This collection consists of files (1979-1993) created by the State Folklorist, Director of the Montana Folklife Project, within the Montana Arts Council. The collection also includes the records of the Montana Folklife Survey Project, conducted by the American Folklife Center in the summer of 1979. The Montana Folklife Project files include organizational records (1980, 1989) describing the long-range goals and policies of the project; subject files (1980-1993) documenting various cultural events across the state; cultural grants creation and regulation; projects conducted by the Folklorist; general Montana history; and miscellaneous writings and clippings about folklore studies. The Montana Folklife Survey subgroup contains photocopies of scattered correspondence (June-September 1979) to and from the director of the project regarding logistics; legal documents (June 1979), including the original agreement establishing the project and contracts with the field workers; press releases (June 1979); reports (June, November 1979), including the original proposal to the Library of Congress and the Director's final report; general subject files (1979), including materials on the Arlee Pow Wow, the Flathead Monster, and the Institute of the Rockies; and miscellany (1979), containing a preliminary inventory for original documents housed at the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress and lists of the field contacts and field workers for the project. The majority of this subgroup is research files (June-September 1979) created by the field workers, including field notes describing daily activities and impressions; photograph logs describing black and white photographs and colors slides; and recording logs for oral interviews conducted during the survey. Photographs and recordings organized at the end of the collection by log numbers. Log numbers are accessed through the field notes.