Montana Chamber of Commerce records
Scope and Contents
The records of the Montana Chamber of Commerce consist of general correspondence (195l-1967, undated) relating to the organization's day-to-day activity; financial records (1945-1966, undated); legal documents (1949), minutes (1943-1944, 1950-1966); news releases (1958, undated); organizational records (1957), including the articles of incorporation of Montanans, Inc.; printed materials (1955); reports (1945-1960); speeches (1958, undated); subject files (1944-1967); miscellany (1942-1967), including membership lists (1959-1967, undated), and "Montana Directory Questionnaires" (1954) used to compile the 1955-1956 edition of the Industrial Survey and Directory of Manufacturers of Montana, which provide information not used in the published version of the directory; and clippings.
Dates
- Creation: 1931-1967
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Montana Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Historical Note:
The Montana Chamber of Commerce, a private non-profit membership organization that advocates for the state's business and professional interests, was established as Montanans, Inc. on January 30, 1931, in Helena. The organization adopted its present name in July 1946. The Chamber's committees and staff promote tourism, foreign trade (especially with Canada), agricultural and industrial development, and lobby the state and federal legislatures for measures favorable to its constituency, such as lower property taxes and a sales tax.
Staff members included Gerald J. Skibbins who held the position of manager of the Montana Chamber of Commerce in the 1950s. Patrick E. Lee, a former Carroll College instructor, was the Chamber's publicity director from 1957 until 1959. William H. Browning began serving as executive vice president of the Montana Chamber of Commerce in 1956. He joined the Chamber staff as director of travel and publicity, and was promoted to manager in 1951. Browning also served concurrently as the first secretary of the Montana Citizens Freight Rate Association from 1951 to 1952. He was named national director of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and promoted Missoula as the location for that organization's national convention in 1953.
Extent
7.5 linear feet
Abstract
The Montana Chamber of Commerce was founded as Montanans, Inc. in 1931 to promote business and professional interests and industrial development. The name was changed in 1946. Records (1931-1967) include general correspondence, financial records, legal documents, minutes, news releases, organizational records, printed materials, reports, speeches, subject files, and miscellany.
Arrangement
Arranged by series. Some material housed in Archives Map Case. See inventory below for more information.
Physical Location
12:2-1
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquisition information available upon request
Separated Materials
Artifacts, maps, photographs, and printed materials have been transferred to the Museum, Library Map Collection, Photograph Archives, and Library respectively.
Geographic
- Alaska Highway
- Knowles Dam (Mont.)
- Montana
- Montana -- Centennial celebrations, etc.
- Montana -- Newspapers
- Reichle Dam (Mont.)
Topical
- Agriculture, Cooperative -- Montana
- Boards of trade -- Montana
- Christmas tree growing
- Civic Activism
- Coal liquefaction -- Montana
- Commercial law -- Montana
- Conservation of natural resources -- Montana
- Dams -- Montana
- Dude ranches -- Montana
- Economic Development -- Montana
- Energy development -- Montana
- Environmental policy -- Montana
- Federal government
- Forest management -- Montana
- Freight and freightage -- Rates -- Montana
- Guides for hunters, fishermen, etc. -- Montana
- Industrial laws and legislation -- Montana
- Iron mines and mining -- Montana
- Outdoor recreation -- Montana
- Petroleum industry and trade -- Montana
- Phosphate mines and mining
- Pollution -- Montana
- Promotional societies -- Montana
- Public lands -- Montana
- Research, Industrial -- Montana
- Sales tax -- Montana
- Sugar beet industry -- Montana
- Taxation -- Montana
- Tourist Trade -- Montana
- Transportation and state -- Montana
- Travertine industry -- Montana
- Trucking--Montana
- Water -- Pollution -- Montana
- Water-Supply -- Montana
- Wildlife conservation -- Laws and Legislation -- Montana
- Wood-pulp industry -- Montana
- Wool industry -- Montana
- Title
- Guide to the Montana Chamber of Commerce records 1931-1967
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Bill Summers, 1989
- 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