Take 50 pounds of butter, 660 eggs,...

This post comes to you from Senior Archivist Ellie Arguimbau.
Two years from now, in 2014, Montana will celebrate its Territorial Sesquicentennial. For the 100th anniversary of becoming a territory, in 1964, Montana did it up big. A Centennial Train traveled to Washington, D.C. Local events were held across the state. There were beard-growing contests. And Governor and Mrs. Tim Babcock hosted a grand Centennial Ball in Helena. As part of that celebration, Montanans baked an 8 foot by 16 foot birthday cake--big enough to feed 3000! Here is the recipe. (Do not attempt this at home.)

The recipe was found in a Centennial Ball scrapbook compiled by Jean Baucus (SC 2610).

Religious texts at the Montana Historical Society

Guest post from Allison Badger, a contract cataloger, who has been working at the Research Center for the past 6 months.
As a cataloger I deal with a variety of materials. Some are interesting and some not so much. A few weeks ago, I came across some items that definitely fell into the interesting category: the Montana Historical Society’s collection of Bibles and other religious books. While most of this collection consists of family Bibles, it also includes Catholic prayer books, a Jewish Bible and Methodist hymnals.

     

On the left, The Holy Bible, containing Old and New Testaments. together with the Apocrypha (undated, owners unknown). On the right, Tresor des ames pieuses ou divers moyens d'atteindre la perfection Chretienne, published in 1869, owned by Philomine Rouleau.

Before they came to the Montana Historical Society, many of these items belonged to people who played a role in Montana’s history. Materials of interest include Granville Stuart’s The New Testament of Lord Savior Jesus Christ (1881), Governor Samuel Hauser’s family Bible (1853) and a Bible presented to Governor Forrest H. Anderson on the one hundredth anniversary of the Montana ministry of Methodist circuit-rider Brother William W. Van Orsdel. This collection also contains items that were owned by less-well known Montanans. These books include French Catholic prayer books that belonged Philomine Rouleau and James Rodda’s Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1872).

Interior pages showing Philomine Rouleau's notations.

Although the volumes themselves are fascinating, it’s the personal touches that truly set them apart. That is, many of the previous owners listed the marriages, births and of deaths of family members within the pages of these books. Some, such as the Hauser Bible, document several generations Hauser family. Others contain a lock of hair or four leaf clover or notes related to various Bible verses. One in particular, the Wood Family Bible, contains the signatures of the family members who owned this Bible.  

For a complete list of what is included in this collection, see the catalog record here. Then click on Catalog Record.

Attention, Men of Montana

Have you ever sported a Flatbottom? A Tailored French Fork? How about an Old Southern Colonel? While exploring our vertical file on the 75th anniversary of statehood in 1964, I discovered that the Junior Chamber of Commerce marked the occasion in a singularly masculine way: its members committed to raising a beard in an authentic historical style.

Bulletin: Centennial Beard Styles Courtesy of Frank Murray Secretary of State, Montana Territorial Centennial Statehood Diamond Jubilee, 1963, in the vertical file Montana Territorial Centennial 1964, 1.

They may have been inspired by this illustrated guide from 1963, where at least some of the whiskers are drawn on. By the way, vertical files are named for the tall cabinets in which they're housed. These folders of clippings and printed ephemera consume 42 file drawers (121 feet) in the Research Center and are open for public browsing.