Montana Governors records
Scope and Contents
Records consist of materials generated by Montana Governor's Office during the course of regular business.
There are subgroups for each of the Legislative Assemblies from 1893-1935, including the Governor's correspondence with the legislature, State of the State messages, reports of pardons and commutations of prisoners, and lists of bills signed and vetoed.
There are subgroups for each of the governors from 1902 to 1962. These subgroups consist of general correspondence from individual constituents, organizations, and government agencies, arranged alphabetically by correspondent and topic.
The final subgroup is entitled "Agency and Special Subject Files." It consists of subject files (1889-1962) arranged by agency and by topic. The files include correspondence, annual and biennial reports, financial statements, inventories, and other materials. Of special note are the prison files which include case files, pardons, commutations, and extraditions.
Dates
- Creation: 1889-1962
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Biographical / Historical
The Montana Governor is the chief executive officer of the State of Montana. During the territorial period [1864-1889], the Governor was appointed by the President of the United States. Since statehood the Governor has been elected in statewide election.
The duties of the office were established in the 1889 Constitution. These duties included overall administration of state government; serving on various boards, including the Board of Prison Commissioners, the Board of Examiners, and others; convening special sessions as needed; signing or vetoing legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly; receiving regular reports from departments of the executive branch; appointing non-elective officials of state government and appointing replacements when elected officials die in office; granting pardons and commutations of sentence; and being the official representative of the state in its relations with the United States and other state governments.
Statehood governors were Joseph K. Toole (1889-1893, 1901-1908), John E. Richards (1893-1897), Robert Burns Smith (1897-1901), Edwin L. Norris (1908-1913), Sam V. Stewart (1913-1921), Joseph M. Dixon (1921-1925), John E. Erickson (1925-1933), Frank H. Cooney (1933-1935), W.E. Holt (1935-1937), Roy E. Ayers (1937-1941), Sam C. Ford (1941-1949), John T. Bonner (1949-1953), J. Hugo Aronson (1953-1961), Donald Nutter (1961-1962). [Nutter is the last governor included in these records; later governors have their own collections; for thumbnail biographical sketches of governors, see Montana Governor's webpage. http://www.discoveringmontana.com/gov2/formergov/ ].
Extent
142 linear feet
Abstract
Records of the Governors of Montana consist of legislative files (1893-1935), including correspondence, bills, vetos, governors messages, petitions, etc.; general correspondence (1902-1962) for individual administrations; and subject files (1889-1962) arranged by state agency and topic.
Arrangement
Arranged by subgroup and series. Some material housed in oversize folder in archives map case. See inventory below for more information.
Physical Location
1:5-1
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquisition information available upon request
Geographic
- Knowles Dam (Mont.)
- Mexico -- History -- Revolution, 1910-1920
- Montana
- Montana -- Politics and government
- Paradise Dam (Mont.)
- Paradise Irrigation District (Mont.)
- St. Ignatius (Mont.)
- United States -- Politics and government
- Wyoming -- Politics and government
Temporal
Topical
- Conservation of natural resources -- Montana
- Deaf -- Montana -- Education
- Deaf -- Montana -- Institutional care
- Depressions -- 1929 -- Montana
- Droughts -- Montana
- Earthquakes -- Montana
- Electric Power -- Montana
- Executive departments -- Reorganization
- Federal government
- Forest management -- Montana
- Indians of North America -- Montana
- Irrigation -- Montana
- Labor History
- Labor and laboring classes -- Montana
- Labor disputes -- Montana
- Labor relations -- Montana -- Butte
- Labor Unions -- Miners -- Montana
- Landless Indian tribes -- Montana
- Liquor laws -- Montana
- Mines and Mineral Resources
- Osteopaths -- Montana
- Osteopathy -- Montana
- Prison riots -- Montana
- Prisoners -- Montana
- Prisons -- Montana
- Strikes and lockouts -- Copper mining -- Montana
- Trials (Murder) -- Montana
- Universities and colleges -- Montana
- Veterans -- Montana -- Societies, etc.
- World War, 1914-1918
- Title
- Guide to the Montana Governors records 1889-1962
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by staff
- Date
- 2006
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Based On Dacs ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard) 2nd Edition
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Repository Details
Part of the Montana Historical Society, Research Center Archives Repository
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT 59620-1201 United States
406-444-2681
406-444-2696 (Fax)
mhslibrary@mt.gov