.
In 2024, the various collections of the Montana Historical Society were integrated under one collection identifier, RS 499, in order to help facilitate access, reduce redundancy in the MTHS catalog, and to follow best archival practices.
Collections from Montana Historical Society's Programs/Board that were previously treated
as separate entities are now integrated into
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Library & Archives, Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information available upon request
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.