The Papers of Carlos Montezuma were purchased by the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin History Foundation in 1972, and donated by them to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Due to the rarity of the materials, and their deteriorating condition, they have been microfilmed. This is intended to facilitate their research use and remove the necessity of handling the originals.
The Carlos Montezuma Papers were purchased as part of a larger collection which included the manuscripts, books and other printed materials, photographs, cartoons, geological specimens, and medical and Indian artifacts collected by Montezuma. For thirty-three years after Montezuma's death on January 13, 1923, the collection had been in the custody of his widow, Mary Keller Montezuma Moore. Following her death in 1956, however, the record of trusteeship is interrupted. The collection reappeared at an auction house in Huntsville, Alabama, from which it was purchased by a Franklin, Wisconsin, resident, who re-sold it to the Memorabilia Antique Company of Denver, Colorado, in 1971. Memorabilia advertised for bids during the Spring of 1972, and the collection was purchased for the State Historical Society of Wisconsin that summer.
