MontanaHistoricalSociety: Recent Episodes
MontanaHistoricalSociety
This chapter contains information pertaining to what truly makes Montan special and acknowledges several significant people in Montana’s history including the “Copper King” of Butte, a scientist who created over 40 vaccines, and an activist who sued the U.S. Government and won.
This chapter explores the distinct and unique culture of American Indians and the passing of the Indian Education for All (IEFA) law. This law introduced the Seven Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians into every school in Montana.
This chapter investigates homesteading, a movement that affected Montana history like no other, the difficult times that these homesteaders faced, and the even more difficult times that the Montana Indians faced during the evolution into the twentieth century.
This chapter explains who the first people were to settle in Montana and why they came to live here, which revolved around both positive and negative factors, as well as the professions that inspired the growth of Montana.
This chapter provides important information pertaining to the first people to live in Montana, providing details surrounding the early period, the middle period, the late period, and the contact period all leading up to the current tribes of Montana.
This chapter describes the variety of geology, climate, and the three separate regions of Montana, along with introducing Montana’s tribal nations and reservations as well as the economy or business and jobs that keep Montana growing.
In Tracing Artistic Memories and Mysteries of Yellowstone and Glacier, retired MTHS historian Dr. Ellen Baumler explores how painting, photography, literature, oral culture, and music have given us powerful incentives to visit Montana’s parks and preserve these majestic resources.
In Tracing Artistic Memories and Mysteries of Yellowstone and Glacier, retired MTHS historian Dr. Ellen Baumler explores how painting,photography, literature, oral culture, and music have given us powerful incentives to visit Montana’s parks and preserve these majestic resources.
Writer Robert Nisbet talks about artists Walter Oehrle and Olive Fell in Two Historic Artists of Yellowstone National Park. Oehrle created advertising art for the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1920s and designs for the Old Faithful Inn in 1935. Fell produced refined etchings and whimsical postcards of park bears from the 1930s to the 1960s.
In Horn Miller: The Toughest Man in Montana, retired University of Texas at Austin instructor Fred Woody tells the story of Adam “Horn” Miller, a Cooke City prospector, storyteller, guide, scout, and all-around mountain man who began exploring Yellowstone in the 1860s.
In Lost (and Found) in Yellowstone: The Truman C. Everts Story, author and storyteller Ednor Therriault shares the chilling story of Everts’s separation from his party in 1870 and how he survived alone in Yellowstone without his horse or supplies for thirty-seven days.
The Tukudika, or Sheep Eater, Indians were a band of Mountain Shoshone who lived for thousands of years in the area that would become Yellowstone National Park. In his presentation, Nolan Brown shares the stories of his people and describes efforts at Fort Hall to preserve language and culture and encourage new research.
Architect Paul Filicetti explains the architectural impacts of bathrooming in the park in Comfort Stations, Restrooms, and Private Bathrooms in Yellowstone. Focusing on buildings such as Old Faithful Inn and the Lake Yellowstone and Mammoth hotels, he shows how changing modes of transportation impacted guest facilities.
Since Lewis and Clark waxed poetic about the White Cliffs, the Upper Missouri River Breaks have captivated the American public. One central, though relatively unknown, figure in the establishment of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument was Emil DonTigny (1901–1969). In Emil DonTigny: Pioneering Conservationist, Montana History Foundation historian Dr. Ciara Ryan brings to light DonTigny’s role in preserving the monument.
In National Park Service Rustic Architecture, Richard Brown shares the historyof “Parkitecture” as it relates to the prolific work of Bozeman architect Fred F.Willson. Willson designed 175 projects in and near Yellowstone between 1919and 1955.
Upper Missouri River Breaks Monument manager Zane Fulbright in The Mighty Mo: America’s Wilderness Waterway, explores the evolution of the Missouri River from threatened resource to its status as a national monument.
In Bozeman Prostitution and the Sociopolitical Landscape of the Early 20th Century, Montana State University graduate student Maryrose Hicko introduces Mattie Hayes Rosenthal, a prostitute in Bozeman circa 1900–1920. The presentation reveals how Rosenthal’s life was shaped by social reform before and after World War I.
University of Montana graduate student James Compton presents Mansfield, Marines, and Mothers: Montanans and the Politics of American Intervention in the Chinese Civil War from 1945 to 1946. At the conclusion of World War II, American citizens reasserted the democratic freedoms they had sacrificed to win the war. The American intervention in North China during the Chinese Civil War presented a ripe opportunity for civic restoration in late 1945. Compton’s presentation examines how ordinary Montanans—deployed Marines, their families, and their congressman—impacted American foreign policy through participatory democracy.
Yellowstone National Park Heritage and Research Center archivist Anne Foster explores what exactly one wears in a national park. Her presentation, Packing for Yellowstone: Dress and Culture in the World’s First National Park, combines historical photographs, audience participation, and reproduction clothing to explore the development of the active leisure style and its influence on gender roles, social status, industrialization, and cultural norms.
Industrial historian and retired Michigan Tech history professor Fred Quivik’s presentation, Mining and Yellowstone National Park: The Jardine Mining District, provides an expansive overview of mining at Jardine and put more recent regulatory controversies, including the hotly contested New World Mining District near Cooke City, in the context of efforts to protect Yellowstone from mining.
In The Rise and Fall of Corporate Sawmills in Montana, retired MTHS Library manager Brian Shovers chronicles the history of Montana’s corporate timber industry and the many unpredictable forces that led to its demise.
University of Montana PhD student Kymberly MacEwan has researched how field matrons on the Blackfeet Reservation visited families and instructed them in proper hygiene and “moral” lifestyles while providing varying forms of healthcare. In The Field Matrons on the Blackfeet Reservation, Progressive Era, she examines how the roles these women played in healthcare, assimilation, social conformity, and government surveillance were integral to the larger Progressive Sanitation Campaign.
In Who Were Montana’s Early Women Physicians? East Carolina University professor Dr. Todd Savitt offers a group biography and stories of several of the thirty-nine determined women who applied for medical licenses in Montana between 1889 and 1910.
Alpine climber and historian Jacob Schmidt explores the culture of secrecy among Montana’s alpine climbers in Keeping Secrets: Montana’s “Do Not Publish” Ethic and the Experience of Wildness. Through interviews with climbers and land managers and newly available archival information, he explores the origins of the “Do Not Publish” ethic and the lasting effect it has had on alpine recreation in the state.
Montana can boast some of, if not the most, robust, diverse, and enviable fish and wildlife resources in the nation. In Keeping the West Wild: The Genesis of Wildlife Conservation in Montana, Michael Korn traces Montana’s long history of wildlife conservation, from the fur trade period into the twenty-first century, and the landmark efforts that brought Montana’s wildlife resources back from the brink.
Montana Department of Transportation historian Jon Axline shares exciting and colorful tales of The Beartooth Highway: A History of America’s Most Beautiful Drive. Built during the height of the Great Depression and rising 10,947 feet above sea level, the Beartooth Highway sparked an economic boom in Red Lodge, Cooke City, and Yellowstone National Park and continues to leave a profound impression on people privileged to drive it.
In Willard Fraser: Montana’s “Mayor of All Outdoors,” author Lou Mandler discusses Billings mayor Willard Fraser’s many efforts to entice visitors to Montana. Fraser was instrumental in pursuing federal recognition for Pompeys Pillar and Pictograph Caves and promoting the state’s natural wonders.
Yellowstone and many of the surrounding communities were deeply impacted by a historic flood in June 2022. Many roads, bridges, and trails were washed away, structures lost, and infrastructure crippled. In a strange symmetry, this area experienced a catastrophic flood in June, 1918. This talk with Yellowstone National Park historian Alicia Murphy highlights the many similarities in both impacts and responses to these devastating natural disasters.
Between 1881 and 1891, photographer Frank J. Haynes made more than five hundred glass-plate negatives of Yellowstone for the Northern Pacific Railroad and his own photograph concession business. MTHS Photograph Archives manager Jeff Malcomson surveys Haynes’s 1880s work and explains the Montana Historical Society’s efforts to digitize the collection in Visualizing the Early Park: Digitizing Haynes’s 1880s Yellowstone Photographs.
Representing more than seventy tribes in twenty states, the Inter Tribal Buffalo Council (ITBC) has restored approximately 20,000 buffalo to nearly one million acres of tribal land. ITBC board member Jason Baldes will share how ITBC’s reintroduction of the buffalo has helped heal the spirit of both the Indian people and the buffalo.
University of Notre Dame associate professor Mark Johnson discusses the tensions in wood harvesting around Butte in the early 1880s in The War of the Woods: Chinese Wood Choppers and Unlikely Allies, Montana 1880–1900, sharing the story of a clash between Chinese and white woodsmen and the Butte constable who intervened.
Brigham Young University history professor Andrea Radke-Moss presents Our Citizens Don’t Think Much of the Indians: Montana Women and Representations of Native Americans at the Chicago World’s Fair. Through the stories of Eliza Rickards and Emma Cowan, shel examines how Montana women portrayed Indigenous people in 1893, focusing on their settler colonial narratives and Montana boosterism.
Chief Earl Old Person, Life-Time Chief of the Blackfeet Tribe, sat for an interview in 2002 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of North American Indian Days in Browning on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Norma Ashby interviewed Chief Old Person for KRTV of Great Falls as he commented on the meaning and celebrations of Indian Days, one of the largest powwows in Montana. Filmed by photographers Lindsay McNay and Tim Luinstra, the video special was sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Dan Fiehrer.
Author and historian Bob Bigart explains how cattle exports from the Flathead Indian Reservation in the early twentieth century supported tribal members and made it possible for the tribes to avoid dependence on general rations from the federal government.
University of Colorado PhD student Kerri Clement examines horse herd restoration efforts on the part of Crow Agency superintendent Robert Yellowtail. While Yellowtail concentrated on particular breeds and worked to obtain high-bred horses, this short-lived project reflects the longer and deeper history between Crow people and equines. Between 1875 and 1910, cattle raising on the Flathead Reservation grew from supplementing a tribal economy based on hunting and gathering to the foundation of a new economy.
Retired MHS museum technician Vic Reiman begins with a short sketch of the development of black powder and firearms—going all the way back to China—and then concentrates on the first four models of lever-action rifles made by Oliver Winchester and their use by American Indians, settlers, and bad men on the western frontier.
As an integral and formative part of the Rocky Mountain West, mining helped shape public attitudes toward the land, labor unions, cultural and social mores, and community development. The ways in which mining history is preserved and presented does the same. Dr. Dayle Hardy-Short, professor of communication studies at Northern Arizona University, provides a preliminary overview of topics, organizational structures, and historical approaches used in mining museums in Montana and elsewhere across the West.
Montana State University adjunct humanities faculty Dr. Dan Hanson examines how Bannack State Park utilizes haunting as a commercial attraction and historical teaching tool in its annual “Ghost Walk.” Understanding haunting’s functionality within this heritage site is important as Bannack continues to reflect and shape the real and imagined West.
Shortly before 10:00 P.M. on the night of January 15, 1895, a watchman noticed smoke coming from the Kenyon-Connell Commercial Company warehouse and summoned the fire department. Unbeknownst to firefighters, other rescue workers, and curious onlookers, the burning building contained not only stoves, sheets of corrugated iron, pipes, coils of wire, and iron wheelbarrows, but also a large supply of dynamite. Within minutes, a series of devastating explosions rocked the Mining City’s warehouse district. Butte Historical Memorials board members Lindsay Mulcahy, Judy Chadwick, and Karen Henningsen tell the story of this largely forgotten tragedy that resulted in the deaths of fifty-eight people.
Beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century, thousands dreamed of leaving Bohemia(then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) for the country of endless hope. They were driven by a vision of better living conditions and quick riches, as well as a desire to escape political, religious, and national oppression. In History of the Czechs in Montana and Elsewhere in the Northwest, Dr. Martin Nekola, coordinator of the Czechoslova Talks Project, focuses on the Czechs—more than 350,000 of whom lived in the United States at the outbreak of World War I—who settled in this region.
Mark Johnson, a fellow with the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives, examines connections between Butte’s Chinese community and their relatives in southern China, a region beset by natural disasters and political upheavals that caused many to seek opportunities abroad. With these pressures from home combined with restrictions in Montana from certain professions, life was not easy for these Chinese Montanans.
Greg LeDonne—winner of Montana The Magazine of Western History’s 2021 emerging scholar contest—reviews how the Owyhee Cattlemen’s Association, a group of Idaho ranchers, employed neoliberal rhetoric in advocating for their use of public lands around and during the Rangeland Reform ’94 debate. LeDonne focuses on the way in which a national discourse filtered down to the community level and became adapted to reflect local needs and economic interests.
Diana Di Stefano, MHS editor and publications manager, looks at how five generations of ranchers in Wyoming have adapted to changing economic and environmental circumstances. She uses oral histories to explore themes of belonging, thoughts on tourism, real estate development, and the cattle industry.
Scott Rosenthal, mining department head, and Shannon Panisko, Montana Tech Foundation director of annual giving, share stories of Clara Clark of Butte and Isabel Little of Baltimore, Maryland. In 1904, Clark and Little were among the first class of students to receive degrees from Tech’s new mining engineering department. Today, 25 percent of the department’s students are women.
The Miss Indian America Pageant was held from 1953 to 1984 as part of Sheridan, Wyoming’s annual All-American Indian Days. In More Than “Indian Princesses,” recent Montana State University graduate Dr. Andi Powers explores the ways in which contestants served as important cultural ambassadors, participating in presidential inaugurations, appearing on popular television and radio broadcasts, and working on important projects on both local and national levels, such as the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indian People.
Jeff Malcomson takes the audience on a guided introduction to the MHS Photograph Archives by reviewing the repository’s development over the years and surveying several of its major collections. He shares dozens of photographs from these collections and also reveals current and future projects for the Photo Archives.
Beginning in 1870, supplies, trade goods, immigrants, adventurers—and whiskey—traveled the now-legendary Whoop-Up Trail from Fort Benton to the eponymous Alberta trading post. In Tales of Whoop-Up Country, Great Falls historian and author Ken Robison relates how the absence of law and order forced the Canadian government to create the North-West Mounted Police to close down the whiskey trade and force traders back across the border into Montana.
Montana State University professor Dr. Mary Murphy details the story of Montana artist Elizabeth Davey Lochrie. From her home on Butte’s West Side, Lochrie crafted a life as artist, mother, clubwoman, and ally to Montana’s native peoples. A Western painter in the tradition of Charlie Russell, Lochrie is best known for her portraits of Native Americans, but she was a prolific artist who also painted landscapes of urban Butte and rural Montana.
MHS senior curator Jennifer Bottomly-O’looney shares images and stories of artist Voldemar Podder. Podder—a physician who was displaced from his native Estonia during World War II—spent twelve years in various European refugee camps where he learned to paint. Always continuing his artwork, he immigrated to the United States in 1956, landing first in Warm Springs, Montana, then, in 1963, relocating to Butte. Podder was a prolific artist whose unique and enigmatic style reflects the life he lived and the people he knew.
University of Montana environmental studies professor Dr. Rosalyn LaPier shares photographs by Ella Mad Plume Yellow Wolf. Yellow Wolf—who was LaPier’s great-aunt and whose images are now in MHS’s collection—documented life on the Blackfeet Reservation in the early 1940s, providing an intimate look at children and community, employment and work life, military involvement, and religious practice, both Christian and Native.
Northern Arizona University communication professor Dr. Brant Short looks at Keir Hardie’s commentaries in his newspaper, Labour Leader, as well as reports about Hardie in various Butte newspapers from that time.
MHS community preservation officer Kate Hampton explores the history of state and national legislation that particularly affected the African American community, focusing her attention on discrimination and accommodation laws.
Anthony Wood, doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, considers some of the inherent contradictions and complexities as Butte’s Black residents commemorated Emancipation Day in 1902.
In his Battle for Butte, the now-classic history of Montana’s war of the Copper Kings, Mike Malone identified 1883–1884 as the beginning of big money’s domination of Butte’s mining and politics. In The Battle for Butte Journalism: From Mining and News to Mining, News, Politics, and Power, retired University of Oklahoma Press editor-in-chief Dr. Charles E. Rankin argues that, while such domination of Montana journalism did originate in Butte, the roots of that influence came years earlier, amid a raucous, more chaotic time for Mining City newspapers. English coal miner and labor leader Keir Hardie came to America in 1895 to learn about the U.S. labor movement and political protest. His observations on Montana, as well as the reaction he received among local miners, offer an insightful view on mining, politics, and class.
When Governor Elmer Holt accused the state highway commissioners of malfeasance in 1936, it sparked an ugly process that eventually involved the Montana Supreme Court and a Helena newspaper reporter named Paul Maclean, who was later made famous in A River Runs through It. Montana Department of Transportation historian Jon Axline reveals the details in his presentation.
Each year Montana Historical Society historians write 50 to 100 National Register of Historic Places signs, but invariably have to leave out many juicy historical details in order to meet a 190-word limit. MHS interpretive historian Christine Brown highlights intriguing, sometimes macabre, and often sad stories from Butte and Anaconda that never made it onto the National Register signs. These stories left on the cutting room floor range from war heroes, abusive husbands, and powerful widows to suicide, robbery, and runaway horses.
Recent University of Montana graduate John Stefanek discusses the implementation of Model Cities in Butte. While Model Cities—an urban renewal program that selected over 150 communities across the country for physical and social improvement—was defined by the issue of race in large eastern cities, Butte’s program was defined by its smaller size and economic and environmental woes.
Montana State University PhD student Jacey Anderson examines the impacts of mining on Montana’s economy and the environment. Beginning with the 1872 Mining Act and ending with 1998’s ban on cyanide leaching, shes look at the ways in which communities have organized to both promote and restrict mining practices depending on public beliefs about the perceived benefits and dangers therein.
In a readers’ theater presentation drawn from primary sources documenting Butte’s rich food history, four noted Montana historians—all of whom are “foodies” as well—share delectable nuggets from the Mining City’s culinary past. Professor Jan Zauha, Montana State University humanities and outreach librarian; Dr. Mary Murphy, Montana State University history professor; Molly Kruckenberg, MHS director; and Zoe Ann Stoltz, MHS reference historian tantalize your taste buds with these tales from the kitchens of yesteryear.
Dr. Leila Monaghan, professor of anthropology at Northern Arizona University, provides insight into the important, but little known, material, military, and spiritual assistance that women provided before, during, and after the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Using the testimony of Cheyenne and Lakota women—Antelope, Pretty White Buffalo, Moving Robe, Julia Face, and others—Monaghan describes the battle as women experienced it: ensuring their family’s safety, rallying their warriors with “strongheart songs,” capturing runaway horses, nursing the wounded, landing death blows to injured enemy soldiers, engaging in direct combat, and performing rites for the dead. (9/28/2019)
At their peak, Montana lumber mills employed more than 13,000 workers in over three hundred sawmills. Today fifteen mills with 2,700 employees remain. Retired Montana Historical Society library manager Brian Shovers examines the reasons for the decline and the persistence of smaller family-owned mills. (9/28/2019)
Adept at both political and business manipulations, timber baron A. B. Hammond emerged as one of Montana’s wealthiest and most powerful individuals. Dale Burk, owner of Stevensville’s Stoneydale Press and a former journalist, explores the practice of clear-cutting on the Bitterroot National Forest during the 1950s and 1960s. Burk’s reporting in the Missoulian during the early 1970s ultimately led to a major reform of logging practices on U.S. Forest Service lands nationwide. (9/28/2019)
Native Americans were Montana and Wyoming’s original hard-rock miners, conducting extensive pit and trench excavation at important sources of stone, including several obsidian sources in Yellowstone National Park. In his talk, University of Montana professor of anthropology Dr. Doug MacDonald describes the traditional use of two important obsidian sources in Yellowstone—Obsidian Cliff and Cougar Creek—and proposes ideas on ways to better utilize these sites in interpreting the park’s Native American past.
Although home to indigenous nomadic peoples for more than ten thousand years, Montana remained one of the last regions to attract academically trained archaeologists. Montana State University instructor and PhD student Nancy Mahoney considers how, between 1880 and 1950, this lapse allowed a thriving community of amateurs and avocationalists to amass collections of Native artifacts, a practice that has ongoing consequences for the public stewardship of Montana’s prehistoric past.
Libby’s past was based in natural resource extraction, predominately logging and mining. Today, however, neither industry exists to underpin the economy and provide employment. Montana State University PhD candidate Jennifer Dunn examines what aspects of its history Libby chooses to highlight as it re-creates its image as a pristine outdoor destination.
Montana Standard editor and author David McCumber discusses the investigative work that he and his partner, Andrew Schneider, conducted into health issues surrounding the mining of asbestos in Libby. McCumber provides the backstory behind the pair’s journalistic efforts as well as the far-reaching impacts their award-winning articles had in uncovering a national scandal.
Crowning a prominent hillside in Bozeman, the Life of Montana Insurance Company (LOMIC) building is often perceived as a modernist temple, but research reveals that it was not built until 1979, years after its Neo-Formalist stylistic cousins were constructed. Bozeman preservation architect Lesley Gilmore unveils how this came to be and why LOMIC vacated the building as early as 1984.
Montana State University graduate student Kirke Elsass investigates why Montana’s built environment has as much concrete as it does. He also examines the way in which the concretization of Montana—between 1880 and 1910—illustrates the entanglement of peoples’ material experience and their modes of thinking, as well as the intersection of geologic and human histories. (9/28/2019)
Montana State University PhD student Micah Chang discusses Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs near Saco, a cornerstone of continuity and community pride for the last century. The popular attraction defied decades of regional economic decline throughout the twentieth century; Chang provides suggestions for how the Hi-Line can continue forward in a time of depopulation. (9/28/2019)
Montana State University PhD student Casey Pallister examines the buffalo bone industry of the 1880s through a cultural lens. After briefly outlining the industry, Pallister considers such factors as who participated in bone hunting, how hunters and non-hunters envisioned their labors, and the ways in which gender roles, racial dynamics, and imaginings of the West impacted the practice and its place in memory. (9/28/2019)
Bozeman historian and author John C. Russell recounts the remarkable tale of a colorful and contradictory figure whose influence on Montana’s development was profound. After striking it rich in the goldfields of Alder Gulch, Story drove the first herd of cattle from Texas to Montana, then built a commercial empire of diverse interests, crafted with determination and ingenuity as well as a penchant for fraud and deceit. His book on Nelson Story—Treasure State Tycoon—was published by the Montana Historical Society Press in 2019. (9/27/2019)
Forgotten dead have surfaced at one time or another in most Montana communities. Random burials and early cemeteries lie scattered across the state’s vast landscape, under roads, fields, housing developments, shopping centers, and other areas. Such unexpected discoveries make grisly surprises for those unaware of the history that lies beneath. From her forthcoming book on Montana’s cemetery history, retired Montana Historical Society interpretive historian Dr. Ellen Baumler examines the afterlife in the state, sharing some of these discoveries, the problems they created, and the stories they tell. (9/27/2019)
Mark Johnson—a University of Notre Dame Fellow with the Institute for Educational Initiatives—explores Chinese religious traditions and burial practices, focusing specifically on China Row Cemetery in Helena and Mount Moriah Cemetery in Butte. Johnson examines the religious traditions maintained in Montana’s Chinese communities and their cultural practices surrounding death, including burial rituals, exhumation, and return of remains for reburial in China.
Between 1906 and 1926, Charlie and Nancy Russell spent every summer in Glacier National Park at their beloved Bullhead Lodge. Living-history interpreter Mary Jane Bradbury shares stories of the Russells entertaining friends and prominent artists, exploring the park, and reveling in the rugged beauty of the mountains. (9/27/2019)
One in his twenty-part Education Through Entertainment series—Polson performing artist and Governor’s Arts Award winner Neal Lewing salutes the U.S. Forest Service, national parks, and the timber industry. Lewing incorporates music, lies, legends, and a few laughs into a lively and entertaining history lesson. (9/27/2019)
Montana Historical Society reference historian Zoe Ann Stoltz discusses the events leading up to homesteading’s bust and the attempts to alleviate the looming disaster by Montana’s extraordinary 1919 special session.
At the close of World War I, post-war dynamics, drought, and more combined to create one of the worst crises in Montana history. Montana Historical Society senior archivist Rich Aarstad examines the battle waged by Helena Independent editor Will Campbell against the twin threats to American democracy—the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), who advocated revolutionary industrial unionism; and the Non-Partisan League, which called for the takeover of farm-related industries from corporate control. (9/27/2019)
Since 1882, when the Treasure State’s first transcontinental railroad line was completed, Montana has enjoyed connections with the rest of the United States by way of the finest passenger train service on the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Milwaukee Road, and Amtrak railways. Railroad historian Dale Paterka presents a brief history of passenger trains in Montana. (9/27/2019)
Early railroad companies quickly realized that the beautiful scenery along their routes would be an attraction to Americans enthralled by the romance of the West. Montana Historical Society outreach and interpretation program manager Kirby Lambert illustrates how advertising campaigns featuring beautiful promotional art lured adventure-seekers—and paying customers—to experience firsthand the spectacular scenery of national parks and other scenic wonders of the West. (9/27/2019)
Founded by Father Pierre De Smet in 1841 and set against the backdrop of the majestic Bitterroot Mountains, St. Mary’s Mission played a significant role in the early story of the Treasure State. Mission staff member Susan Doverspike explores St. Mary’s history from its origins as “the place where Montana began” to its role as a historic site and museum today. Doverspike presents an overview of the mission’s history from its founding to its closure in 1954.
In the companion track "St. Mary's Mission: Now," Lyn Graves presents the trials and tribulations of preserving historic buildings—which date back to 1861—plus the challenges of creating new exhibits to tantalize return visitors.
Founded by Father Pierre De Smet in 1841 and set against the backdrop of the majestic Bitterroot Mountains, St. Mary’s Mission played a significant role in the early story of the Treasure State. Mission staff member Lyn Graves explore St. Mary’s history from its origins as “the place where Montana began” to its role as a historic site and museum today. Graves presents the trials and tribulations of preserving historic buildings—which date back to 1861—plus the challenges of creating new exhibits to tantalize return visitors.
