Genealogy Resources
at Montana State University Bozeman

Any one may use resources in Renne Library. The library collects materials directed towards courses taught and research done at MSU-Bozeman. At times this overlaps with genealogy research and publications. The local newspapers in Renne Library are listed in the bibliography, but no court, marriage, birth or death records are held in the library. The census sources are listed below also. Most of the materials listed below are in the Reference (Ref) area or in Special Collections (Special) room. A few are found in the open stacks and noted as such. Special Collections has limited hours, but Reference and stacks are open the same hours of the library.

In the Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections, a limited number of manuscript collections are available, mainly pertaining to Montana agriculture families, and accessible through the online catalog or a card system located in our reading room. Photographs form parts of these collections. Also, a separate photograph collection, which includes an extremely limited number of Montana individuals, is available in Special Collections.

Bibliography

Montana
Montana Historical Society Newspaper Project: A Union List of Montana Newspapers in Montana Repositories
   The local newspapers held at Renne Library are:
Bozeman Courier 1871-1954 in Special (Includes Avant Courier, Bozeman Avant Courier, and other name variations of the Courier).
Bozeman Daily Chronicle 1911-present in Spain-Sedivay Resource Center (Micro/AV).
Bozeman Weekly Chronicle 1883-1919 in Special
Gallatin County Republican 1900-1905 in Special
Gallatin County Tribune 1954-1973 in Special
F726.M728 1987
in Ref & Special
Index to Vital Statistics from Bozeman, MT Newspapers, 1870-1910
   indexes announcements of births, deaths, marriages, etc. from all the Bozeman newspapers covering 1870-1910.
Microfilm 586 in Special
MONTANA, The Magazine of Western History: comprehensive index, 1951-1990
   look here for articles about people or families.
F726.M742 1993
in Ref & Special
Constitution, members and officers by Society of Montana Pioneers
   lists members and officers of the Society, includes some portraits, a map, and an index by names.
F726.S6 v.1 1899
in Ref & Special
A Preliminary Index to Biographies in Montana subscription histories and other selected works
   an index to people found in the following books:
History of Montana (Burlingame & Toole) - F731.B95 v.1-3 in Ref, Special, & open stacks
Encyclopedia of Northwest Biography - (not at MSU Libraries)
Illustrated History of the Yellowstone Valley - F737.Y4I29 1907 in Special
History of Montana (Leeson) - F731.L48 in Ref & Special
An illustrated history of the state of Montana (Miller) - F731.M64 1894 in Special & open stacks
   Listed as "History of Montana (Miller)" in the index
A newspaper reference work: men of affairs and representative institutions of the state of Montana - F730.B87 1914 OVERSIZE in Special
   Listed as "Men of Affairs" in the index
Progressive Men of Montana - F730.P7, part 1-3 in Ref, Special, & open stacks
Montana, the land and the people (Raymer, 1930) - F731.R26 v.1-3 in Special & open stacks
   Listed as "History of Montana (Raymer, 1930)" in the index History of Montana (Sanders, 1913) - F731.S2 v.1-3 in Special & open stacks
Montana, Its Story & Biography (Stout) - F731.S875 v.1-3 in Special & open stacks
F730.P73 1983
in Ref & Special
Bibliography of Montana Local Histories (1977)

