Montana State University Library display marks 50th anniversary of ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’

BOZEMAN — An exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of the publication “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” the influential bestseller penned by one-time Montana State University instructor Robert Pirsig, is now on display in the Montana State University Library.

Located on the second floor of the library near the entrance to Archives and Special Collections, the display is open to the public during library hours and will be up through this summer.

With his book, Pirsig motivated a generation to look inward to the "high country of the mind." Published in 1974 to wide acclaim, “Zen” was inspired in part by events that started between 1959 and 1961, when Pirsig was an English professor at what was then Montana State College, now MSU.

The library’s display includes biographical information about Pirsig, photographs, the briefcase that Pirsig carried while he taught at Montana State, maps of Pirsig-related places on the MSU campus and more. It also includes information about several collections in MSU’s Archives and Special Collections that are connected to Pirsig’s books and his time at MSU.

More information is available at https://guides.lib.montana.edu/c.php?g=1335017.