Museum and Archive Collection

Great Northern Railway advertisment circa 1920

NPS PHOTO

Glacier National Park’s museum collection consists of historic, archeological, ethnographic, biological, geological, paleontological, and archival objects. These disciplines are represented by a diversity of objects and specimens such as photographic prints and negatives, original Lake McDonald Lodge furnishings, documents, maps, architectural drawings, herbarium specimens, and fossils.

 

Badge worn by red bus drivers circa 1960

NPS PHOTO

The basic objectives of the park’s museum program are:

To collect objects and materials within the park’s Scope of Collection and according to federal law.

To provide a professional level of care for objects on exhibit and in storage.

To maintain accountability and provide access to collection information by producing and maintaining accurate collection records.

 

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Research Requests:

• Browsing. To ensure the conservation and security of the resource, browsing in the collections is not permitted.
• Access. The park reserves the right to limit access to fragile or restricted collections. Unprocessed or uncataloged collections will not be made available to researchers due to security concerns.
• Copies of materials. Reproductions (photocopies, digital copies, etc.) of archival material are available on a limited basis.
• Research. Although curatorial staff can respond to limited off-site requests for information or photographic images contained within the park’s collections, more extensive research needs will require on-site research by the requestor.

 

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Hours of Operation:

Appointments for research in the museum collection or archives can be arranged between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.

Researchers should submit a request by mail, phone, fax or email to the museum office ahead of time, detailing their research project to the curatorial staff. Requests for materials should be submitted with enough lead time to allow for the evaluation of the request and the scheduling of curatorial staff to oversee the research.

Contact Information:

Requests for research appointments or other questions about the park’s museum and archives collection should be directed to:

Museum Curator:
Deirdre Shaw

Email: e-mail us
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Mailing address:
Glacier National Park Archives
PO Box 128
West Glacier, MT 59936