In the companion track "St. Mary's Mission: Then," Susan Doverspike presents an overview of the mission’s history from its founding to its closure in 1954.
Before 1889, Montana exerted little oversight of those who claimed to be healers. Starting that year, however, the state required all medical practitioners to register with the newly formed State Board of Medical Examiners. Dr. Todd L. Savitt, historian of medicine at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, reveals a group demographic picture of the doctors who did (and did not) register and tells stories of some particularly interesting physicians in that group.
Polio crippled children for centuries before the cause was clearly identified and an extraordinary prevention strategy was developed. Todd Harwell, administrator for the State of Montana’s Public Health and Safety Division, reviews the history of polio and efforts to treat it before a vaccine was available, and follows Montana’s use of the vaccine to eradicate the disease during the 1950s and 1960s.
Looking backward from the vantage point of today’s substance use crisis, Montana State University graduate student Katie McLain surveys the changes over time in drug use, distribution, and enforcement in the American West, focusing on the role of asylums and public health interventions over the last one hundred years. (9/27/2019)
Extreme History Project director Crystal Alegria examines the political and social complexity of red-light districts and the women who were, for a time, able to navigate that complexity to prosper in these commercialized centers of vice. As the Progressive Era came to a close and reform movements peaked, however, once-tolerated houses of ill repute were moved out and closed-up, never to reopen. (9/27/2019)
Penn State University associate professor of history, emeritus, Dr. Rodger Henderson examines how the reports of Lieutenant William Barrett Pease—Blackfeet agent during the crisis of Major Eugene Baker’s massacre of Heavy Runner’s peaceful and friendly Piegans—contributed greatly to a nationwide debate about the “Indian Question” and laid the foundation for the Piegan perspective of the massacre, a counter-narrative to the military viewpoint. (9/27/2019)
Montana state senator and Blackfeet tribal member Susan Webber speaks about how the use of blood quantum—or degree of ancestry—as the sole qualifier for tribal enrollment has affected the Blackfeet Tribe and families over the last century. Webber also sheds light on what the continued use of blood quantum, rather than other criteria for membership, means for the future of the Blackfeet Nation. (9/27/2019)
Montana Historical Society editor Dr. Diana Di Stefano explores the disasters that befell the Utter-Van Ornum Party on the Oregon Trail in 1860. In particular, she focuses on the experience of one of the survivors, Emeline Fuller, who was forced to eat her siblings to survive. (9/27/2019)
The Sagas of Liver Eating Johnston and Boone Helm: Montana Department of Transportation historian Jon Axline examines some of the numerous stories of cannibalism on the American frontier. All involved somehow going to the extreme to survive, but a few reputed cannibals really seemed to enjoy their reputations as man-eaters—whether or not they actually were.
Montana Historical Society photograph archives manager Jeff Malcomson discusses the work of Les Jorud, whose name was synonymous with photography in Helena from the 1930s into the 1960s. Beginning in his adolescence, Jorud photographed his hometown, documenting its people through group portraiture of families, wedding parties, and a wide variety of community groups. His commercial photography business specialized in photographic work for commercial businesses, government agencies, lawyers, and insurance companies, but Jorud also captured downtown street scenes, special community events, and natural disasters. Jorud’s photography not only reflected the life of the capital city, but also helped shape its identity. (9/28/2019)
Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives staff members Aubrey Jaap and Harriet Schultz tell the tale of Butte photojournalist C. Owen “Snapshot” Smithers, who from 1920 to 1970 captured every event, large and small, in the Mining City. Jaap and Schultz will use Smithers’s diary to share the story behind a selection of images illustrating his fifty years of work. (9/28/2019)
Helena attorney and author Brenda Wahler details the history of this ancient sport in the Treasure State. Native peoples raced horses long before Euro-Americans arrived, bringing their own racing traditions with them. Whether horses ran down the dusty streets of mining towns or past the glorious grandstands of the Gilded Age, Montanans gathered through prosperous times and downturns to watch the sport of kings. (9/27/2019)
Kendall Old Horn—a member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation and relay practitioner and advocate—examines the thrilling sport of Indian relay. Widely enjoyed by men and women from tribal nations across the Rocky Mountain West, Indian relay is an action-packed mix of daring and horsemanship that evolved from traditional practices into a fully organized, professional sport. (9/27/2019)
To attract workers, entrepreneurs, and tourists, a community needs positive brand identity. When well presented, local history is a powerful tool that can be used to distinguish your town from “Everywhere U.S.A.” Billings’ Mayor William Cole tells the story of how the Yellowstone Kelly Interpretive Site was designed, funded, and constructed on the rimrocks overlooking Billings and how plans are now being prepared for the development of the William Clark Recreational Area on the Yellowstone River.
Irish and Chinese immigrants played a significant role in the development of nineteenth-century Montana. While the scholarship on Irish in Montana is extensive and there is a sizable body of work on Chinese in Montana, yet to appear is a study of these diasporic groups in Montana from a comparative perspective. Addressing this gap in the literature and bridging the divide between Irish American studies and Chinese American studies, Barry McCarron shares his research findings on relations between, and the comparative experiences and contributions of, Irish and Chinese in Montana. McCarron is an assistant professor of history and faculty fellow in Irish Studies at New York University and a 2017 MHS Research Center Bradley Fellow.
Dr. Timothy McCleary presents recent archaeological findings at the home of Chief Plenty Coups, the last principal chief of the Apsáalooke. McCleary—head of the General Studies Department at Little Big Horn College—analyzes these findings within the context of both historical documents and contemporary celebrations to allow for an understanding of the political process of historic Apsáalooke chiefly feasting.
It is said that newspaper reporters, in their hurried, inevitably flawed way, are writing the first draft of history. Veteran reporter Ed Kemmick talks about some of his favorite history-tinged newspaper stories, from the tale of the so-called Petrified Man discovered near Fort Benton to the exploits of Horace Bivins, buffalo soldier, top army marksman, and, in retirement in Billings, a master gardener. Kemmick has worked as a reporter and editor in Montana for more than thirty-five years and is the author of “The Big Sky, By and By.” He is retired as of July 2018, when he suspended publication of his four-and-a-half-year-old online newspaper, Last Best News.
MSU history professor Dale Martin draws upon themes and stories from his 2018 book “Ties, Rails, and Telegraph Wires: Railroads and Communities in Montana and the West,” published by the MHS Press. The book explores how railroads shaped and sustained the human landscape and economy of the West, Montana, and Billings well into the middle of the twentieth century. Railways provided essential transportation to communities and businesses. Passenger trains carried people, mail, express, money, newspapers, and milk in steel cans. Town residents knew the telegraphers and other station staff, track maintenance workers, and crews on local trains. People went to the station to meet arriving family members, see campaigning politicians, greet returning sports teams, or just to watch travelers and fellow citizens. Martin also covers the railways, trains, stations, and railroaders in the Billings-Laurel area and the activities at the Billings Union Station a century ago.
Mardell Hogan Plainfeather, who is retired from the National Park Service, shares the story of her mother, Lillian Bullshows Hogan (1905–2003). Hogan grew up on the Crow Indian Reservation, learned traditional arts and food gathering from her mother, survived the bitterness of Indian boarding school, and grew up to be a complex, hard-working Native woman who drove a car, maintained a bank account, and read the local English paper. Hogan spoke Crow as her first language, practiced beadwork, tanned hides, honored clan relatives in generous giveaways, and often visited the last of the old chiefs and berdaches with her family.
Montana Department of Transportation historian Jon Axline explains how the Bearcreek Cemetery is a time capsule that provides a wealth of information about a once-thriving coal town that, essentially, no longer exists. The cemetery also contains the remains of many of the men who were killed in the 1943 Smith Mine disaster, the worst coal mining disaster in Montana history. What the cemetery tells us about that community is extraordinary and provides a unique peek into Carbon County’s past.
On Montana’s Indian reservations—where severe economic hardship began long before the 1930s—Native women often played key roles in helping their communities survive. MHS associate editor Laura Ferguson, M.A., tells how tribal members like Indian CCC employee Lucille Otter (Salish) and community organizer Julia Schulz (A’aniniin/Gros Ventre) worked to improve conditions on the reservation during the Great Depression.
Paul Shea, director for the Yellowstone Gateway Museum, discusses the rapid growth of Livingston and the reasons for creating a new county. Shea looks at how, beginning in 1883, the railroad’s plans for shops and a spur line to Yellowstone National Park shaped the growth of Livingston and continued to impact the town for the next 104 years.
Kevin Kooistra, executive director of the Western Heritage Center, explains how the railroad impacted the planning, designing, and promoting of the settlement of Billings. Kooistra demonstrates the ways in which the city of Billings is still affected by choices made by the Northern Pacific Railway in 1882.
Lesley Gilmore, director of Historic Preservation Services for CTA Architects Engineers, discusses how CTA has contributed to the growth of Billings since the company’s founding in August 1938. Gilmore details the philosophical and chronological history of CTA, the progression of styles as evidenced by the firm’s projects and client preferences, and the key personalities responsible as the company grew from two to nearly 450 employees.
Moss Mansion historian Jim Decker examines how Billings became a commercial hub as the result of the early efforts of entrepreneur P. B. Moss. Decker shares stories relating to businesses and institutions still very prominent in the Magic City today, including the Northern Hotel, the sugar beet factory, Rocky Mountain College, the Billings Gazette, and more.
Retired MHS interpretive historian Ellen Baumler discusses how much of what we know about the rituals and beliefs of Montana’s earliest people comes from happenstance encounters with burials and mortuary practices. From Park County’s 12,600-year-old Anzick site to Dawson County’s Hagen Site National Historic Landmark and the more recent “Face on the Rims” in urban Billings, burial sites teach us much about universal beliefs and cultural practices that survived for thousands of years.
MSU PhD candidate LaTrelle Scherffius looks at wildlife photography in eastern Montana in the years between 1880 and 1920, when many increasingly saw nature as something to protect, rather than conquer or control. In 1892, George Bird Grinnell called for hunters to put down the gun and take up the camera. The shift toward “camera hunting” is marked by a transition away from photographs celebrating a hunter’s kill and toward photographs that capture animals in “nature.”
Tim Lehman, professor of history at Rocky Mountain College, examines the wolves of Fergus County and their effects on local economies in Central Montana. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Montana passed bounty laws to create incentives for killing wolves and other predators in an attempt to transform the landscape from a Native American buffalo ecology to a Euro-American cattle economy. Historical records of bounty payments not only reveal patterns in the extirpation of predators but also demonstrate the importance of this infusion of money into the emerging cash economy.
MHS reference historian Zoe Ann Stoltz uncovers the stories behind livestock brands and how their histories are vital to Montana history. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the people and brands associated with eastern Montana, including Will James, Peter Yegen, the XIT, Two Dot Wilson, the Circle Qtr Circle, the Greenough family, and many more tales that involve legendary brands and the Montanans they represented.
Iker Saitua, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Riverside and University of the Basque Country, examines the life of Basque immigrant John Etchart. In 1912, Etchart traveled from Nevada to northeastern Montana looking for new grazing lands. He eventually built up one of the most prominent ranches in the state and ultimately played a major role in other Basque expansion from the Great Basin into Montana.
Yellowstone History Journal general editor Bruce Gourley tells the story of socialite tourist Florence Keyser as the Great Depression shadowed her while she traveled from Pennsylvania to Yellowstone National Park in Montana in August 1931. Gourley uses not only Keyser’s own words, but also those of park superintendent Roger W. Toll, rangers, naturalists, and concessionaires to document the coming of hard times to Wonderland.
Yellowstone Historical Society member and map expert Ralph Saunders provides a brief history of early mountain climbing in southern Montana, focusing on the unique role played by mountaineering pioneer Fred Inabnit. Among his many other accomplishments, Inabnit is best known today for a namesake mountain in the Beartooth Range and his extraordinary topographic relief map, which was the centerpiece of the Montana exhibit at the 1930 World’s Fair.
Jennette Rasch, curator from Billings’ Moss Mansion, shares information about the collections and the new self-guided tours of the historical house museum.
About the series: Three historians offer glimpses into the Yellowstone Valley memories they have preserved using grant funds from the Montana History Foundation (MHF). Kevin Kooistra, executive director of Billings’ Western Heritage Center, discuss a variety of documents and photographs from its collection that tell the story of the Yellowstone Valley. Trudie Porter Biggers, business development director for the Pompeys Pillar Historical Association, shares oral histories from the original descendants of the Huntley Irrigation Project—stories she collected and preserved for the Huntley Project Museum of Irrigated Agriculture. Jennette Rasch, curator from Billings’ Moss Mansion, shares information about the collections and the new self-guided tours of the house museum. Each of these MHF grant recipients provide their important and unique Yellowstone Valley history. MHF executive director Charlene Porsild moderates the session and provides an overview on the ways in which the foundation helps preserve local history all across the state.
Trudie Porter Biggers, business development director for the Pompeys Pillar Historical Association, shares oral histories from the original descendants of the Huntley Irrigation Project—stories she collected and preserved for the Huntley Project Museum of Irrigated Agriculture.
