This September 20th marks the 36th anniversary of the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives. In celebration of this event the Archives will host an Open House on September 20, 2016 at 5:30 P.M. The Archives project got started when Bill Walker, who applied for, and received $10,000.00 in federal revenue sharing funds. Walker requested support from Don Peoples, Chief Executive.
Peoples supplied government support by making the Archives a legitimate government department in the recently abandoned Quartz Street fire station. Bill Walker and friends began the effort to clean the station and collect up the city government record that had been abandoned in City Hall. The team also collected labor records, architectural records and photographs. The open house provided a slide show on architectural styles of Butte. This group and Don Peoples laid the groundwork for the growth of one of the most impressive Archives in the Northwest and a collection with an enviable bibliography. Today we are reside in the same 1900 fire station which the people of Butte generously paid to rehabilitate and our world class collection is in a state of the art vault.
We will be delighted to hosts the public on Tuesday evening and share with them the great collections in our holdings. There will be treats and prizes and much fun at the event. I hope to see you there.
-Ellen
Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives 