Butte-Silver Bow Archives by Montana Standard

Butte Silver Bow

ARCHIVES

a special publication of

2 â&#x20AC;˘ Butte Archives 2010

Butte Archives 2010 â&#x20AC;˘ 3

4 • Butte Archives 2010

The exterior of the newly remodeled Butte Archives, 17 W. Quartz St., features red brick, new windows and granite slabs inscribed with Butte quotes. Photo by Walter Hinick of The Montana Standard

New archives boasts beauty, and state-of-the-art vault By Justin Post of The Montana Standard Visitors to the Butte Public Archives might hardly recognize the new facility. From polished hardwood floors, wall-to-wall fresh paint and a spacious new interior, the public area of the facility is housed in the longtime archives building. The new vault addition next door is where the bulk of the tens of thousands of feet of historic documents are in permanent storage. The public will enter the building through a front door located between the two structures on Quartz Street. From there, a new elevator or the stairway will lead visitors to the second floor where an antique lighted green stoplight hangs from the ceiling. To the west, a doorway leads into what most people remember as the

old archives building, which now features an open floor plan. This gives archives workers and volunteers an unobstructed view of people entering and leaving the facility, said director Ellen Crain. It’s here where Crain says the public will find a lot of work space. To the east, rows of shelving are kept behind closed doors in the new building, which Crain describes as a “state-of-the-art vault” to house manuscripts. The vault’s temperature and humidity are controlled to “maintain archival standards perfectly.” The light in the vault is filtered to keep out harmful ultraviolet rays that would otherwise damage the documents. The building is secured and fireproof to keep intruders and flames at bay. Continued on page 5

The vault, says Crain, is basically a large concrete warehouse that is highly insulated to help insure temperature and humidity. “It would be the best all-around environment for all our stuff,” Crain said. The south side of the new addition, however, is separate from the upstairs vault and is home to a new public auditorium. “We think that’s going to be a really good spot,” Crain said. Archives officials visited archives and libraries from Montana to Washington D.C. and beyond while studying how to build the most efficient and user-friendly facility. “We got a lot of ideas,” says Crain. “We used those through the design process to ensure we knew what problems were around and ensure we didn’t’ have those.” One issue Crain says other archives facilities faced is finding space to free materials from pests who have taken up residence in the historic documents. The first story of the Butte facility contains a decontamination space where items are first brought for processing. That’s where archives employees and volunteers will clean and repair documents and let them sit for a time to allow mice and other animals to crawl out of boxes and between pages. “Then we’re ensuring no bad stuff gets into our vaults,” Crain said. She says the archives will rely on a fairly large volunteer staff to help

Butte Archives 2010 • 5

orientate first-time visitors with an introductory tour. A majority of those who visit the archives have traditionally called weeks in advance to give the facility time to prepare needed documents for review and schedule a visit. Crain anticipates that trend will continue for many. “It will work essentially the same,” she said, adding that the refurbished building new offers a large reading room for the public. The facility is expected to open to the public later this summer.

Clockwise from above: Hardwood floors and natural light enhance this room in the revamped Butte Archives; archives director Ellen Crain accesses documents for research; detail within the building feature items such as this antique traffic light. Photos by Walter Hinick of The Montana Standard

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8 • Butte Archives 2010

Rooms with a view -- and space -- allow for multi-use in the new Archives building.

Photo by Walter Hinick of The Montana Standard

Archives will be available to host meetings, films, conferences, speakers

By Justin Post of The Montana Standard Ellen Crain loves to talk about the future of the Butte Public Archives. Sometimes she just doesn’t know where to begin. Butte school teachers already are calling Crain, the archives director, seeking to incorporate the new facility into lesson plans. And she says the facility’s new auditorium will be available to play host to meetings, speakers, educational programs, conferences, films and other events. While the old archives building had reached its capacity for housing historic documents, Crain says there’s room in the new vault addition to continue expanding the collection for decades.

“Some of Butte’s best history is yet to be written,” she said. Historic documents outlining the city-county’s massive Superfund cleanup are among those documents Crain sees as an important addition to the facility’s collection. “We’re excited about that kind of opportunity to start dealing with some of our most recent history and dealing with environmental history,” she said. She says the site will offer a learning experience even before visitors step inside the building. The landscaping and a small park outside the building are expected to include interpretive materials offering people insight into Butte history,