About the series: Three historians offer glimpses into the Yellowstone Valley memories they have preserved using grant funds from the Montana History Foundation (MHF). Kevin Kooistra, executive director of Billings’ Western Heritage Center, discuss a variety of documents and photographs from its collection that tell the story of the Yellowstone Valley. Trudie Porter Biggers, business development director for the Pompeys Pillar Historical Association, shares oral histories from the original descendants of the Huntley Irrigation Project—stories she collected and preserved for the Huntley Project Museum of Irrigated Agriculture. Jennette Rasch, curator from Billings’ Moss Mansion, shares information about the collections and the new self-guided tours of the house museum. Each of these MHF grant recipients provide their important and unique Yellowstone Valley history. MHF executive director Charlene Porsild moderates the session and provides an overview on the ways in which the foundation helps preserve local history all across the state.
Kevin Kooistra, executive director of Billings’ Western Heritage Center, discusses a variety of documents and photographs from its collection that tell the story of the Yellowstone Valley.
About the series: Three historians offer glimpses into the Yellowstone Valley memories they have preserved using grant funds from the Montana History Foundation (MHF). Kevin Kooistra, executive director of Billings’ Western Heritage Center, discuss a variety of documents and photographs from its collection that tell the story of the Yellowstone Valley. Trudie Porter Biggers, business development director for the Pompeys Pillar Historical Association, shares oral histories from the original descendants of the Huntley Irrigation Project—stories she collected and preserved for the Huntley Project Museum of Irrigated Agriculture. Jennette Rasch, curator from Billings’ Moss Mansion, shares information about the collections and the new self-guided tours of the house museum. Each of these MHF grant recipients provide their important and unique Yellowstone Valley history. MHF executive director Charlene Porsild moderates the session and provides an overview on the ways in which the foundation helps preserve local history all across the state.
Western Heritage Center’s Joyce Jensen tells the story of German and Italian soldiers who were captured in north Africa and Europe during World War II and sent to Montana to work in the sugar beet industry. Jensen uses oral interviews, newspaper articles, and county extension agent reports to detail the stories of these prisoners of war.
Amy McKinney, associate professor of history at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, discusses Harriette Cushman and her efforts to create a comprehensive poultry program in Montana. The first female poultry specialist in the United States, Cushman crossed many boundaries throughout her thirty-three-year career (1922–1955) with the Extension Service.
Todd Harwell, administrator for the State of Montana’s Public Health and Safety Division, addresses the toll of the Spanish influenza pandemic on Montana communities. Data from 1918 and 1919 Montana death records and other historical information is presented, as well as the national and state public health response to this epidemic.
Todd L. Savitt, historian of medicine at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, discusses attempts at regulating medicine in early Montana. During its territorial and early statehood years, Montana did little to regulate healers of many varieties. In an effort to protect Montana’s citizens from what they saw as unscientific and unscrupulous practitioners, regularly trained physicians faced a variety of trials and tribulations as they passed a Medical Practice Act and established a respected Board of Medical Examiners.
MonDak Heritage Center executive director Dan Karalus tells the story of the agricultural landscape created by irrigation from eastern Montana’s Lower Yellowstone Project. Karalus focuses on the ways in which local and national forces intertwined to develop the project and how irrigation changed eastern Montana and influenced people’s perceptions of the area.
As the longest free-flowing river in the lower 48 states, the Yellowstone River is a national treasure. Montana State University Billings professor of geography Dr. Susan Gilbertz utilizes historic photographs to illustrate how, over time, the Yellowstone’s channels have meandered, both rejuvenating fisheries and riparian areas and causing erosion, flooding, and decreases in property values.
Using resources from the Billings Public Library Archives, library director Gavin Woltjer explores the life of Will James. Over the course of several decades, James—artist, storyteller, writer, and cattle rustler—invented a new persona for himself, evolved this persona, and used it to separate himself from his past to tell his stories and share his art.
MHS Research Center director Molly Kruckenberg and state archivist Jodie Foley discuss the evolution of KOA—Kampgrounds of America. In 1962 the thousands of Americans driving through Montana en route to the Seattle’s World Fair caught the attention of Dave Drum, a Billings resident and entrepreneur. He set up campsites on his land north of the Yellowstone River, offering hot showers, restrooms, and a store. The idea caught on, and by 1969 there were KOAs across the country serving this new generation of vacationers who wanted the experience of camping while retaining some comforts of home. Today KOA’s familiar bright yellow signs can be found all across North America.
Retired Billings teacher Marlene Saunders details the evolution of the Yellowstone Trail, an important early byway started in South Dakota in 1911 that became a significant route between the East and West Coasts. The road went through Montana, and specifically through Billings, where official Yellowstone Trail signs have been installed to mark the trail.
Fort Benton’s Overholser Historical Research Center historian Ken Robison unveils new and neglected stories of Montanans in the Great War. Robison shares tales from Montanans serving around the world, focusing on the role of Montana’s women U.S. Navy yeomen, nurses, and “Hello Girls”; Montanans in the Russian Railway Service Corps; the unknown role Charles M. Russell played in support of the war; the contributions of Montana’s ethnic citizens to World War I; and more.
Randy Schoppe, executive director of the Big Horn County Historical Museum, discusses the history of Fort Custer on the Big Horn near present-day Hardin. Operating from 1877 to 1898, Fort Custer was often hailed by military leaders as the finest cavalry fort in the world. Schoppe talks about the events leading up to the fort’s construction, notable personalities associated with the fort, its ties to Billings, and its eventual abandonment and demolition.
Chief Dull Knife College instructor Linwood Tallbull examines why certain places are significant to indigenous culture groups that have special ties to lands, and explains how they were given their traditional place names.
From prehistoric travel routes to a figure—first seen as a cross and later viewed as an angel—that has watched over the Magic City for the past sixty-one years, there’s more going on in the rimrocks than meets the eye. The Yellowstone Historical Society’s Prudence Ladd unveils five of these secrets from the past.
Horror film buffs will recognize the work of this early special effects master who hailed from Deer Lodge.
UPDATE: this popular Fromberg landmark was since destroyed by fire and rebuilt. It is again open for business under new ownership.
A former resident describes life at this institution, which operated for nearly a century.
Politically- and socially-active black citizens worked to create an integrated community in Great Falls.
Buildings from Montana's first institution of higher learning still survive in Deer Lodge.
Rumors surround the sudden and convenient death of FDR's nominee for U.S. Attorney General.
This historic site has provided trained packers and animals for backcountry firefighting since the 1930s.
Despite an early childhood tragedy, this Helena woman went on to become an international sensation.
Visit Nevada City and Virginia City to see some amazing items belonging to the people of Montana.
New details surrounding Meagher's mysterious death surfaced at the Montana Historical Society.
Cattleman, businessman, gunslinger, and all-around troublemaker, this well-traveled adventurer was always looking for action.
How an artifact in the Montana Historical Society collection is connected to Quantrill's Raiders.
Nearly all of the violent acts that happened in early Fort Benton occurred in one place.
This 100-year-old Red Lodge landmark is the oldest active theater in Montana, still showing movies and live performances.
Long-used and well-loved, the Lonesomehurst is one of the oldest recreational cabins in the Gallatin National Forest.
The Glasgow concrete storage vault for the Norden Bombsite is one of only three remaining in the U.S.
Today, February 27, 2018, is the 75th anniversary of the largest coal mining disaster in Montana history. (repeat post)
There were aesthetic—and practical—reasons for locating cemeteries outside of urban areas.
The duties and responsibilities of pharmacists changed dramatically in the twentieth century.
This Protestant boarding school has evolved while still providing much-needed services for children.
On Christmas morning in 1914, the fifteen bells at the Cathedral of Saint Helena rang out for the first time.
Ellen shares highlights from the 1884 Christmas Eve edition of the Miles City newspaper.
Even an 8-year-old knew that Santa was too smart to make the grueling trip to Montana in 1864.
Thank you to the volunteers who place these markers along Montana's highways. Drive carefully this holiday season!
Helena theater owner Walter Marshall made a lasting impression on future president John Kennedy.
The tragedy that occurred in Butte in 1917 remains America's most deadly underground hard rock mining accident.
Remember Harriet Sanders's 1866 journey to Salt Lake City next time your flight is delayed.
At first, settlers were hesitant to believe tales of the existence of this unique landscape.
Dr. Rafael Chacón examines the ways in which World War I—the first time in which modern nation states used artistic propaganda as a weapon of war—proved to be a pivotal moment for the visual arts of the western world. The Great War also served as the backdrop for the clash of artistic ideologies, as it disrupted the radical image-making of the avant-garde and afforded academic realism one last chance in its official commemorative monuments. Chacón is a professor of Art History and Criticism at the University of Montana in Missoula and curator of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture’s World War I exhibit, Over There! Montanans in the Great War.
Of all the changes that took place in the Treasure State in the years following World War I, the most painful for some was Prohibition. Montana’s statewide ban began at 12:01 a.m. on December 31, 1918, well ahead of the national injunction. Steve Lozar shares the story of Prohibition’s impact on the Treasure State’s breweries and saloons. Lozar is an MHS trustee; member of the Salish, Kootenai, and Assiniboine tribes; great-grandson of an East Helena Prohibition-era “home brewer”; and proprietor of the Montana Beer Museum in Polson.
Among the great pleasures of research is the joy of discovery, learning things that startle you and make you reexamine your assumptions. MHS Historical Specialist Martha Kohl shares some of the surprises she encountered while working on the Montana Historical Society’s new website, Montana and the Great War.
Dr. Jeff Johnson examines speeches delivered by noted anarchist Emma Goldman in the Treasure State between 1908 and 1914. Goldman’s lectures focused on trade unionism, anarchism, the prison system, free speech, and the press. Her talks in Montana were received in myriad ways—Butte’s socialist mayor Lewis Duncan welcomed her while Helena officials deemed her “un-American” and halted a scheduled debate between Goldman and noted Montana socialist Ida Crouch-Hazlett. A graduate of Carroll College, Johnson is a professor of history and director of American Studies at Providence College in Rhode Island.
Historical Research Associates senior historian Ian Smith examines the impact of the federal government’s allotment and fee-patenting policies on the Flathead Indian Reservation. A product of the United States’ broader assimilationist agenda, the fee-patenting of Flathead allotments, which reached its peak in 1917, led to massive land loss by Salish and Kootenai tribal members before the policy was halted in 1934.
The World War I era in Montana was marked not only by combat in Europe and the Middle East but also by violence that sprang up here at home in response to rampant radical activity across the state. MHS senior manuscript archivist Rich Aarstad examines the reasons that Governor Samuel V. Stewart called a special session of the legislature in 1918 as the men and women of Montana went to war overseas, while on the home front, their families, friends, and neighbors went to war with each other.
Rob Briwa, Montana State University graduate student, demonstrates how Hugo Eck’s designs streamlined health care by incorporating new medical technologies and unobstructed pathways, resulting in a hospital that reflected modernism writ onto the landscape, including its belief in human progress, its faith in science, and its mantra, “form follows function.”
Michele Corriel, Montana State University graduate student, relates the details surrounding modernism, a movement which came to the United States in 1913 but did not make its mark on the Treasure State until after World War II when the G.I. Bill and the expansion of land-grant universities created an atmosphere conducive to experimentation.
Montana State University graduate student Will Wright traces the connections between three areas of modernist expression—art, architecture, and feminism—as practiced by Helen McAuslan, whose version of “modernism” was a rejection of a traditional past in hope of a more liberated future.
Montana history continues to develop as a field of study, particularly in the areas of women’s history, environmental history, and Native American history. But how can these pieces of the Montana story be woven into the whole? How can a newer, updated Montana history be disseminated, popularized, and made relevant? What are the roles of various members of the Montana history community in this endeavor, and how can we work together to continue to develop Montana’s story? Jeff Malcomson, Montana Historical Society; Jon Axline, Montana Department of Transportation; Mary Murphy, Montana State University; Robert Swartout, Carroll College professor emeritus; and Jeff Wiltse, University of Montana, address these issues, and more.
Montana history continues to develop as a field of study, particularly in the areas of women’s history, environmental history, and Native American history. But how can these pieces of the Montana story be woven into the whole? How can a newer, updated Montana history be disseminated, popularized, and made relevant? What are the roles of various members of the Montana history community in this endeavor, and how can we work together to continue to develop Montana’s story? Jeff Malcomson, Montana Historical Society; Jon Axline, Montana Department of Transportation; Mary Murphy, Montana State University; Robert Swartout, Carroll College professor emeritus; and Jeff Wiltse, University of Montana, address these issues, and more.
Montana history continues to develop as a field of study, particularly in the areas of women’s history, environmental history, and Native American history. But how can these pieces of the Montana story be woven into the whole? How can a newer, updated Montana history be disseminated, popularized, and made relevant? What are the roles of various members of the Montana history community in this endeavor, and how can we work together to continue to develop Montana’s story? Jeff Malcomson, Montana Historical Society; Jon Axline, Montana Department of Transportation; Mary Murphy, Montana State University; Robert Swartout, Carroll College professor emeritus; and Jeff Wiltse, University of Montana, address these issues, and more.
