The most comprehensive catalog of collections ready for your use at MSU Archives and Special Collections (ASC) can be found on Archives West. The site hosts Finding Aids (also called Collection Guides) for all of ASC’s physical collections. Digital archives are also accessible through finding aids on Archives West, but the guides offer information about many more archives that are only available in the ASC reading room.
About Archives West Archives West is a finding aid aggregator for archives in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West. It offers descriptions of archival, and manuscript materials held by participating institutions (not all archives in the region participate). Researchers and the general public can search over 40,000 finding aids to locate collections, then contact repositories directly to access materials. See the ABOUT page in Archives West to locate similar finding aid aggregators for other regions/states in the US.
See the What is a Finding Aid? section to lean more about how to use these research tools.
Archives and Special Collections holds rare books and topical collections related to Trout and Salmoinds, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and Montana history. You can find all cataloged books in Special Collections through CatSearch.
Books in Archives and Special Collections are non-circulating, which means they cannot be checked out or leave the space. Researcher should keep this in mind when requesting Special Collections books and Reserve a Table to request a time to view these books.
If a book is in Archives and Special Collections, the location will appear in the catalog record before the call number
Digital collections are accessible on JSTOR and the Archives and Special Collections website.
MSU Archives and Special Collections Website
To find digital collections on the Archives and Special Collections website. Researchers can use the search bar on the archives homepage or browse digital collections by topic.
Search Bar
The search bar allows researchers to search across all the digital collections on the Archives and Special Collections website.
Browse by Topic
Researchers can also browse digital collections by topic. Browse terms include both digital and physical collections. All digital collections are listed at the top of each subject page.
JSTOR
Montana State University also adds many of the same digital collections on JSTOR. Over the course of this year, we will add more digital collections to JSTOR to increase search capabilities and reach wider audiences.
Digital access to dissertations and theses written by MSU students is through ScholarWorks.
Archives and Special Collections holds physical copies of dissertations and theses as well.
The Montana State University Web Archive captures, preserves and provides access to websites produced by administrative offices, colleges, departments, institutes, centers, programs, and faculty, student, and alumni organizations at Montana State University. Through the capture and preservation of the university’s evolving online presence, the web archive documents the people, activities, and impact of Montana State University over time.
Unless otherwise noted the content on this LibGuide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
