This drawing of the Bozeman Opera House and City Hall, designed in 1887 by architect Byron Vreeland, is in the collection of architectural drawings held by Montana universities' libraries. (Drawing courtesy of MSU Renne Library.)

When Jeff Shelden of Lewistown's Prairie Wind Architecture needed original blueprints to remodel an historic Catholic church in Cut Bank, he found the rare documents at Montana State University's library.

Now a catalogue of architectural drawings of Montana buildings from the turn of the century through the mid-1970s is available online from both the Renne Library at Montana State University and the Mansfield Library at the University of Montana.

The collection includes 2,500 individual drawings of stores, churches, hospitals, parks, private residences and public and fraternal buildings from across the state, according to MSU Special Collections librarian Kim Allen Scott.

"There is something from every municipality in Montana," Scott said. "It's the largest collection of architectural drawings in the state."

The Internet-based catalogue does not show the actual drawings. People may either visit the university libraries in Bozeman or Missoula to see the drawings or order copies by phone. The database lists architects' names, project, address, the drawing date and the number of sheets.

The bulk of the collection has been available through MSU's Web site since January 2002. In September, more than 400 new drawings from the collections of the Mansfield Library's K. Ross Toole Archives at UM were added to the database.

"We have drawings from the Daly Mansion in Hamilton, the courthouse in Missoula and for many buildings that no longer exist," said UM archivist Donna McCrea of the Missoula collection. "While the collections are valuable sources for architects and architectural students, we have also had requests for blueprints of homes and buildings, which are then framed for decor."

Scott said most users of the collection are working architects who want historical drawings of buildings for restoration projects. Other users include homeowners interested in the original drawings, either for restoration work or to frame and keep. Some of the older drawings are quite beautiful, Scott said, because they were done with black ink on woven linen cloth.

Prominent early Montana architects A. J. Gibson, Fred Willson, Charles Haire and J.G. Link are represented in the collection as well as unusual plans of Turkish Baths in Helena, a school in Valier and a jail in Jordan.

"It's a bit like archeology," Shelden said. "I needed plans for a historic terracotta building in which the parapet was lined with Greek lions called 'antefixa,' which are like gargoyles. It's nice to be able to find the details and sometimes even track down the original craftsmen and the company that is still in business."

To access the online catalogue, go to the Montana Architectural Drawing Collection at http://www.lib.montana.edu/epubs/architect/.

Posted for 10/27/04 by Jean Arthur