Montana history continues to develop as a field of study, particularly in the areas of women’s history, environmental history, and Native American history. But how can these pieces of the Montana story be woven into the whole? How can a newer, updated Montana history be disseminated, popularized, and made relevant? What are the roles of various members of the Montana history community in this endeavor, and how can we work together to continue to develop Montana’s story? Jeff Malcomson, Montana Historical Society; Jon Axline, Montana Department of Transportation; Mary Murphy, Montana State University; Robert Swartout, Carroll College professor emeritus; and Jeff Wiltse, University of Montana, address these issues, and more.
Montana history continues to develop as a field of study, particularly in the areas of women’s history, environmental history, and Native American history. But how can these pieces of the Montana story be woven into the whole? How can a newer, updated Montana history be disseminated, popularized, and made relevant? What are the roles of various members of the Montana history community in this endeavor, and how can we work together to continue to develop Montana’s story? Jeff Malcomson, Montana Historical Society; Jon Axline, Montana Department of Transportation; Mary Murphy, Montana State University; Robert Swartout, Carroll College professor emeritus; and Jeff Wiltse, University of Montana, address these issues, and more.
By 1910 gambling was illegal across the United States, yet the practice persisted behind closed doors. Law enforcement raids of establishments that continued to offer gaming were not uncommon. Much less common, however, was the crackdown on charity raffles held by upstanding citizens in support of worthy causes. MHS senior curator Jennifer Bottomly-O’looney explores the divergent types of illegal gambling that took place during World War I.
Caitlin Patterson, forms and records analyst for the State of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, uses Montana State Prison records to tell the story. Patterson examines the stories behind the arrests of people who committed crimes against bootleggers and place them in the broader context in which the crimes took place.
Chuck Johnson, Marian Holter Brod, and Kurt Wetzel discuss the war of words that took place in the Montana press as the United States entered the Great War. Helena Independent editor William A. Campbell—a key member of the Montana Council of Defense—used his position to carry out a series of witch hunts across the state, while the Montana Staats-Zeitung, a German-language newspaper that began publishing in 1886, attempted to defend the integrity and honor of the German immigrants who called Montana home. At the same time, Bill Dunne, editor of the Butte Daily Bulletin, labor leader, and unapologetic Socialist battled the perceived excesses of the status quo.
Chuck Johnson, Marian Holter Brod, and Kurt Wetzel discuss the war of words that took place in the Montana press as the United States entered the Great War. Helena Independent editor William A. Campbell—a key member of the Montana Council of Defense—used his position to carry out a series of witch hunts across the state, while the Montana Staats-Zeitung, a German-language newspaper that began publishing in 1886, attempted to defend the integrity and honor of the German immigrants who called Montana home. At the same time, Bill Dunne, editor of the Butte Daily Bulletin, labor leader, and unapologetic Socialist battled the perceived excesses of the status quo.
Chuck Johnson, Marian Holter Brod, and Kurt Wetzel discuss the war of words that took place in the Montana press as the United States entered the Great War. Helena Independent editor William A. Campbell—a key member of the Montana Council of Defense—used his position to carry out a series of witch hunts across the state, while the Montana Staats-Zeitung, a German-language newspaper that began publishing in 1886, attempted to defend the integrity and honor of the German immigrants who called Montana home. At the same time, Bill Dunne, editor of the Butte Daily Bulletin, labor leader, and unapologetic Socialist battled the perceived excesses of the status quo.
Billings Public Library director Galvin Woltjer showcases the ways in which the Parmly Billings Library supported the war effort. His discussion will cover book drives for soldiers, efforts to deliver comfort for soldiers’ families, the library’s use as a campaign site for enlistment, and its role in dealing with public health issues including the deadly influenza epidemic of 1918.
The First World War blew up belief in human decency, culture, and control. Post-war writing reflects this disillusionment. In a brisk survey of British, American, and Montana writing. Dr. Ken Egan, Humanities Montana Executive Director, shows how the Great War brought modern literature into being.
“Better Baby Contests” were part of a national movement to “scientifically” assess, rank, and reward “perfect” babies using a gamut of physical and psychological tests. Jefferson City historian Casey Pallister analyzes these eugenic examinations—typically conducted at county and state fairs alongside livestock and crops—which began in 1913 and continued throughout the World War I era.
As Native peoples were relocated to reservations and confined to remote enclaves, traditional foodways were challenged. Jill Falcon Mackin, MSU doctoral candidate and member of the Ojibwe Nation, shares stories of resistance, suffering, and survival that come together to present a picture of native foods in flux during the early twentieth century.
Using the digitized newspapers available on Chronicling America and Montana Newspapers, MHS Digital Projects Librarian Natasha Hollenbach focuses on how newspapers can add context and personal stories to the often-told narrative of World War I. Jeannette Rankin’s vote against US entry is highlighted, although with liberty loans and the Selective Service Act.
When the War Department declared war on venereal disease during World War I, Montana rapidly expanded its public health system, enacted new laws, and publicized diseases that had heretofore been taboo. Missoula historian Kayla Blackman explores how patriotism and public health became linked in the public consciousness, and how a temporary war effort permanently shaped the legal landscape of Montana.
Retired Montana State University history professor Pierce C. Mullen details the impacts of the “most serious natural catastrophe of the twentieth century” on the Treasure State. Montana was one of the four hardest-hit states, and many did not survive to enjoy the benefits of the United States’ newly-won peace.
In the early twentieth century, Montana’s native peoples suffered from higher incidences of tuberculosis and often went without medical care that was available to non-Indians. In her talk, MHS associate editor Laura Ferguson traces the rise of tuberculosis among Montana’s indigenous population and explores how Indian communities and public health officials responded to this deadly disease in the early twentieth century.
Most Montanans know that Jeannette Rankin was elected the first woman to the U.S. Congress in 1916. Fewer realize that the 1916 election (the first after Montana women won the franchise) also saw the election of May Trumper as state superintendent of public instruction and Emma Ingalls (R, Flathead County) and Maggie Smith Hathaway (D, Ravalli County) as representatives to the Montana House of Representatives. Senator Diane Sands explores the impact these women’s participation in state politics had on our state.
Billings native Hazel Hunkins joined the fight for women’s suffrage after she was denied the opportunity to work in a chemistry lab because of her gender. Western Heritage Center executive director Kevin Koostra tells the story of this determined woman who remained undeterred even after national resentment led to arrest and recrimination for Hunkins and her sister protestors.
When disgruntled members of the Butte Miners’ Union No. 1 dynamited their own union hall to express their disgust with union leadership and Butte mine owners, they inadvertently sparked a reaction from workers in the Heartland who rallied to their cause. Join MHS senior manuscript archivist Rich Aarstad for a rollicking look at the chain of events.
Montana’s first highways were built by men from the Montana State Prison, and much of their work was concentrated on one of the country’s first interstate highways, the Yellowstone Trail. Montana Department of Transportation historian Jon Axline tells the story of prison labor on the Yellowstone Trail in Park County, one of the last places where you can see the efforts of Montana’s first highwaymen
University of Montana Native American Studies professor Dr. Richmond Clow discusses how reformers began the citizenship push in 1879 as a dream for individual tribesmen. Beginning in 1882, specific statutes were passed advancing citizenship, and over the next two decades, most tribesmen became citizens even before Congress enacted the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act. Montana, like other states, experienced the consequences of these multiple and measured citizenship efforts both before and after World War I.
Following World War I, Montanans struggled with the legacies left by the Progressive Era and the harsh political environment engendered by the war. At the same time, drought put an end to the homestead boom and unions attempted to maintain their recent gains. MHS reference historian Zoe Ann Stoltz examines these forces—both natural and man-made—that not only played important roles in the post-war era, but also helped define today’s Montana.
In 1916–1917, the DuPont Company constructed a plant seven miles from Butte to produce explosives for the copper mining that was booming from World War I demand. Near it, the firm built a company town, Ramsay, to house its skilled workers away from the labor upheavals roiling the Mining City. MSU professor Dr. Janet Ore examines DuPont’s Montana experiment in welfare capitalism and evaluates the success of its efforts.
The development of the airplane as a practical means of transportation coincided with the Great War. As flying machines advanced, so too did Montanans’ fascination with all things aeronautic. After the war, experienced pilots returned home to advance the cause of aviation and establish the state’s first flying schools and airports. MHS community preservation coordinator Kate Hampton explores this watershed period.
In the spring of 1918, the Billings Rotary Club started what would become the national “War Angelus” movement. The International Association of Rotary Clubs soon adopted the idea, urging all member organizations to arrange for the observation of the War Angelus for one minute, at the hour of 11:00 a.m., in an “appeal to the Supreme Being for inspiration, strength and guidance.” Kevin Kooistra, executive director of Billings’ Western Heritage Center, shares the story behind the movement.
National Museum of Forest Service History education specialist Cheryl Hughes details how forest workers vacated the woods of the United States and transferred their skills to help America and its Allies win the war overseas.
In addition to their contributions on the home front, many Montana women also served overseas, mostly as nurses in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. In his talk, Lt. Col. Edward Saunders, U.S. Army (retired), tells the largely unknown story of these determined women who voluntarily went into harm’s way before they could vote in federal elections and before they received equal pay, rank, and status as the men in the military.
In 1918 Governor Samuel Stewart wrote, “The women of the West are certainly doing their share in bearing the burdens of the war.” MHS historic interpreter Bobi Harris provides an in-depth look at what these women—and children—were doing to merit such recognition.
While most examinations of the Montana Council of Defense are centered on its effort to crack down on “seditious activity,” recent Lawrence University graduate Alex Kurki examines that group’s other efforts. Specifically, Kurki examines select counties as he considers the question: “Did the Council’s presence discourage vigilante justice during the war (as Governor Samuel Stewart intended), or did it contribute to the hysteria?”
Prior to the passage of the Sedition Act in Montana, anti-German sentiment was already strong in Yellowstone County. Western Heritage Center community historian Elisabeth DeGrenier details the events surrounding the public humiliation of a city councilman, a well-known architect, and a prominent business owner in Billings.
Despite their contributions to the war effort, 1917 was an ominous, watershed year for Montana’s black citizens. Montana State University graduate student Anthony Wood explores some of the reasons that the environmental and economic conditions of 1917—and the years that followed—were so devastating to African Americans living in Montana.
Great Falls historian Ken Robison examines the racial environment in Montana in 1917, the experiences of black soldiers as they entered the military and served in the war, and their reception back home upon their return.
World War I–era Butte was a volatile jumble of antiwar protest, seething labor unrest, and divisive ethnic tension. Against that explosive backdrop, the worst hard-rock mining disaster in American history began a half hour before midnight on June 8, 1917, when fire broke out in the North Butte Mining Company’s Granite Mountain shaft. Michael Punke recounts the tragic tale and heroic actions of the miners who fought to survive. Punke is author of Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917; Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West; and The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge. Now a resident of Missoula and vice president of Global Public Policy (AWS), Punke is also former United States Ambassador to the World Trade Organization. (Recorded by TVMT at the Montana State Capitol, September 21, 2017.)
Workers in this early coal mining town enjoyed a thriving, diverse community—while it lasted.
The short-lived Populist party left an enduring legacy for workers and citizens in the U.S.
Competition to build a branch line to the Drumlummon Mine resulted in the scenic road to Marysville.
This productive farm on the Deer Lodge county line raised chickens, pigs, and fast drivers.
After a 15-year construction project, the Montana Deaconess School campus in the Helena valley was abandoned
Contrary to popular belief, Benton Avenue in Helena is not the same as the road from Fort Benton.
Visit the National Register–listed Charles Conrad Memorial Cemetery near Kalispell, but be prepared for a hike.
Originally a stagecoach stop, this town was named after the founder's former girlfriend, not his wife.
Dr. Philip Pallister began working as a physician at the Montana State Training School in Boulder in 1947. Though he only intended to stay a few years, he ended up dedicating his life to the care of people with disabilities. His quest to learn more about his patients and to treat their ailments took him into the burgeoning field of genetics and led to world-renowned discoveries. He also joined other Montanans to advocate for the rights of those with disabilities. Northern Arizona University historian and native Montanan Linda Sargent Wood shares the general practitioner’s story and then turns the podium over to Dr. Pallister for additional remarks. (June 8, 2017)
This historic building had been repurposed several times before finally ending up in Nevada City.
The bricks used to build Helena's Reeders Alley had nothing to do with artist C.M. Russell.
Before hospitals and nurses arrived, Montana's first physicians had to operate in less-than-ideal conditions.
Nelson Story's legendary 1866 cattle drive epitomized the danger of life on the open range.
These misnamed domed rock structures along historic railroad grades were not built by Chinese laborers.
As breeder at Marcus Daly's Bitterroot Stock Farm, Lucas nurtured many race horses to stardom.
What does it mean to be a “good American”? How are immigrants changing America? Do foreign nationals living in the United States pose a threat to our security or “way of life”? What should be the limits of free speech? These burning questions occupied Montanans, especially during 1917 and 1918 as thousands of Montana boys left the state to join the “the war to end all wars.” Exactly 100 years ago to the day after the United States entered World War I, Montana Historical Society staff members Senior Archivist Rich Aarstad and Historical Specialist Martha Kohl lead the audience in an opportunity to reexamine these questions, informed by the history of Montana and the Great War. (April 6, 2017)
Montana has more hillside letters than any other state, beginning with the M at the University of Montana.
