Howard Moss, Dixon, Montana, 1999, photo by Marta Brooks. Part of the documentation in the "History of Farming and Ranching," part of the cultural documentation found in Montana's Local Legacies projects.

Montana

Montana's native traditions are well represented in the collections of the American Folklife Center. These include recordings of Blackfeet, Crow, Flathead, and Northern Cheyenne songs and spoken texts. In addition to Native American traditions, the folk music of Irish and Cornish immigrants and miners are also included in the collections. In 1979, the American Folklife Center, in cooperation with the Montana Arts Council, conducted the Montana Folklife Survey, documenting traditional life and artistic expression in selected areas of the state. The material created during this project, including thousands of photographic images and over one hundred sound recordings, has been incorporated into the collections of the Folklife Center.

Collections

Finding Aid: View a complete list of our Montana collections.

Local Legacies: This project provides a "snapshot" of local culture as it was expressed in the year 2000. View Montana's Local Legacies projects.

Veterans History Project: Browse state collections from the Veterans History Project.

Songs of America: Browse an interactive state map for selected songs from the American Folklife Center’s collections, as well as songs from the Library’s Music Division and Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.

Concert Webcast

D. W. Groethe: Cowboy songs and poetry. Recorded July 20, 2005: [webcast and event flyer]

Public Programs

"Generation to Generation: Sharing the Intangible" (exhibit), Southwest State University Library, Marshall, 1985.

Montana Heritage Project , in cooperation with the Montana Historical Society and a consortium of Montana educational and cultural institutions.

Additional Resources

Educational Resources: View a list of educational materials related to Montana from A Teacher's Guide to Folklife Resources.

Folklife Resources: Find state folklife-related agencies, societies, archives, higher education programs, and more, in Folklife Sourcebook: A Directory of Folklife Resources in the United States.

Publications: "American Indian Powwow," Folklife Annual 1987. [catalog record]