Montana Historical Society

Big Sky ~ Big History

Museum and research center closed for renovations. For more info, call (406) 444-2694.

Online Collections and Finding Aids

Finding Aids

You can search hundreds of detailed inventories for our archival, manuscript, government records, and photograph collections. Search our finding aids.

Digitized Newspapers

How to search, view, zoom, and print thousands of issues of Montana newspapers. Go to Digitized Montana Newspapers.

Discover Montana

  • Locate and learn about any location on a zoomable map of Montana. Go to Montana Place Names.
  • Explore the significance of Montana's National Register of Historic Places buildings and places on the Historic Montana website or through the State Historic Preservation Office's information-packed ArcGIS map.

Digital Collections

On the Montana History Portal, discover 100,000 digitized books, yearbooks, diaries, letters, ads, and photographs. Check out our digital collections.

Montana History Compass (quick reference)

Use the Compass—part encyclopedia, part subject guide—to locate the best sources for your research.  Visit the Montana History Compass.