GREAT FALLS — In order to get people more familiar with accessing records within its research center, the History Museum in Great Falls hosted a workshop on Saturday where participants could research their own homes or apartments and learn about its history.
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The History Museum’s archives administrator Megan Sanford says, “Sometimes people are like, ‘Did somebody die in my house?’ or, ‘Did Paris Gibson own my house?’ These are the typical questions.”
The workshop is part of the museum’s Second Saturday programming, and they hope to increase their number of workshops in the coming months.
Sanford says, “In the past, a lot of people would come and just want to know about their home. So, we thought this would be a good workshop. There's a lot of times when people say, well, ‘When did this addition get put on?’ Or, you know, ‘Has my house always been this way?’, and we have different resources that we can look at to help you find out if that's true.”
With thousands of photographs, city and county records, newspapers, and private collections, the research center holds information for not just Cascade County, but surrounding areas.
Sanford explains, “We compete even with the state historical society as far as information and holdings. do pride ourselves on trying to capture the history of North central Montana. So, even if it's a little further out, we might know something about it.”
Besides properties, many use the research center to look for relatives and family photos.
The archives are completely open to the public, and digitized for convenience.
The research center does ask that you make an appointment before coming in so an archivist can help you find what you’re looking for.
The History Museum is at 422 Second Street South in Great Falls. Click here to visit the website.
