Montana History Revealed

Public History - Public Health

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 12:49:00 +0000

State Historic Preservation Office

Scourges including smallpox, typhoid fever, and contaminated drinking water ravaged the West’s inhabitants. Disease impacted many of Montana’s settlements, and left particularly devastating and lasting impacts on tribal nations. Like COVID-19 today, diseases throughout Montana’s history disproportionately impacted native people. Despite the need, Congress did not codify provisions for health care to all federally recognized nations until the Snyder Act of 1921.¹ No statewide public health entity existed in Montana until 1901, when the Legislature established the Montana State Board of Health.

Between 1864 and 1901, Montana laws vested the responsibility for public health to local jurisdictions, but retained a few basic health-related laws. The 1866 Montana Territorial Legislature exempted “all squares and lots dedicated or kept open for health” from taxation. A year later, the Civil Practice Act deemed “anything which is injurious to health…the subject of an action.” Child’s Health Primer sat on every school’s bookshelf, and the state seated a Board of Examiners to regulate and certify medical practitioners by 1889. Municipalities could appoint local health boards and establish quarantines, and by 1895, Montana Codes provided that the state could detain people on the grounds of public health. Montana’s 1895 laws also codified the establishment and duties of County Boards of Health to guard against contagious or infectious diseases.²

Montana’s Seventh Legislative Assembly created the State Board of Health of Montana (BOH) in 1901. The Board had “the general care of the sanitary interests of the people” and authorized “sanitary investigations and inquiries respecting the causes of disease, and especially epidemics, the causes of mortality and the influence of locality, employment, habits, and other circumstances and conditions, upon the health of the people.”³ Concerns included Rocky Mountain spotted fever; tuberculosis; food and drug safety; storm sewers; infant, maternal and child health; a lack of local health officials; and sanitation in schools, at tourist facilities, and on passenger trains. Over the next few decades, the BOH expanded to multiple divisions and oversaw advancements in many areas including research, epidemiology, sanitation, licensing, and public health education.⁴

Residents of Darby line up at a schoolhouse to get free vaccinations against Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the 1930s. Rocky Mountain Laboratories Historical Collection

Rocky Mountain spotted fever particularly concerned officials and residents during the first decades of the twentieth century, and research into the disease concentrated in the Bitterroot Valley. The BOH sanctioned research there beginning in 1901, and work progressed with fits and starts through the 1910s. Efforts included tick collection, eradication, and vaccination. The researchers worked from tents, rented houses, and other makeshift labs until 1928, when the BOH used state funds to construct the Montana Board of Entomology Laboratory in Hamilton. The federal Public Health Service purchased the laboratory in 1932, renaming it Rocky Mountain Labs (RML). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) took control in 1937. RML staff worked to help prevent and treat military personnel from spotted fever, typhus, and yellow fever during World War II. RML continues to function as one of the nation’s most important research and vaccine production facilities.⁵

Tribal members present public health nurse Henrietta Crockett with a star quilt in recognition of her work to battle tuberculosis in Native American communities, 1949. Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute, MC433-359-2.

After World War II, public health research expanded at the state’s universities as well. During the late 1950s, scientists at Montana State College (later Montana State University–Bozeman) agitated for a new laboratory to support medical research. Funded in part with state money and a grant from the NIH, the Medical Science Wing, later named Cooley Laboratory, opened in 1960. The biomedical research programs at MSU continue to expand including Microbiology and Immunology, Cell Biology and Neuroscience, and pre-Medical studies. At the University of Montana–Missoula, the School of Pharmacy began in 1907, and a broader Science program initiated during the 1930s. UM’s College of Health added programs through the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, including Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Center for Environmental Health Services, the Center for Structural & Functional Neuroscience, Social Work, Family Medicine Residency, and Neural Injury Center.⁶

Dr. William H. Sippel administers the polio vaccine to children at Emerson School, Bozeman, 1954. MT Dept Health and Environmental Sciences Photograph Collection (Lot 030). MHS.

The BOH oversaw the state Department of Health established in 1967, and both entities added Environmental Services to their name in 1971. The Board existed until 1994. A year later, the Department of Health restructured together with the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to become Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS). The Department operates from historic buildings on the Capitol Campus in Helena, including the DPHHS (formerly SRS) building, and the Cogswell Building.

