MMP Highlights

The Montana Memory Project (MMP) continues to provide information on ways to successfully use the new site through this Highlights newsletter and the Highlights section on the home page. 

Library staff members are encouraged to share these with patrons by adding these ideas to your website and sharing through social media outlets.

There are several collections relating to Yellowstone National Park in the MMP and more coming as files continue to be organized.

A few items relate to areas of the park before it was designated, such as letters from a fur trapper in the 1820's to his family in Pennsylvania. These make for fascinating, if somewhat difficult, reading as there is no transcription.

Others include diaries and notebooks from Civilian Conservation Corps groups stationed in the park. Photos, rosters and autographs of members highlight park activities in the mid-20th century. These are all part of the Publications and Ephemera collection. 

Official history of the park can be found in the Superintendent's Annual Reports as well as the Army Records. Records indicate that even in 1890 buffalo roaming outside the park was a problem.

The  photo collection also provides a wonderful overview of park history through the years, showing how attitudes have changed

Feeding bears was previously a popular event!

Oral histories gathered more recently also provide information on park events and changes in wildlife management.

One of the biggest events was the fires of 1988. Most photos in the collection are from the West Yellowstone area but show the large scope of the fires.