At left: Placer miner washing gold at stream in 1898

Mining Collections

The Montana History Portal, in collaboration with dozens of institutions around the state, is pleased to present a wide variety of historical resources on mining in Montana. Some of these collections are narrowly focused on mining . Others have a broad focus of topics in Montana history, with selected items related to mining. This large range of collections include large photo collections, diaries, official records, and area specific histories. We encourage you to browse through them to explore the many stories of early Montanans.



Anaconda Copper Mining Company - Great Falls

Archival Photographs from the University of Montana

Books, Pamphlets and Ephemera from the University of Montana

Butte Digital Image Project

Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives Documents

Central Montana Historical Documents

Central Montana Historical Photographs

Colstrip United Collection

Early Montana Histories

Fallon County History and Pictures

Founding of the Carter County Geological Society

Home Ground Radio Interviews

Huntley Project - Homesteads, People, & Harvests

Jack L. Demmons' Photographs of Bonner, Montana

John J. Powers, Safety Poster Collection

Leland Cade Books Collection

Letters, Diaries and Documents from the Montana Historical Society

Local Histories of Montana

Mapping Montana and the West

Miles City Historical Documents

Mining in Butte

Montana Historical Society Civil War Era Diaries and Correspondence

Musselshell Valley Historical Museum Photographs

Natives of Montana Archival Project

Original Plats of Additions to the Townsite of Butte

Photographs from the Montana Historical Society

Publications and Ephemera from the Montana Historical Society

Sax and Fryer Collection

Sidney-Richland County Library Historical Collection

Voices of Labor

Searching for Mining Content on the Montana History Portal

Mining is an important part of Montana's history and present day. As such, the Portal has thousands of mining related items on our website, from dozens of different institutions around the state. It can be difficult to find everything related to your search. The history collections listed in this research guide are a starting point for you, but only just a beginning. If you have not used the search function on the MMP website, we have a guide for Searching for Items in the MMP. This guide will explain how to filter by item type (images, documents, etc.) and explain other features of our advanced search engine. This search engine will allow you to narrow your selections by date range, which may be helpful to you. If you have a specific collection in mind, and it is too large to browse through each item, we also have a guide for Searching for Items in a Specific Collection on the MMP. As you use the search tools on the MMP site, try to use a variety of different words and phrases in your search. You could try variations on words, such as "mines" or "miner." If you know the names of individuals you are researching, make sure to try those. Place names and locations are a great way to narrow results as well.