Historic places throughout Montana continue to serve important roles in public health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, county health offices, together with state and federal entities worked together gathering data, conducting research, providing educational materials, and distributing vaccines. Statewide, herculean efforts to combat disease and promote public health persist, and challenges continue to arise.

ENDNOTES

BL Shelton, “The Legal and Historical Roots of Health Care for American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States,” Issue Brief. (Menlo Park, CA: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004), p. 7; 42 Stat. 208; Jeffrey Ostler, “Disease Has Never Been Just Disease for Native Americans,” The Atlantic, April 29, 2020; Donald Warne and Linda Bane Frizzell, “American Indian Health Policy: Historical Trends and Contemporary Issues,” American Journal of Public Health, 2014 June; 104 (Suppl 3): S263–S267. ↩
Laws of the Territory of Montana Passed at the Third Session of the Legislature, 1866, Chapter II, Section 4, (Virginia City, MT: Jno. P. Bruce, Public Printer, 1866), p. 10; General Laws and Memorials and Resolutions of the Territory of Montana Passed at the Fourth Session of the Legislative Assembly, 1867, Title VIII, Chapter 1, Section 249, (Helena, MT. : State Pub. Co, 1915), p. 187; “An Act to Regulate the Practice of Medicine in the Territory of Montana,” and “School Text Books,” Laws, Resolutions and Memorials of the Territory of Montana Passed at the Sixteenth Regular Session of the Legislative Assembly, 1889, (Helena, MT: Journal Pub. Co., Public Printers, 1889), pp. 175-178 and 212; DS Wade et al., “Political Code of Montana,” The Codes and Statutes of Montana: In Force July 1st, 1895, Title I, Chapter III, Section 50 (Butte, MT: Inter Mountain Publishing Co., 1895), p. 14. ↩
As quoted in Montana State Board of Health, 26th Biennial Report, 1950-1952: Marking 50 years of Service in Guarding, Improving, Montana’s Health, Helena, MT, 1952. ↩
Jessie Nunn, “Board of Health Building,” Montana Historic Property Record Form, 2013, on file at MT SHPO, Helena. ↩
“History of Rocky Mountain Labs (RML),” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases website, n.d., accessed May 11, 2021. https://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/rocky-mountain-history. ↩
Jessie Nunn, “Medical Science Research Building (Cooley Labs),” “Social and Rehabilitation Services Department Building (DPHHS),” “Board of Health Building,” Montana Historic Property Record Forms, 2013 and 2015, on file at MT SHPO, Helena. ↩

PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE

The Board of Health Building, completed in 1920, stands as one of the first buildings constructed for an individual state agency on the Capitol campus. Currently occupied by the State Historic Preservation Office and Governor’s Office of Community Service, the three-story building displays a restrained revivalist style. The public health department moved nearby to the newly-constructed State Laboratory (Cogswell Building) in 1955. (Photo / Learn more: https://historicmt.org/items/show/2714)

The Board of Entomology Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana was completed in 1928. The federal Public Health Service purchased the laboratory in 1932, renaming it Rocky Mountain Labs (RML). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) took control in 1937. This Collegiate Gothic style structure is now known as “Building 1” in the expansive Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) campus. (Photo: Rocky Mountain Laboratories Historical Collection / Learn more: https://historicmt.org/items/show/1754)

The State Tuberculosis (TB) Hospital at Galen opened in 1913. As the incidence of TB decreased by the late 20th century, the facility focused on lung disease, and later functioned as an alcohol treatment center and hospital for the MT Dept. of Institutions. The hospital closed in 1993. Montana’s Forensic Mental Health Center opened on the campus in 2016. The “Original Sanitarium Building” features a large cottage-style treatment, with wide, deep porches and lots of natural light to help the patients’ convalescence. (Photo: John Westenberg, NR files, MT SHPO, September 1980.)

2021 MONTANA PRESERVATION POSTER

Montana SHPO's final Montana Preservation Poster celebrates the state’s public health history, featuring Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton. Montana has been a leader in public health since the turn of the 20th century, when entomological research became concentrated in the Bitterroot Valley. In 1928, the state constructed “Building 1” at what would eventually become Rocky Mountain Laboratory (RML). During World War II, the laboratory produced vaccines to protect soldiers against spotted fever, typhus, and yellow fever. Today, scientists at RML investigate a wide variety of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

To order your free Montana Preservation Poster, send an email with your mailing address and poster selection to Melissa.Munson@mt.gov, or call (406) 444-7715.

https://mhs.mt.gov/Shpo/NationalReg/PreservationPoster

Embodied Energy of Locally Sourced Brick Buildings

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 20:36:00 +0000

By Pete Brown, Montana State Historic Preservation Officer

Brick construction is valued for its resilience, and historically, its presence indicated a sense of permanence and confidence in a community’s future. Consequently, nearly every sizeable city in Montana had nearby clay pits and brickworks to meet local demands.

