Collections
Genealogy
Services
Friends of the
Butte Archives
2005 Annual
Report
The Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives
P.O. Box 81
17 W. Quartz St.
Butte, MT 59703
(406) 782-3280
info@buttearchives.org
The Archives is open to the public Monday and Tuesday from 9 am to 5 pm and Wednesday morning from 9 am to 12 noon. We are closed from Wednesday at 12 noon through Friday.
Mission
The Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives was established in 1981
through city-county ordinance and is charged:
- To be the official repository of all non-current records of Butte-Silver Bow Government.
- To accept other archival material such as written, typed or printed records, photographs, tape recordings, maps or other material of historical significance that may be donated by private individuals or groups that pertain to Butte-Silver Bow Government.
- To provide public access to the materials in its care through professional service, to work with schools and organizations in the community to encourage the use of historical documents in learning environments.
- To assist the preservation community in Butte-Silver Bow by provising information.
Governance
The Archives is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors:
Brian Holland, Chairman, Laurel Egan, Dave Fawcett, Elaine Howard,
Tim McLean, Marissa Newman, and Sara Sparks.
The Archives employs two full-time professional staff, one part-time
support staff, and two part-time volunteers.
The
Building
The
Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives is housed in a former 1900 Butte
Fire Department station located in the Butte-Anaconda National
Historic Landmark District.
The historic building retains original wood and maple floors,
lath and plaster walls and ceilings, fire station characteristics
and accessories, trim and baseboard, doors, windows, and other
character-defining architectural features which contribute to
the historic character of the building.
The Archives recently outgrew the building's current configuration,
and with planning and design, seek to increase the usability
of the exisitng building for archival storage, research 
areas, and exhibit and office space.
A condition assessment report
summarizes the building's inadequacies and presents a list of
recommendations for the preservation, restoration, and adaptive
re-use of the building and subsequent protection of the archives.
The total project has a four million dollar price tag to stabilize
the building and provide an archival sound storage and research
space. The recommendations which came from this effort are enclosed,
and a full report is available at the Archives.
For more details about the efforts to expand the current space
for the Archives, click here.