When a tombstone was unearthed in a Bozeman basement, a historian stepped in to investigate.
A resilient horse named "Paint "was sold by the Blackfeet to a young boy named Charlie.
The 18th Amendment ushered in Prohibition, outlawing the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol and ushering in an epidemic of organized crime across the nation. On December 2, 1929, a young woman was murdered on South Main Street in Helena. Her business partner was shot three times in the face and lived to name the alleged killer. But the Townsend man she identified was acquitted and the case was closed . . . until now. History teacher, historical playwright, and curator of the Jefferson County Museum, Terri Atwood, delves into the question, “who killed Bobby Kelly?”
The deck was stacked against the young, black, prostitute when she stood trial for murder.
The hard choices made by the Wright family reveal the grit and determination of early settlers.
The beautiful Missoula campus is an example of successful integration of traditional and modernist styles.
The Corps of Discovery met countless challenges on their western trek, not the least of which was encounters with the grizzly bear. Grizzlies were virtually unknown in the “civilized” parts of the United States, but the explorers heard cautionary tales of these tremendous beasts from their hosts while wintering over with the Mandan in 1804–1805 and looked forward to seeing the bears firsthand. Soon after their departure from Fort Mandan in April 1805, they got their wish. Duane Buchi of the Great Falls’ Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center introduces some of those early encounters with grizzly bears and discusses the ways in which bears helped shape how Corps members conducted day-to-day activities throughout the expedition. Thursday Night at the Museum, Feb. 23, 2017
Prescott House at the University of Montana is a testament to Missoula's agricultural roots.
MHS Associate Editor Dr. Randall Williams discusses several cultural and political developments related to hunting's expanded popularity in the United States after World War II, and the ways in which those changes have given shape to its contemporary significance in American life. (Thursday Night at the Museum, January 26, 2017)
The National Park Service administers the NHL program, helping federal, state, and private stewards preserve these links to the past.
This music teacher and perennial Santa brought joy to generations of Helena's children.
Stories describing the supernatural powers of the Little Rockies have persisted for generations.
The herd has diminished to only a few, but wild mustangs still run free on this island in Flathead Lake.
Savor the Thanksgiving dinner menu from the early 1900s at Virginia City's Madison House.
This arrogant hunter devastated game in the Yellowstone Valley, until he met his match.
Montana’s relationship to Americana music is as wide and deep as the famed Missouri River that inspired countless musicians seated at its shores. From the fiddling of Pierre Cruzatte and George Gibson in the Corps of Discovery to the modern-day loner folk of Joey Running Crane and Cameron Boster, the Treasure State inspires the production of top-notch country music. In the 1950s, bands like the Snake River Outlaws fostered a long-standing love of hillbilly honky-tonk, and in the 1970s, the Mission Mountain Wood Band added a homegrown flavor of its own. Contemporary acts like the Lil’ Smokies and songwriter Martha Scanlan promise a vibrant future for the local sound. Author and musician Aaron Parrett explores this history in his new book on which this talk is based. (Thursday Night at the Museum, 10/20/2016)
Firefighter Peter Sanger survived a massive 1895 explosion in Butte and reportedly continued to protect his city for generations.
MHS Interpretive Historian Dr. Ellen Baumler tells the story of the Othar Wamsely family, which was lured from Indiana to Hamilton by the bold schemes of land speculators and a booming apple industry. The family’s adventures and misadventures—recorded in Othar’s charming unpublished reminiscence—provide a very personal perspective on this heady time in the Bitterroot Valley.
A bit about Florence Clark, a successful and flashy madam in Anaconda's red-light district.
Salish Culture Committee department head Tony Incashola briefly explains the relationship of traditional stories to place names, education, culture, and continuity.
As Prohibition was being phased out, the first place in the United States to serve legal (3.2) beer was in Butte.
Historically, the Bitterroot Valley comprised a significant portion of the Montana’s Salish people’s traditional homeland. In 1891, the U.S. government force-marched the last resident Salish from the valley to the Flathead Indian Reservation. In spite of the fact that they were no longer allowed to live in the Bitterroot, the Salish maintained, and continue to maintain, strong emotional and spiritual ties to the home of their ancestors. Steve Lozar—historian, member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and MHS trustee—shares his personal insight into both historic and ongoing relationships between the Salish and the Bitterroot Valley.
MHS Research Center staff Rich Aarstad, Jodie Foley, and Jeff Malcomson lead a journey into Montana’s historiographical past, based on the reflections of some of the most significant Montana historians of the past 150 years. Names such as Martha Plassman, Merrill Burlingame, Joseph Kinsey Howard, K. Ross Toole, and Michael Malone are all invoked. The presenters conclude by contemplating where the study and writing of Montana’s history is today, leaving it for the audience to envision future directions for the field.
MHS Research Center staff Rich Aarstad, Jodie Foley, and Jeff Malcomson lead a journey into Montana’s historiographical past, based on the reflections of some of the most significant Montana historians of the past 150 years. Names such as Martha Plassman, Merrill Burlingame, Joseph Kinsey Howard, K. Ross Toole, and Michael Malone are all invoked. The presenters conclude by contemplating where the study and writing of Montana’s history is today, leaving it for the audience to envision future directions for the field.
MHS Research Center staff Rich Aarstad, Jodie Foley, and Jeff Malcomson lead a journey into Montana’s historiographical past, based on the reflections of some of the most significant Montana historians of the past 150 years. Names such as Martha Plassman, Merrill Burlingame, Joseph Kinsey Howard, K. Ross Toole, and Michael Malone are all invoked. The presenters conclude by contemplating where the study and writing of Montana’s history is today, leaving it for the audience to envision future directions for the field.
Author, historian, and teacher Joyce Guest Decker Wegner shares tales of the Ostergren family. Around 1900, Reuben G. Ostergren relocated from Minnesota to Darby, where he eventually managed the 2,700-acre Como Orchard Company, which was part of the University Heights development owned by DuPont Company. Raised in one of the development’s Frank Lloyd Wright bungalows, Ostergren’s two sons, Reuben and Richard, would make numerous contributions to the region, including service as commissioners for Ravalli and Missoula Counties.
Retired scientific photographer and laboratory historian Gary Hettrick tells how scientists at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton helped stop the global spread of yellow fever, one of history’s most notorious and deadly diseases. Their efforts produced 10 million doses of an improved yellow fever vaccine, saved countless lives, and helped the U.S. win the war by protecting American and Allied soldiers who were fighting in jungles all over the globe.
In 1914, Frank Warner—a Shoshone Mormon convert who had survived the 1863 Bear River Massacre—undertook a mission to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Montana State University assistant professor Dr. Amanda Hendrix-Komoto uses Warner’s mission as a lens for understanding Mormon missionary work among Native Americans and the response of reservation dwellers to Christian missionary work in the early twentieth century.
In 1846, Jesuit priest Nicolas Point began an eight-month journey among various bands of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Today, Point’s paintings depicting the hunting camps he encountered provide an unparalleled visual record of traditional Blackfoot life. anthropologist Dr. Sally Thompson reports on her collaborative project with a group of Blackfeet who have been exploring these images from the perspective of cultural insiders.
Great Falls historian Ken Robison tells the story behind a Christmas 1861 address given by Captain John Mullan to the “Historical and Geographical Society” assembled at Fort Owen. Like his titular subjects, Mullan had contributed directly to the dream of a water and overland “Northwest Passage” by constructing a 624-mile Military Wagon Road from Fort Walla Walla, Washington, to Fort Benton in 1860.
MHS Museum technician Vic Reiman recounts the experiences of “Major” John Owen, who settled in the Bitterroot Valley in 1850 and, for the next twenty years, kept journals detailing his daily life. Owen made numerous trading trips throughout the region, and today his accounts of those travels provide an unparalleled source of information about western Montana’s residents and events during the 1850s.
Speaker Larry Strate shares Smith’s story, offering a glimpse into the “evening industry” during the 1890s—Hamilton’s heyday—when Marcus Daly built his empire in Montana and his mansion in Hamilton.
Travelers’ Rest State Park interpreter Bruce Mihelish tells how, having left the headwaters of the Missouri River behind, the Corps of Discovery was in desperate need of mounts by early fall. The Shoshone and Salish came to the rescue with the Spanish Barb horses that enabled the corps to conquer three major mountain passes through the Bitterroot Valley and reach waters to the Pacific before the onset of winter and potential starvation.
Engineer and author Ted S. Hall talks about the Corps of Discovery’s Lost Trail Descent into Darby from Idaho on September 3, 1805. For many years, the specific route that the explorers followed was unknown until James West Gallogly, an assayer and later forest ranger, discovered the exact path in the late nineteenth century. Hall—who correlates Clark’s hand-drawn map to today’s USG’s quad maps—is assisted by Gallogly’s great-niece, Elisabeth Gallogly Bacon, and fellow engineer Tim Lee connects Gallogly’s finding and Clark’s maps to Google Earth.
Jim Hardee—historian with the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, Wyoming—explores the experiences of Wyeth, a Boston ice merchant turned fur trader who, in the spring of 1833 while traveling with a Hudson’s Bay Company brigade, kept meticulous notes of the time he spent in the Bitterroot. In his journal, Wyeth recorded details of daily Salish life, and he was the first known Euro-American to witness their First Roots Ceremony.
Ted Antonioli of the Granite County Historical Society explores the 1825–1826 Snake River Country trapping expedition of the Hudson’s Bay Company led by Peter Skene Ogden, which traversed the Bitterroot Valley and circled the Flint Range. The latter part of the era encompassed exploration between the two valleys by Bitterroot-based mountain men like John Owen, Fred Burr, and William Graham, as well as a party from the Stevens railroad survey led by Frederick Lander.
Salish Culture Committee department head Tony Incashola provides insight into such things as the custom of scarring trees and other traditional plant use by the Bitterroot Valley’s original inhabitants.
Dr. Henrietta Shirk, associate professor of communication at Montana Tech, shares stories and images relating to two hot springs—Sleeping Child near Hamilton and Lost Trail (formerly, Gallogly) near Sula—resulting from the springs’ centuries-long association with Montana’s First Peoples.
In commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the first woman being elected to the United States’ Congress, interpretive historian Mary Jane Bradbury portrays Jeannette Rankin, “America’s Conscience,” telling Rankin’s story from grassroots suffragist to being the only member of Congress to vote against the entry of the United States into both world wars. Bradbury uses Jeannette’s own words to share her views on equality and government reform—words that still ring true a century later.
Using first-person interpretive techniques, historians bring to life two colorful characters from Montana’s past. Dr. Bob Brown, former director of the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, portrays Major Rawn. In the summer of 1877, the major founded Fort Missoula, was called upon to stop the Nez Perce at what became known as Fort Fizzle, and participated in the Battle of the Big Hole. Brown’s presentation includes reminiscences of Major Rawn’s entire career—including his involvement in the Civil War—but will focus on the frontier infantry in Montana and the Nez Perce War
Following the 1900 death of her husband—famed copper king Marcus Daly—Margaret Daly continued to advance the work of the Bitterroot Stock Farm until her own death in 1941. Thereafter, the Daly’s granddaughter, Margit Sigray Bessenyey, carried on the family’s legacy, operating the stock farm until her passing in 1984. Introduction by Daly Mansion executive director Darlene Gould, and presented by Mansion Archives volunteer Maureen Lischke. To make sure she gets it right, Lischke is ably assisted by Margaret Daly herself (as portrayed by historical interpreter and educator Jodi Delaney).
This presentation covers the creation, recruitment, and service of those individuals who served in the 10th and 20th Engineers during World War I by working in logging camps and sawmills in France. The primary goal of the Forestry regiments was to supply the American Expeditionary Force with much needed processed lumber used in combat zones and for support troops.
MHS Community Preservation Coordinator Kate Hampton reveals how the brief flowering of the University Heights community—a planned summer residential colony near Darby—grew out of multiple, overlapping strains of optimism, including the Bitterroot Valley’s enthusiasm for commercial apple growing, the economic confidence engendered by railroad building, the social aspirations embedded in high-end western tourism, and the riches promised by land speculation.
In the early 1900s, a knapweed invasion in the Bitterroot Valley wreaked havoc, and farmers ultimately responded by increasing honey production. In her presentation, retired Park Ranger Lyndel Meikle links this episode to the larger story of Montana agriculture, as farmers and ranchers continue to find ways to meet challenges from insects, weeds, fire, drought, out-of-state competition, and the taking of prime agricultural land for nonagricultural purposes.
After a brief overview of the flight of the Nez Perce through Montana in 1877 by Sandi McFarland, USFS Nez Perce Trails Administrator, Tamar Stanley, Executive Director of the Ravalli County Museum, and Kristine Komar, President and Founder of the Bitter Root Cultural Heritage Trust, detail the story of The Nez Perce National Historic Trail in the Bitterroot. University of Montana master’s candidate Amy Miller presents on the methods used to locate the section of The Nez Perce National Historic Trail in Carbon County, including the outcomes of the findings, as well as its comparison to the Lolo section of the trail.