Location of Blossburg clay pits in relation to Western Clay Manufacturing and the Placer Hotel in downtown Helena. (Google Maps)

In Helena, clay traveled fewer than 20 miles by rail from the Blossburg pits to Western Clay Manufacturing (now Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts), which delivered a finished product first by wagon then by trucks to local job sites, such as the Placer Hotel. Today’s brick is made and transported hundreds of miles from out of state.

While all brick buildings embody a significant investment of energy from clay extraction to kiln firing and transport, locally made historic brick represents a smaller carbon footprint than its imported counterpart of today. Demolition of viable historic brick buildings squanders that investment of energy and expands our carbon footprint. Preservation extends the embodied energy’s dividend and enables development within the smaller carbon footprint of a century ago.

“The greenest building is the one already built.” – Carl Elefante, former president of the American Institute of Architects.

#mtshpo #carbonneutrality #climatexculture #climateheritage #mthist #nationalregisternps

Learn more:

Placer Hotel and Western Clay properties’ listings in the National Register of Historic Places.
Placer Hotel at https://historicmt.org/items/show/735
Western Clay Manufacturing / Archie Bray Foundation at https://historicmt.org/items/show/822

The locally sourced bricks used to complete Helena’s Placer Hotel in 1913 were made from clay that traveled fewer than 20 miles by rail from the Blossburg clay pits to the Western Clay Manufacturing Company. Today’s brick is made and transported hundreds of miles from out of state.

(Photo source: https://mtmemory.org/digital/collection/p267301coll3/id/6871/rec/1)

Demolition of viable historic brick buildings squanders the investment of energy and expands our carbon footprint. Preservation extends the embodied energy’s dividend and enables development within the smaller carbon footprint of a century ago.

The Western Clay Foundation was founded by Englishman C.C. Thurston, who established a brickyard in 1883 at the site that would become eventually become The Archie Bray Foundation. Archie Bray was the son of Thurston’s employee Charles Bray, and upon his father’s death in 1931, became company president. A ceramics engineer, Archie was a creative, talented man and a lover of fine art, who envisioned a pottery on the brickyard grounds. The dream came to fruition in 1951. Today the Archie Bray Foundation is an internationally acclaimed ceramic arts center, welcoming artists who come here to work, share ideas, and keep the dream alive.

Whose Tipi?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 May 2021 20:45:00 +0000

By Deb Mitchell, Program Specialist

Museums are generally recognized as good places to go to receive reliable answers about history and material culture. Oftentimes, however, we are the ones with questions.

Plains Indian Tipi on the Front Lawn at the Montana Historical Society (2021).

At the beginning of every summer, we set up a Plains Indian tipi on our front lawn to pay homage to Montana’s original inhabitants. This year is no exception. We recently posted photographs on Facebook of our friend Cary Youpee erecting the tipi (with a little help from MHS staff). Subsequent comments on the post questioning the tribal affiliation of the tipi made me curious, so I did some investigating; here’s what I found out.

The record documenting the provenance of this tipi is both sketchy and contradictory. It was donated to MHS in 2006, by Gundrun Erikson from Arendal, Norway. It had been in storage in Havre with Myrtle and Burton Bosch for several years before that. The tipi was originally owned by Rol Careleno of Havre, where it had been in his basement for quite some time and was in need of repair. Rol gave it to Gundrun, who had it repaired, probably in Havre at a shoe repair shop by the owner who did excellent work. We do not know when the tipi was made or how long it was in storage before it was given to Gundrun, or how long Gundren kept it before donating it to MHS.

The tipi came to the MHS education department in a storage container marked as “a 14 foot Crow tipi.” Presumably, the unnamed tipi maker was the one who identified it as being Crow. Consequently, we have always erected it in the Crow style, which is with a four-pole set-up. Most often, Crow tipis are solid white, however, and this one clearly is not. According to Dr. Shane Doyle—a tribal member and expert on Crow history— there are exceptions in instances where individuals have dreams or are gifted a design. Thus, though somewhat unusual, it is not out of the question that this tipi is Crow.

