[1] In 1950, the Montana Historical Society's board of trustees appointed a special committee to create a quarterly journal.

The committee included Merrill G. Burlingame, Joseph Kinsey Howard, Anne McDonnell, H. G. Merriam, Albert Partoll, Paul Phillips, Lucinda Scott, and Norman Winestine.

In 1951, K. Ross Toole was appointed director of the Montana Historical Society (MHS), and he assumed the position of editor for the magazine.

[2] With the Spring 1955 issue, Toole changed the name to Montana, The Magazine of Western History, signifying a shift in focus to the entire North American West.

But in the 1970s, editor Vivian Paladin began to invite historians with national reputations to serve on the board.