The Montana History Portal has lots of great content, but the collections in themselves are meant for research and discovery, not story-telling. Over the last couple of years we have developed exhibits to take the images and documents and weave them into a story on a particular topic. History Portal staff has written some of these, but many of come from Montana teachers as part of a workshop hosted every other year by the Portal. Others have come from college graduate students working on various projects.

University of Montana Public History intern, Rebecca Maine, and Harvard Ph.D. candidate, Siriana Lundgren, have worked together to create our most recent exhibit. This one focuses on the experiences of Women in the Montana Penitentiary system.

Built Without Her in Mind: The Montana Prison System

What happens when a prison system is built without women in mind? 

Between 1878 and 1959, nearly 200 women were incarcerated inside Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. Confined to improvised buildings, denied outdoor access, or housed alone for months at a time, they lived within a system that struggled to understand their needs. Continue scrolling to learn more about women’s experiences in the Montana State Prison through case files, images, and historical records. 

The State Law Library of Montana recently added a large and growing Internet Archive collection titled Montana Legislative History.   It is described as "A collection of primary sources for determining legislative intent. Legislative histories may include meeting minutes, exhibits, and various versions of bills."  You can view this state government information dating from 1895 to the present at Montana Legislative History : Free : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive

Cambridge University Press publishes a wide range of academic journals covering various subjects, including humanities, social science, technology, and medicine. Cambridge Journals offers access to a multidisciplinary collection of journals, recognized globally for their quality, scope, and editorial integrity. 

You can access the database here.