Between 1882 and 1886, the Montana Improvement Company engaged in wanton depredation of the public timberlands of western Montana to supply the construction of the Northern Pacific Railway Road and Butte’s mines. In his presentation,Princeton University PhD student William Brown will detail how the company’s prosecution by the federal government provides a unique window into the power, ideas, and practices of businesses during the early period of Montana’s economic development.
Retired Forest Service historian Mary Horstman Williams highlights the history of the Bitterroot National Forest from its inception as a Forest Reserve under the General Land Office through its evolution into a modern National Forest. She details how the valley communities and the forest grew up together, while profiling the sometimes colorful individuals and events that were key in their development.
Dale Burke—owner of Stevensville’s Stoneydale Press and former Missoulian Outdoor and Environmental reporter—talks about the ways in which local environmentalists and the University of Montana School of Forestry reshaped national timber policy on public lands.
Three graduate students from Montana State University–Bozeman share recent research findings based on oral history interviews conducted as part of MSU’s 125th Anniversary Celebration History Project under the supervision of Drs. Molly Todd and Robert W. Rydell.
Jimi DelDuca—a PhD student in the American Studies Program—discussses "The History of the Native American Studies Department." Guthrie Meeker—a candidate for a master’s degree in history—presents his work, "Connecting Montana to the World: A Rich History of Local Ceramic Production." Micaela Young—a PhD student in the American Studies Program—shares "Twenty-Five Years of Water in Montana: An Investigation of the MSU Water Center and Its Role in Creating a Community of Water Professionals."
Barry Sulam of the MSU American Studies Doctoral Candidate Program, acts as moderator. Dr. Molly Todd, who served as the faculty jury for submitted student papers, offers comments.
Travis McAdam—a technical writer at the National Center for Appropriate Technology in Butte—looks at conservative politics in the Bitterroot over the last five decades, focusing on the John Birch Society during the middle of the twentieth century and the Tea Party movement which emerged at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Three graduate students from Montana State University–Bozeman share recent research findings based on oral history interviews conducted as part of MSU’s 125th Anniversary Celebration History Project under the supervision of Drs. Molly Todd and Robert W. Rydell.
Jimi DelDuca—a PhD student in the American Studies Program—discussses "The History of the Native American Studies Department." Guthrie Meeker—a candidate for a master’s degree in history—presents his work, "Connecting Montana to the World: A Rich History of Local Ceramic Production." Micaela Young—a PhD student in the American Studies Program—shares "Twenty-Five Years of Water in Montana: An Investigation of the MSU Water Center and Its Role in Creating a Community of Water Professionals."
Barry Sulam of the MSU American Studies Doctoral Candidate Program, acts as moderator. Dr. Molly Todd, who served as the faculty jury for submitted student papers, offers comments.
Three graduate students from Montana State University–Bozeman share recent research findings based on oral history interviews conducted as part of MSU’s 125th Anniversary Celebration History Project under the supervision of Drs. Molly Todd and Robert W. Rydell.
Jimi DelDuca—a PhD student in the American Studies Program—discussses "The History of the Native American Studies Department." Guthrie Meeker—a candidate for a master’s degree in history—presents his work, "Connecting Montana to the World: A Rich History of Local Ceramic Production." Micaela Young—a PhD student in the American Studies Program—shares "Twenty-Five Years of Water in Montana: An Investigation of the MSU Water Center and Its Role in Creating a Community of Water Professionals."
Barry Sulam of the MSU American Studies Doctoral Candidate Program, acts as moderator. Dr. Molly Todd, who served as the faculty jury for submitted student papers, offers comments.
Dr. Anya Jabour, professor of history at the University of Montana, shares stories of some of Montana’s most significant women reformers, including Hazel Hunkins, a Billings native who went to federal prison for picketing the White House on behalf of suffrage; Maggie Smith Hathaway, of Stevensville, who pioneered child welfare legislation in the state; and Helen Piotopowaka Clarke, the first Native American woman elected to public office in the Montana Territory.
Anne Des Rosier Grant—Elouise Cobell Fellow for the College of Humanities and Sciences at the University of Montana—details the contributions of Catherine Mary Olive Mead, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, who, between 1907 and 1913, opened nine elementary schools, six high schools, and one hospital, including St. Ann’s, in East Helena, and Holy Savior and Central High in Butte.
Between 1876 and 1890, more than one hundred Métis men, women, and children made a home in a canyon cut by the South Fork of the Teton River, approximately thirty miles west of Choteau, Montana. North Dakota architectural historian Emily Sakariassen discusses the ways the story of this settlement feeds into broader themes, such as the colonization of the North American continent, the settlement of the American West, national Indian removal policy, and, most recently, the assertion of Native cultural identity.
University of Montana Native American Studies Department historian David Beck describes the little-known saga involving hundreds of American Indians participating in Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition—called by one scholar “the most successful of all World’s Fairs.” Beck draws on archival documents to explore the role Montana Indians played, and hoped to play, in this major cultural event.
Racial tensions surrounded the 1916 trial and subsequent executions of these black outlaws.
This beloved Montana artist took liberties with history, idealizing the West in his paintings.
This artist—and friend of Charlie Russell—painted Yellowstone National Park for the Northern Pacific.
Early archaeologists made some hasty assumptions while exploring Pictograph Cave near Billings.
A tribute to the Charlie Russell painting featured in the icon for the History on the Go SoundCloud playlist.
Native American artists adapted by using new media for telling their stories and exploits.
An avid journalist took partisan politics to the extreme—and was left holding the smoking gun.
Learn the connection between Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and the frozen peas you had for dinner.
Today, this landmark 1880 theater in Helena is only open to the public for an annual Easter performance.
Secret passageways and clever construction are clues to some strange goings-on in Butte.
The only survivor the U.S. Army found after the Battle of the Little Bighorn is on display at the University of Kansas's natural history museum.
Eleanor Dumont—a renowned entrepreneur in the West's mining camps—inspired legends and stories wherever she went.
As part of the celebration for the launch of Montana Historical Society's latest book—Beyond Schoolmarms and Madams: Montana Women’s Stories—photographer Evelyn Cameron (played by Karen Stevenson) talks about her life and work. May 26, 2016
This gifted man overcame many obstacles and became a successful artist in his lifetime.
Shadowy figures wandering the corridors at the Silver Bow County Courthouse in Butte have been reported for decades.
These African American soldiers were decorated for their valor in World War I—by the French.
Frank Bird Linderman was one of Montana's first literary figures and a true pioneer. Linderman scholar Celeste River shares stories by and about this accomplished raconteur who preserved in “printer's ink” true-life stories of his many friends who had peopled Montana Territory in the 1800s, including notable Native American leaders and Cowboy Artist Charlie Russell. (Presence of the Past Program Series, May 19, 2016)
Nez Perce historians Allen V. Pinkham and Steven Ross Evans have examined the journals of Lewis and Clark with painstaking care to tease out new insights from what the explorers wrote about their Nez Perce hosts. Pinkham and Evans evaluate both what Lewis and Clark understood and what they misunderstood in the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) lifeway and political structure. More particularly they have re-examined the journals for clues about how the Nez Perce reacted to the bearded strangers. They have also gathered together and put into print for the first time the strands of a surprisingly rich Nez Perce oral tradition. Presence of the Past Program Series, May 12, 2016
The life—and death—of magnetic orator Reverend Leonard Christler were plagued by speculation and scandal.
During the Cold War, 11,000 Montana Ground Observer Corps volunteers watched for Soviet invaders.
Bozeman author Robert Staffanson discusses and his new memoir. At age 94, Staffanson shares his unique journey of starting out as a "real" cowboy before being moved by music to start the Billings Symphony. He then moved to Massachusetts to serve as conductor of the Springfield Symphony. Returning home, Staffanson went on to co-found the American Indian Institute and become a renowned advocate for Native Americans and indigenous people around the world. Presence of the Past Program Series, May 5, 2016
Through his incredibly varied fifty-year career, John J. Healy left an indelible mark on the Canadian and American West. Healy was a soldier, a trapper, a prospector, a free trader, an explorer, a horse dealer, a scout, a lawman, a newspaper editor, a speculator, a merchant, a capitalist, a historian, and a politician. He defied classification while defining the lifestyle of a frontier adventurer and buccaneer capitalist in the late nineteenth century. Alberta author Gordon E. Tolton discusses his book, about which reviewer Jon Guttman stated: “For those who have never heard of the man, Healy’s West should prove enlightening. For those already familiar with Healy, the reward is a further introduction to this unsung Westerner.” Presence of the Past Program Series, April 28, 2016
This prominent painting in the State Capitol commemorates the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana.
MHS Museum Technician Vic Reiman shares the tale of Teddy Blue Abbott who came to Montana with a Texas trail herd in 1883 and lived in Montana for the rest of his life. Abbott recorded his experiences in his book, "We Headed Them North," which today gives us a rare view of what cowboy life was really like when cows were wild. (Presence of the Past Program Series, April 14, 2016)
In 1915, western farmers mounted one of the most significant challenges to party politics America has seen: the Nonpartisan League, which sought to empower citizens and restrain corporate influence. Before its collapse in the 1920s, the League counted over 250,000 paying members, spread to thirteen states and two Canadian provinces, controlled North Dakota’s state government, and birthed new farmer-labor alliances. Join Minnesota historian Michael Lansing as he talks about his book that sheds new light on this little-known, but extremely important episode of America’s past. Presence of the Past Program Series, March 31, 2016
On the morning of January 23, 1870, troops of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry attacked a Piegan Indian village on the Marias River killing many more than the army’s count of 173, most of them women, children, and old men. Intended as a retaliation against Mountain Chief’s renegade band, the massacre sparked public outrage when news sources revealed that the battalion had attacked Heavy Runner’s innocent village—even after guides told its inebriated commander, Major Eugene Baker, he was on the wrong trail. In his book—published by the University of Oklahoma Press—Bozeman author Paul R. Wylie explores the history of Euro-American involvement with the Piegans, beginning with the Hudson Bay Company in the 17th century and culminating in the tragic events on the Marias.
John, his wife Mary, and their children were members of an accomplished and creative family in White Sulphur Springs.
Jonathan and Elmira Manlove thought they were just passing through on their way to Oregon.
The largest hotel between the Twin Cities and the West Coast was made from—and paid for with—local materials.
In the spring of 1837, the steamer St. Peter's carried trade goods—and disease—up the Missouri River.
Helena High School students from Rob Holter’s Theater One class read correspondence written to friends and family stateside from Montanans who participated in wars ranging from the American Civil War to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The presenters offer glimpses of average “citizen” soldiers’ thoughts, feelings, and emotions as they struggled to balance “life back home” with their operational realities. All material used in this reader’s theater is drawn from the Montana Historical Society archives. Presence of the Past Program Series, Jan. 7, 2016
Many mourned the passing of one of the most colorful inmates in the Montana State Prison system.
With an eye toward the future, a Bitterroot Salish family tries to keep a positive outlook.
The former stable and its ghost signs remain as a reminder of an interesting early Helena family.
Public women in mining camps like Virginia City, Montana, were notorious, yet what do we really know of them? Interpreting prostitution is a challenge because reputable citizens did not usually discuss the business and the women themselves are almost always anonymous. Lack of information fosters speculation and fuels myths. However, by utilizing primary research tools—census records, Sanborn maps, newspapers, and archaeological discoveries—real facts about these ubiquitous yet silent women begin to emerge. MHS Interpretive Historian Dr. Ellen Baumler sorts out this history from the 1860s to the 1930s, to provide a glimpse into a little-understood aspect of Virginia City’s storied past. Presence of the Past program series, January 14, 2016
Learn about a surprising variety of incredible fossils by visiting Montana's museums, large and small.
Corruption, scandal, and controversy tainted all stages of planning and design of Montana's Capitol building.
This landmark octagonal house in Hamilton is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Butte, America, has long held the reputation as the Rock of Gibraltar of organized labor in the West. In this presentation, MHS senior archivist Rich Aarstad discusses the rise of labor unions in the Mining City and the progressive legislation passed as a result of their political strength, followed by the near extinction of unions in Montana during World War I. (Presence of the Past Program Series, Feb. 19, 2015)
This small island is the last remaining symbol of a once bustling community that now lies under water.
Territorial legislation banned hurdy-gurdy houses and dancing saloons, unless you had a dictionary.
After suffering devastating earthquakes and the Great Depression, a Helena theater throws a Christmas party for children.
Join MHS Historical Interpreter Bobi Harris and discover what historic dolls can reveal about our shared history, art, and culture. This presentation is one of the many regular activities offered by and for the Friends of the Montana Historical Society, MHS's premiere volunteer and support organization. (April 16, 2014) www.montanahistoricalsociety.org
This opulent mansion reflects the wealth and status of its original owner, William Clark.
Mystery, legend, and mistaken identity have long been associated with this Montana landmark.
Kirby Grant—television star, aviation enthusiast, and philanthropist—was born and raised in Montana.
Archaeological evidence suggests that this may have been home to ancestors of Montana's Crow Indians.
