ML Archives and Special Collections

Stop by the Theta Rho room outside Archives & Special Collections to see our latest exhibition: The Art of Illustrating the Book. You’ll see a selection of some of the interesting items from our collections that trace the development of illustration methods from the Middle Ages to the present. The exhibition also features a selection of local artist Dirk Lee’s wood engravings and some of the most visually-interesting zines from our extensive small press collection.

Items on display include the 1561 Stow edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, one of the portfolio photogravure images from Edward Curtis’ North American Indian, works by Arthur Rackham and Maurice Sendak, and much more.

The Art of Illustrating the Book will be on view through June. For more information contact Archives & Special Collections at 406.243.2053 or library.archives@umontana.edu.

Caricatures and Cartoons of Men in Montana was first published in 1907, and according to WorldCat there are only a handful of copies (about six) now known to exist. As the title implies, the book consists of caricatures of prominent Montanans (but only men). This sample—featuring Superintendent of the Deer Lodge Prison, Thomas McTeague—provides an example, but you can see more on display in exhibition case in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room.

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Explore Montana’s mercantile history in Before Box Stores and Supermarkets, a new exhibition on display in the Theta Rho Room on Level 4 of the Mansfield Library.

Using items and images drawn from Archives & Special Collections, the exhibition highlights the history of commerce in Montana, from the founding of the area’s earliest trading post exactly 200 years ago, to the early twentieth-century mercantiles and general stores that were mainstays of their communities. The display includes early maps and accounts of trading posts, turn-of-the-century photographs, and advertisements featuring both everyday necessities (coffee – 2lbs for 65 cents) and the latest fashions.

Before Box Stores and Supermarkets will be on display through mid-February. For additional information please contact Archives & Special Collections: (406) 243-2053 or library.archives@umontana.edu.