Bibliography of Montana Local Histories (1982 update)
   contains an alphabetical listing for manuscripts held at various Montana repositories.
Z1305.B54 in Ref, Special,
& open stacks
F731.P38 in Special
Guide to Manuscripts in Montana Repositories
   entries are alphabetical and each entry contains a symbol which indicates the archival repository that holds the collection with an incomplete index in the back.
Z1305.M79 1973 in Ref
Montana's Genealogical and Local History Records (1981)
   lists general sources in Montana such as census records, county, church, cemetery records, and sources by county; there are author, title & subject indexes to sources listed.
Z1305.R52 in
Ref & Special
United States
A Bibliography of American County Histories
   titles are arranged alphabetically by state; then alphabetically by county within each state.
Z1250.F54 1985 in Ref
Harvard Guide to American History rev.ed
   entries in v. 1 are listed by topic; entries in v. 2 are listed in chronological order; also lists aids to historical research, suggests approaches to locating unpublished primary sources, printed historical works, biographies, personal records, and regional, state and local histories.
Z1236.H27 1974 v.1-3
in Ref & open stacks
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections
   a list based on reports from American repositories of manuscripts throughout the United States.
Z6620.U5N3 (1959-1993) in
Ref or search via the WWW:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/
(1959-to the present)
Genealogist's Encyclopedia (1969)
   includes a glossary of terms used in genealogical research and a brief overview of the structure and approach to genealogical information through oral tradition; period to 1100 A.D.; from 1100 AD to 1500; from 1500; Scottish records; records from Wales, the Isle of Man, channel islands; Irish records; continental records; Jewry; Orient & Latin America. Also includes information on the clan system, heraldry, titles, peerage law, and orders of chivalry & decorations of honor, and pedigree sketch.
CS9.P48 in Ref
Black Genesis (1978)
   explains how to use records from various local, state and federal societies and agencies, but also includes slave trading records, slave ads, birth, baptism, marriage & death records, census & tax records, court records, plantation records & diaries, medical records, wills, federal archives & records centers & author, title and subject indexes.
CS21.R57 in Ref
Native American Genealogical Sourcebook
   explains basic genealogical research methods & their application to Native Americans, records or types of records specific to Native Americans, and author, title & subject indexes.
E98.G44N37 1995 in Ref
Guide to Records in the National Archives…
   explains records available through the United States National Archives covering a variety of regions or ethnic groups.
AE 1.108:R 24/3/ or
GS 4.6/2: Am3 in
documents reference area.
(1995 or later)
Librarian's Guide to Public Records
   gives locations for more than 11,500 major federal, state and county public records.
CD3029.L52 1995 in Ref.
United States Census.
   The census rolls (containing actual names and other census schedule information) are released after 72 years, so for Montana 1870-1880, 1900-1920 are available in Special. Other state census rolls are not available at MSU. In 2002 the 1930 census rolls will be released. There are two indexes in Special to the Montana census rolls for 1870 and 1880, only; Montana 1870 Territorial Census Index and 1880 Montana Territorial Census Index. Most of the original 1890 census rolls burned, so are not available anywhere. The index listed below gives the details of what parts of the 1890 rolls are available. Census population statistics for U.S. and Montana are listed in MSU's online catalog, do a subject search under United States-Census or Montana-Census.
Federal Population Censuses 1790-1890 - GS 4.2:P 81/2/790-890-5 in Ref documents
Federal Population Census - GS 4.2:P 81/2/900 1900 in Ref documents
Federal Population Census - GS 4.2:P 81/2/910 1910 in Ref documents
   With these indexes you can find the appropriate roll for the state, county, and name that you want. Soundex is the card index system by which the surnames from the census schedules are indexed, and it is explained in the appendix of these books.
Subject searching in the online catalog:
"Montana-genealogy"
   lists a few resources other then those listed above. Also here are some individual families' histories. Another way to find a family history is to check a specific family name, e.g., "Todd Family" as a subject search.

County histories or genealogy works, search by County name, e.g., "Rosebud County (Mont.)-history" or Rosebud County (Mont.)-Genealogy". These are rich with information about people and their families that settled in the county. Each county did a history of the area for the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial and MSU Libraries has most of them plus some other ones that were done at a different time.

"Genealogy" subject search gives general resources held in Renne Library related to all or any given aspect of genealogy research. Some titles are already listed above.

Web resources:
There are some excellent and thorough listings of resources available through the Internet. Search YAHOO or any other search engine by genealogy. There are numerous states and individual counties throughout the U.S. with genealogy pages on the Web. The one for Montana is listed below.

Montana Genealogy Research at (http://www.rootsweb.com/~mtgenweb/)
   "Welcome to The MTGenWeb Project with references to land, homestead & vital records, public documents, libraries & archives, this site is a resource for locating & obtaining historical & genealogical information for the state of Montana!"

Bozeman Resources:
Bozeman Public Library
http://www.mtb.mtlib.org/
220 W. Lamme St.
Phone: 582-2400
Bozeman Stake Family History Center
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
2915 Colter Ave.
Hours: Tues. - Thur. 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. & 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Phone: 586-3880, ext. 15 (call for an appt.)

6/20/01 (jk)