Southern Methodist University history professor Andrew Graybill discusses his book that details the remarkable story of a Montana family. John L. Clarke’s paternal grandfather, Malcolm, came to Montana as a fur trader and married Coth-co-co-na, the daughter of a Blackfeet chief. John Clarke’s father, Horace, was the son of Malcolm, who was killed by his wife’s cousin in 1869. His death was a significant factor leading up to the Marias, or Baker, massacre—the worst Native American massacre in Montana history. (Mar. 5, 2015)
Was territorial Montana the violent frontier typically portrayed in popular culture or was the public violence of highwaymen and vigilantes an aberration from a more settled culture that developed between 1864 and 1889? MHS photograph archivist Jeff Malcomson addresses that question in this presentation at the Montana Historical Society on October 21, 2015.
Fort Shaw was named for abolitionist and leader of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment of African American soldiers in the U.S. Civil War.
This site's large concentration of bones and fossils has helped explain dinosaur parenting habits.
Harry and Adelaide Child founded a Yellowstone National Park dynasty that lasted more than sixty years. Harry managed the park’s transportation and hotel companies from 1901 until his death in 1931, when his daughter and son-in-law succeeded him. Adelaide oversaw the furnishing of new hotels, including Old Faithful Inn and the Canyon Hotel. Longtime Old Faithful Inn tour guide and author Ruth Quinn delves into the Childs’ personal lives and their enduring impact on the park, and on Montana.
Executive director of the Montana Council for History and Civics Education, James Bruggeman, describes the remarkable life of George Ahern: West Point graduate, U.S. Army lieutenant in the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiment (“Buffalo Soldiers”) in Montana and the Dakotas, witness to the Wounded Knee Massacre, “explorer” of Glacier National Park, and founder of the Montana State College ROTC and forestry programs.
Henrietta Shirk, associate professor of communications, and Elaine Hunter, assistant professor of nursing, both at Montana Tech, offer highlights of an ongoing collaborative research project examining nursing in Butte during the first half of the twentieth century, a transitional period in which nursing moved from a barely respectable vocation that required no formal training to a recognized profession that demanded extensive education.
Montana State University History of Science PhD candidate Clinton A. Colgrove traces the development of the Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL). Founded by Dr. Donald K. Weaver Jr. in 1956, ERL provided the opportunity for electrical engineering faculty, staff, and graduate students to develop cutting-edge technology that offered technical expertise for local, state, and national interests as well as a means for economic development for Montana.
From the Bataan Death March and D-Day to the liberation of Holocaust victims and the postwar occupation of Japan, the sons and daughters of Park County and Yellowstone National Park were witness to and participants in many of the crucial events of World War II. Independent historian Susan Kraft features stories and images highlighting their contributions to this global conflict.
MSU professor and university archivist Kim Allen Scott presents a study of one of Bozeman's most shameful episodes, the vigilante execution of two prisoners in early 1873. Scott briefly examines the scholarly record on frontier extra-legal action, using salient points from the story itself to illustrate that record, and provides a surprising motivation for the hangings that far removes the action from any of the heroic myths many ascribe to the vigilantes of Alder Gulch in 1863–1864.
Historic Preservation officer Courtney Kramer tells how the City of Bozeman has utilized natural topography to deliver domestic water from mountain reservoirs to private properties. She also discusses how voters chose, in 1890, to purchase the Water Works over the objections of Nelson Story and William A. Clark, and the battles—from lawsuits to physical confrontations and the use of explosive devices—that have occurred in Gallatin County over water.
Kelsey Matson, who is pursuing a PhD in history at Montana State University, explores the historical relationship between humans and energy— particularly electricity—in “Wonderland.” Her presentation looks at the ways in which early park concessionaires and administrators differed in their interpretations of the landscape, and in the tools and technologies they used to power the park and construct the national park experience.
Daniel Zizzamia, who recently received a PhD in history, discusses energy, geohistory, and dominating nature.
Jennifer Woodcock-Medicine Horse, a doctoral candidate in the Department of American Studies (Museum Studies), examines indigenous and mainstream approaches to exploring sustainability.
Willow Creek schoolteacher and Historical Preservation Board of Gallatin County board member Christopher McAdam-Mantei delves into his hometown’s past by focusing on one longstanding institution. McAdam-Mantei analyzes the role played by the church—one of Montana’s oldest continuing congregations—in the bigger picture of the region’s history.
Like many communities that began as mining towns and were later reshaped by tourism, Cooke City has accumulated its share of myths. Of these, none is more mysterious than the unsubstantiated but popular belief that the town once bore the name of “Shoo Fly.” Kelly Hartman, director of the Cooke City Museum, explores some of the legends surrounding Cooke City.
Historically, Yellowstone’s trail system played a vital role in the development of the park and visitors’ experiences therein. Kerri Keller Clement—a high school history teacher, avid backcountry hiker, and Montana State University graduate student—investigates these trails and trail blazes within a spatial and cartographic framework.
Letters constitute some of the most powerful and personal documents in archival collections. Montana Historical Society Archives staff members Jodie Foley, Rich Aarstad, Jeff Malcomson, Caitie Patterson, and Anneliese Warhank share their favorite letters from the collections. From soldiers’ letters home, to immigrant letters to family abroad, to angry or heartfelt missives of the betrothed, to chatty accounts of everyday life, these rich and revealing sources bring the past to life.
During the last decades of the nineteenth century, a number of wheelmen and wheelwomen tested their mettle, and that of their machines, by pedaling through some of the most amazing scenery—and the worst roads—that North America had to offer. Historian and Yellowstone park ranger Wes Hardin explores the fascinating stories of some of these intrepid cyclists.
Longtime Yellowstone tour guide Leslie Quinn looks back to the years 1890–1920, when visitors to the world’s first national park could travel across Yellowstone Lake on large steamships and power launches. Operated by the outrageous Captain Ela Collins Waters, and later by famous park guide “Uncle Billy” Hofer, these were the halcyon days for passenger travel on the lake.
Like its counterparts around the nation, Montana State University’s Agricultural Extension Service celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary last year. In 1914 Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act for the purpose of “extending the knowledge and research being conducted at the Land Grant Colleges and the Ag Experiment Stations to farmers and other residents of the nation.” Today, MSU’s extension service operates seven research stations around the state and offers programs focusing on youth development (including the iconic 4-H program), crops and livestock, community development, gardening, home and family, and energy. In this “Real Voices” panel, retired extension agents discuss their memories of the extension service, the difference the service has made to Montana communities, and the role the service can play as it enters its second century.
By 1864, with a variety of strategic roads leading to and from the Gallatin Valley, the region served as the primary agricultural center of southwestern Montana. Montana Department of Transportation historian Jon Axline looks at several of these important roads leading into Montana Territory, including the Montana-Utah Road, the Mullan Road, early toll roads, and, of course, the Bozeman Trail.
In his research, Montana Historical Society Museum technician Vic Reiman learned why it was a bad idea to sit on the upwind side of a stagecoach when the driver was chewing tobacco. He shares that and other gems in his discussion of emigrant travels to Montana in the 1860s, especially via the trails north from the Emigrant Road in southern Idaho and, later, from the railheads at Corinne and Ogden, Utah.
The town of Cinnabar, Montana, no longer exists, but when it did, it served as the immediate railroad gateway for a generation of visitors to Yellowstone National Park. When the Northern Pacific reached the tiny town in 1883, Cinnabar became the jumping-off point for visitors on their journey into “Wonderland.” Yellowstone National Park historian and prolific author Lee Whittlesey brings this Wild West town, and the heyday of railroad tourism, back to life.
University of Montana Native American Studies professor Richmond Clow examines the environmental and cultural issues at play in the complicated territorial conflict between the Lakota and Crow over the Powder River Country and the ways in which the U.S. government engaged with both parties in the Fort Laramie treaties of 1851 and 1868.
Preservation architect Leslie Gilmore explores the history and architecture of the lodge, which has served Bozeman’s Masons for the past 125 years. The evolution of the building’s architecture since its construction in 1890 represents both the lodge’s desire to keep up with changing styles (evident elsewhere on Main Street) and an economic response to the building’s maintenance needs. That evolution continues, as currently planned alterations reflect the lodge’s desire to have a building that is both more visible and more in keeping with Bozeman’s historic Main Street.
Gallatin History Museum director Bill Jones discusses the legendary Bozeman pioneer and entrepreneur who is credited with bringing the first Texas cattle to Montana Territory in 1866. The ambitious businessman invested in milling, ranching, banking, and real estate and, for his family home, built Bozeman’s first true mansion, an imposing 1888 Second Empire–style residence that sat for fifty-two years on Main Street.
Montana State University doctoral student Jill Falcon Makin (Ojibwe) looks at the contributions of native knowledge to the 1872–1876 survey of the U.S.–Canadian boundary line.
Dr. Pamela Stewart, Arizona State University, details how Gittings—who served as director of the University of Arizona’s Department of Physical Education and Athletics from 1920 to 1954—devoted her career to “educating the body” and used physical education as a path to gender equality. During Gittings’s time in Montana, she not only directed women’s physical education at the University of Montana, but also homesteaded and advocated to keep her position at UM while she served in Turkey at the close of World War I.
Award-winning journalist Skylar Browning and researcher Jeremy Watterson reveal Montana's relationship with America's favorite pastime from 1866 to the present day. The two authors of a recently published book of the same title discuss the fights, booze, cheating, and gambling that fueled the state's first professional league in 1892; the star-studded barnstorming tours and threats of bloodshed that marked the turn of the twentieth century; and the ways in which Montana players who made their way to big league diamonds helped change the sport on and off the field.
Award-winning journalist Skylar Browning and researcher Jeremy Watterson reveal Montana's relationship with America's favorite pastime from 1866 to the present day. The two authors of a recently published book of the same title discuss the fights, booze, cheating, and gambling that fueled the state's first professional league in 1892; the star-studded barnstorming tours and threats of bloodshed that marked the turn of the twentieth century; and the ways in which Montana players who made their way to big league diamonds helped change the sport on and off the field.
What can food tell us about Montana history? Montana’s foodways reflect the dynamic relationship between immigrant cultures and new environments. Drawing upon the Montana Historical Society’s impressive cookbook collection, Dr. Mary Murphy, professor in Montana State University’s Department of History and Philosophy, explores the ways in which the serious examination of food dishes up new ways of thinking about our shared past.
Though not exclusively linked to Montana’s storied past, the 1862 Morrill Act—which allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges—and the 1887 Hatch Act—which established agricultural experimental stations—have significantly influenced Montana’s social and economic history. Montana State University president Dr. Waded Cruzado, a passionate champion of the land grant’s tripartite mission of education, research, and public outreach, explores the ways in which these acts have impacted, and will continue to impact, life in the Treasure State.
Marsha Fulton—cofounder of Bozeman’s Extreme History Project—reveals the role of Spiritualism in nineteenth-century Montana. Her talk traces the growth of Spiritualism as a movement that offered communication with the deceased as a balm for an inconsolable nation aching from the human toll of the Civil War. Fulton examines stories, events, and practitioners to trace the progress of Spiritualism across the Treasure State in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Courtney Kramer from the Bozeman Historic Preservation Office provides an overview of Bozeman’s history. Awarded to Bozeman as a runner-up prize for the 1892 state capital vote, Montana State University has provided a stable economic base while shaping the community’s physical development and communal attitude.
Despite numerous sightings, the existence of the elusive Kootenai white sturgeon is still controversial.
Fannie Sperry Steele was born in Montana in 1887 and began to ride in women’s bucking horse competitions in 1907. At the Calgary Stampede in 1912, her ride on the killer bronc, Red Wing, earned her the title “Lady Bucking Horse Champion of the World.” Presented by Curt Synness at the Montana Historical Society on March 13, 2013.
A geologic river trip with Lewis and Clark through the Upper Missouri River Breaks. Presented by Otto Schumacher at the Montana Historical Society.
During Yellowstone National Park’s stagecoach era, the Wylie Camping Company treated its guests—who stayed in canvas tents clustered around a fire pit—to a bold adventure in this distinct American landscape. Helena author Jane Galloway Demaray details how summer tours with the Wylie Company balanced frugality and safety, relaxation and adventure, and absorbing interpretation of the Park’s wonders. (Presence of the Past Program Series, September 17, 2015)
Flamboyant John Ringling—one of five brothers who founded the Ringling Brothers Circus—came to Montana in 1903 looking for investments. He ended up building a railroad and launching a ranching company. His nephew Richard followed John to Montana in 1917 to establish a cattle and sheep empire, while Richard’s son Paul continued the family’s legacy. Author Lee Rostad tells the Ringlings’ Montana story—with commentary from Paul—plus tales of the circus’s ups and downs. Presence of the Past program series. Sept 10, 2015.
In "There Will Be Oil: Appetite and Inevitability on the American Prairie," journalist Edwin Dobb expounds upon his article that appeared in National Geographic about the Bakken oil patch in North Dakota, "The New Oil Landscape." Presented at the 2013 Montana History Conference in Sidney.
The Vigilantes made sure that this fellow citizen had disturbed the peace for the last time.
Dale Martin provides examples of recurring episodes of boom—and the unanticipated aftermath of busts—that brought rapid changes to Montana's landscapes and communities. Most of this sudden rise and fall resulted from events and trends—changes in technology, distant markets, and two world wars—that occurred far beyond Montana's borders. Living in Butte in the 1980s, Martin witnessed firsthand the tumultuous hopes and disappointments of a mining town. Presented at the 2013 Montana History Conference in Sidney.