Digging deeper in response to the Facebook comments, I found correspondence that indicates that the tipi is “a Cree lodge … painted on the Rocky Boy reservation.” What? Now we are wondering, is it Crow? Is it Cree? Or is it a Crow-made tipi later painted by a Cree artist? Just what is the rest of the story?

We hope that someone out there has additional information that they are willing to share with us. We always want to be as accurate as we can and if we do find out that it is truly a Cree tipi, we will need to begin setting it up with a three-pole style. If anyone has the answer to this mystery, please contact me at dmitchell@mt.gov.

Montana Hi-Line and the Syverud brothers, Now Digitized in On-going Project

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 22:43:00 +0000

By Micah Chang, PhD. candidate, Montana State University

Many Montanans perceive the Hi-Line as “drive-through country,” destitute of people and places. However, one glance at Henry and Edgar Syverud’s photo collection challenges that modern cultural stereotype. The Syveruds’ photo collection tells the story of hope and hard times on the Montana Hi-Line through a series of four volumes of scrapbooks, encompassing some 1,500 photographic prints, that track the two brothers awash in the tides of local, regional, and national history.

Lot 045 v1p11.Stamp 1 and Lot 045 v1p11.Stamp 2, Portraits of Henry and Edgar Syverud in their mid-30s

Henry and Edgar Syverud were born in Osnabrock, North Dakota, in the mid-1880s to Knute and Anne Syverud. Both brothers’ lives show their strong connection to Norwegian and Scandinavian ancestry through their immediate communities and worldviews evident in their photo collection. The two brothers were nearly inseparable from the start, both attending the University of North Dakota and then proceeding to homestead in northeastern and eastern Montana.

Lot 045 v1p07.19, View of Henry Syverud (left) while at the University of North Dakota

Henry initially homesteaded in the early 20th century in the area between Coalridge and Dagmar, Montana, in what was then Valley County, though soon to become Sheridan County. While Edgar started farther south in Dawson County, opting to move north into Sheridan County with his brother around 1916. From 1916 until their deaths in 1965 and 1966, Henry and Edgar Syverud lived together on Henry’s homestead, farming and participating in all forms of community activities.

Lot 045 v1p17.1, View of Edgar Syverud with his bicycle and a camera in hand

Both Syverud brothers cataloged their life’s journey through photography and scrapbooks. Edgar was the primary photographer for years, seemingly bringing his camera to every social event in the area. Henry made the scrapbooks, selecting photos and writing the captions and narrative history sections. They were heavily involved with their neighbors in what started out as the East Coalridge Community Club but eventually morphed into the local chapter of the Farmers’ Union. They were also a part of the development of a local Lutheran congregation. Lastly, the brother’s interest in and fascination with petroglyph rocks, which they called “The Writing Rocks.” led to the creation of Writing Rock State Park, which still exists today.

Lot 045 v3p47.3-286, View of the Syveruds’ automobile at the Writing Rock State Park in Divide County, North Dakota. Writing Rock No. 1 is in the foreground

The brothers’ social and work lives, and those of their neighbors, is well documented in the photographs taken mostly from about 1910-1960.

The brothers’ story reflects the larger history of the region. By the time both brothers were in their late teenage years, the Montana Hi-Line flooded with hopefuls—often immigrants, single males, and younger people—searching for a future by proving up a quarter-section of unbroken land. After the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 both brothers ended up in eastern Montana trying their hand at farming. However, after several years of successive drought and financial hardship, the brothers often found themselves deeply engaged in community activities and eclectic hobbies and side jobs. Through their photographs and scrapbooks the Syveruds created a narrative that shows how people persevered through drought, natural disasters, and failure by relying on their families and friends.

[Lot 045 v1p29.2, View of Edgar Syverud with the East Coalridge Community Club at the Haaven Schoolhouse eating pie

Aside from local history, the Syverud’s unintentionally created a photo archive that sheds light on important facets of regional and national history. The scrapbooks’ heavy focus on agriculture reveals the multiplicity of crops that the Syveruds and other homesteaders in northeastern Montana had to grow in order to achieve any semblance of profit. For example, the use of flax—one of the shortest-lived agronomic crops in Montana—dominates many of Edgar’s early photos of planting, harvesting, and threshing.