Crain said. She sees the building as a more user friendly opportunity for people to learn about the Mining City’s history like never before. At least two exhibit cases are planned for the building to display historic documents and photographs on a rotating basis, likely in the building’s lobby. Ann St. Clair, president of the Friends of the Butte Archives and director of the Montana Tech library, says archives officials are eager to unveil the new building to the taxpayers who made it a reality. “We’re into a whole new era of programming because now we have this beautiful space where we can host speakers and have a comfortable auditorium for people to come to,” she said, adding that speakers, exhibits and educational programs will be scheduled at the facility. She said the new building will “really feature the items in the achieves” and give the public an opportunity to view “unique displays using archival materials so people can really see what is in the collection.” This new, clean facility will offer people from Butte and beyond a unique opportunity to learn about the area’s history, St. Clair said. “This opens up access to the collections now that there’s a central place instead of a damp, animal-infested basement that’s dirty,” she said. “Now there’s this state of the art vault where things can be arranged in order and protected. It’s great.” The new building has its main entrance on Quartz Street, which she hopes will help draw visitors and make them feel more comfortable, as opposed to the old archives’ entrance from the alley. “I think it’s going to be a space that is going to draw more people,” Crain said. “When they come in they will say ‘this is space I want to use.’” A grand opening of the archives is planned for this fall.

Stairways with intricate railings add a unique touch to the new Butte Archives. Photo by Walter Hinick of The Montana Standard

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10 • Butte Archives 2010

Poor conditions

spur new archives project

ONLINE Take a video tour through the new Butte-Silver Bow Archives, led by Ellen Crain, director. The tour offers a glimpse of the new facility, including the grand reading hall, foyer modeled to look like a gallows frame, state-of-the-art cold storage and the public meeting room. Both the video tour and a photo time-lapse of the final stages of construction are available online at mtstandard.com/archives.

By Justin Post of The Montana Standard It had been an issue that Butte Public Archives officials had discussed for years. There was no light in the basement, the breezy building needed many repairs and critters were getting in. And in 2004, the archives board of directors finally decided something had to be done. The Friends of the Butte Archives, the nonprofit’s fundraising and promotion organization, commissioned an independent Missoula archivist to study the building and its conditions. The archivist, Jodi Allison-Bunnell, finished her report and her conclusions were not surprising to those familiar with the historic Uptown building. “She said that the storage conditions in the ally were better conditions than in our building,” said archives director Ellen Crain. “The temperatures in the ally were more stable.” In a 45-page assessment, Bunnell made a wide range of recommendations, said Ann St. Clair, president of the Friends of the Butte Archives and director of the Montana Tech library. “That came back and it was apparent something big needed to be done,” she said. “This raised all these issues and this document was our justification for what needed to be done. It was the story.” Among those recommendations was to complete an architectural assessment of the building. That’s when archives officials began pondering the possibility of moving or refurbishing the existing building. With funding from Butte’s Urban Revitalization Agency, the archives hired A&E Architects to study the archives building, a former fire station. The architect determined the building was “pregnant with possibilities,” Crain remembers. The building was determined to be stable and could be rehabilitated to serve as the Butte Public Archives for years to come. “They looked at a variety of issues surrounding the whole question of whether this was a good place for the archives,” says Crain. Meanwhile, more people were using the archives than ever with the facility used as a research tool for authors and others seeking out family histories. The president of Ireland also visited the archives noting the value of its historic documents, Crain said. Continued on page 11

Rather than build new, archives officials decided the existing building should continue in its long history of serving the public. Staff began writing grants and had some success, but not enough to foot the roughly $7.5 million project tab. “The board finally said, ‘this is it, you’re going for a bond issue whether you like it or not and that’s that,’” Crain said. Then the work began. Archives representatives began meeting with local leaders and won approval from commissioners to put a bond issue on the ballot. Voters on Nov. 14, 2007, overwhelmingly supported the issue with 75 percent approval and a whopping 68 percent voter turnout. “It was amazing,” Crain said. Commissioners then approved a 15-member technical review committee to oversee the bond sale and forthcoming construction project. Demolition began on the interior of the longtime archives building in fall 2008 and a grand opening of the refurbished structure and the new vault is planned for this fall.

Butte Archives 2010 • 11

Workers put the finishing touches on the Butte Archives at 17 W. Quartz St. in Uptown Butte. Grants and a bond issue made the $7.5 million project a reality.

Photos by Walter Hinick of The Montana Standard

12 • Butte Archives 2010

ONE OF THE FOUNDERS of the Butte Archives was Bill Walker, a Texas native. In this January 1980 photograph, Walker looks over a bound volume of the Butte Inter Mountain newspaper, which was located directly across from the current Montana Standard building. (Montana Standard archives)

IN APRIL 1972, Butte’s fire station was located at 17 W. Quartz, which is now home to the Butte Archives. (Montana Standard archives)

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ARCHIVIST BILL WALKER stands on what once was the Butte fire station’s dormitory. (Montana Standard archives) Layout and design by Corey Gransbery of The Montana Standard Video by Erica Yakawich, online editor, The Montana Standard

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