Tag: Montana Historical Society

Time to pick up a 2012 Montana Calendar

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn Glacier National Park, history, Montana4 Comments

I look forward to my yearly calendars from the Montana Historical Society that come as part of my membership. They are filled with western scenes from the society’s photographic collection. Calendars are 8.5 x 11 inches and feature black and white photography.

The front of the 2012 calendar features a historic photo of Mt. Wilbur and Swiftcurrent Lake from Glacier National Park. If you love western history, you can join the MHS by calling 406-444-2918 or heading out to their website at www.montanahistoricalsociety.0rg. Memberships are $55 per year and include a subscription to the quarterly Montana The Magazine of Western History. Or, you can buy the calendar alone for $8.50, order from the museum store.

Maybe the 2012 calendar will inspire me to get started on my next novel set in Glacier National Park. Maybe it will inspire you to think of wild places in the Rocky Mountains.

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Ledger Art by Curly, Crow - MHS

New Museum Exhibits: Two exhibits open tonight (December 1, 2011)  from 6-8 p.m. at the Montana Historical Society’s museum at 225 North Roberts in Helena, The Art of Story Telling: Plains Indian Perspectives and Mapping Montana: Two Centuries of Cartography. Wish I could be there.

The drawing pictured here is an example of “ledger art,” a transitional approach to recording stories and events by plains Indian nations between 1860 and 1900 as artists switched from the traditional paints and hides to ledger paper with crayon, colored pencils and water colors. The new exhibit will include the Walter Bone Shirt ledger book, on loan to the society.

According to the Plains Indian Ledger art Project, “Changes in the content of pictographic art, the rapid adjustment of Plains artists to the relatively small size of a sheet of ledger paper, and the wealth of detail possible with new coloring materials, marks Plains ledger drawings as a new form of Native American art.”  For more information about ledger art, click here.

—Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell’s contemporary fantasies “Sarabande” (new) and “The Sun Singer” are set in the Swiftcurrent Valley of Glacier National Park.

a young woman's harrowing story

‘No Ordinary Time’ history conference set for Sept. 22-24

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn Montana2 Comments

from the Montana Historical Society

1942 "V for Victory" work party of Italian detainees

The Montana Historical Society presents the 38th annual history conference “No Ordinary Time: War, Resistance and the Montana Experience” in Missoula, September 22-24, 2011. For information, including a brochure and an online registration form, click here.

From the time of the First Peoples to the present day, conflict has always been part of the Montana story. Join us in Missoula for the 38th annual Montana History Conference where we will explore the role of warfare in traditional Native American culture, the contributions that Montanans have made to our nation’s wars, the impact that those wars had on life in the Treasure State, and the efforts of those who fought to resist armed conflict. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the United States’ entry into WWII, conference highlights will include sessions on, and a visit to, Fort Missoula, an internment camp for Italian detainees and Japanese-American citizens.

  • Unless otherwise noted, all events will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Missoula-Edgewater, 100 Madison St., Missoula.
  • Pre-conference opportunity: The Montana Preservation Alliance will be hosting its Preservation Excellence Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, September 21, 5:30 p.m., at the Florence Hotel, 111 N. Higgins Ave., Missoula. For more information visit http://www.preservemontana.org/or call 406.457.2822.
  • Post-conference tour: Fort Missoula. The tour will cover the fort’s colorful 134-year history while highlighting its ADC (Alien Detention Center) features and the two museums now located onsite.

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As a long-time member of the Montana Historical Society, I received a brochure about this conference several days ago. I wish I could attend. What an exciting opportunity for teachers, students and historians who can make the trip.

–Malcolm

99 cents

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of the recently released Bears; Where they Fought: Life in Glacier Park’s Swiftcurrent Valley, a glimpse at the dramatic history of the most beautiful place on Earth. A Natural Wonderland… Amazing Animals… Early Pioneers…Native Peoples… A Great Flood… Kinnickinnick… Adventures… The Great Northern Railway.

“Give a month at least to this precious reserve.  The time will not be taken from the sum of your life. Instead of shortening, it will indefinitely lengthen it and will make you truly immortal. — John Muir, “Our National Parks,” 1901

Tracking Montana’s History

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn Historic Preservation, history4 Comments

I recently received a letter from the Montana Historical Society reminding me that my membership renewal date was coming up in June. I’ve been a member for over twenty years, and though I’ve never once set foot inside the Society’s museum and library at 225 N. Roberts Street in Helena, I was happy to renew.

By far, the best magazine that arrives in my mailbox four times a year is the Society’s award-winning, thoroughly researched Montana the Magazine of Western History. As it celebrates its 60th year, the magazine recently one another national award, the Westerners International Coke Wood Award for Monographs and Articles. The magazine has a free, searchable index on the Society’s web site.

In his renewal letter, Mike Cooney, the MHS interim director, noted that the society “provides free public access to over 50,000 books, 455,000 historical monographs, 8,000 maps, 2000 oral history reviews and more. Our education and outreach program has grown, reaching over 5,000 students from over 53 communities and thousands of adults throughout Montana.”

In addition to Montana the Magazine of Western History, MHS also helps members who live outside the state. Using my member’s research question benefit, I had historical questions tracked down and answered for my novels The Sun Singer and Garden of Heaven: an Odyssey and for my article “Bears, Where They Fought,” about Glacier National Park’s Swiftcurrent Valley that appears in Vanilla Heart Publishing’s Nature’s Gifts Anthology.

The Society’s professional, yet accessible approach, to Montana History was recently validated by its re-accreditation by the American Association of Museums (AAM). Re-accreditation is an intensive, two-year process that occurs every 15 years. According to the MHS newsletter Society Star, “There are an estimated 17,500 museums in the nation and only 777 are currently accredited by the AAM.” As a former museum manager and a museum grant writer, I know just how difficult and exacting the AAM standards are.

While AAM standards are designed to fit a wide variety of museums and collections, all museums must successfuly answer two core questions:

  • How well does the museum achieve its stated mission and goals?
  • How well does the museum’s performance meet standards and best practices, as they are generally understood in the field, appropriate to its circumstances?

The success of the MHS and its research, collections policy, artifacts conservatorship, programs, publications, historic properties and its National Register sign program are a dynamic testament to just how well the Society continues to answer those core questions.

As for me, I’ve saved every issue of the magazine since my membership began: for Montana, they are gospel.

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Montana teachers will find help on the Montana: Stories of the Land site. You may also like Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman and the Centennial Farm and Ranch Program sites.

—Malcolm R. Campbell

Book Note: ‘Montana Moments: History on the Go’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, history, Montana3 Comments

If you love Montana or simply enjoy humorous and shocking vignettes about the old west, Montana Historical Society historian Ellen Baumler has an easy-reading book for you.

Montana Moments: History on the Go, released last fall, is packed with the stuff of legend from strange epitaphs to bizarre happenings to comedic are-you-kidding-me yarns.

Harry Fritz of the University of Montana puts it this way: “The pages of ‘Montana Moments’ overflow with historical vignettes that cover nearly everything important that’s happened in Montana’s history. Newcomers will find an excellent introduction to what makes Montana tick, while Baumler’s careful research and entertaining writing style will delight old-timers.”

Do you know about the madams, villains and critters? Do you know who wrote the state song? Have you seen the monster lurking in Flathead Lake?

Click on the link above to buy the book from the Montana Historical Society in support of its work. Or, check out the book on Amazon.

—Malcolm

Click here to enter the Garden of Heaven Give-Away drawing