Lot 045 v1p15.7, View of Henry Syverud standing in a field of flax in full bloom

Also, the Syverud collection elucidates the history of the United States northern border in a time when the drawing of the 49th parallel was a recent event. Henry and Edgar Syverud recorded the history of their lives; however, upon closer inspection, their photo archive tells the story of many immigrants, Montanans, and Americans.

Photos from the first and second scrapbook volumes. and most of the third, are now digitized and available to those interested in the Syveruds’ story, and the history of homesteading in Sheridan County, Montana. Photos can be browsed and searched on the Montana Memory Project, specifically the MHS Photo Archives’ “Photographs from the Montana Historical Society.” Hundreds more Syverud photos will be added over the next couple months thanks to the continuing financial support of the Sheridan County Historical Association and the Montana History Foundation, in partnership with MHS.

Montana Legislative Women and Male Chauvinist Pigs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 19:59:00 +0000

By Zoe Ann Stoltz, Reference Historian

Montana Historical Society resources—from newspapers to diaries and letters to blogs—not only document the many milestones achieved by Montana’s women legislators, they also promote a deeper understanding of the inherent sexism faced by Montana’s pioneer female elected officials.

Maggie Smith Hathaway outlined her positions on Prohibition, Child Welfare, and a “Workable Farm Loan Law” in this 1916 campaign flier. Maggie Smith Hathaway Collection, Mss 224, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, University of Montana.

Montana Legislative Women (MLW) have been making history since rancher Maggie Hathaway and journalist Emma Ingalls walked into the House Chambers in 1917–Hathaway was a Stevensville Democrat; Ingalls was a Republican from Kalispell. Both women left important legacies. Ingalls chaired the House committee on Morals, Charities, and Reform while sponsoring HB 374, which created a separate vocational school for women. Hathaway introduced HB 63, which required local institutions to hire female attendants for female prisoners; HB 258, which detailed procedures for committing students to the School for the Deaf and Blind in Boulder as well as purchasing of a farm for the School; and HB 383, which required fire escapes for all multi-floored Montana schools. Hathaway’s Democratic colleagues elected her minority floor leader, the first woman in the country to hold such a distinction. She later acted as the Director of the Montana Bureau of Welfare. Both women participated in the ratification of Suffrage Amendment during the 1919 Extraordinary Session.

During the period between 1917-1939, twelve women joined the MLW. That number doubled from 1941-1971, when twenty-four women served in Montana’s Legislature. MLW members continued to make history. Elected in 1932, Wolf Point’s Dolly Cusker Akers was the first Native American to serve in the Montana House of Representatives. Mabel Cruickshank became the first women elected to the legislature from Gallatin County in 1936. An education advocate, she sponsored a bill creating adult education classes and schools throughout the state. Ellenore Bridenstine entered the state senate chamber in 1945, the first woman to serve in Montana’s upper chamber.

Participation in the Montana Women’s Caucus, the League of Women Voters, and the 1972 Constitutional Convention, prepared a new generation of women to tackle the male dominated state legislature. In 1973, nine women served. The 1975, 1977, and 1979 sessions each had fourteen women. Their names are familiar to many—Betty Babcock, Pat Regan, Dorothy Bradley, Ora Polly Holmes, and Aubyn Curtis, to name a few. Air Force wife Geraldine Travis from Great Falls was Montana’s first African American legislator. When asked about her priorities, she explained, “I believe in Black rights, women’s rights, children’s rights—human rights and dignity.”

Republican, journalist and suffragist Emma Ingalls sponsored the bill that created Mountain View Vocational School for Girls and introduced the national suffrage amendment when it came before the Montana House for ratification. MHS Photo Archives Legislative Collection, Montana House of Representatives, 15th Legislative Assembly, 1917

1970s MLW members played integral roles in bringing Montana laws in line with the new constitution. Victories included the addition of the clause “irreconcilable differences” as reason for a divorce, acts to prevent sexual discrimination in the work place, creation of laws preventing the discharge of a female employee due to pregnancy, and use of more inclusive language in lawmaking. Results of the latter included allowing women to be legal head of households, forbidding institutions to deny credit to a person based on gender, and redefining rape as assault on one person by another, rather than the narrow belief that rape was a man assaulting a woman.

MLW members discovered that as they battled discriminatory legislation, they also battled decades of poor behavior. For example, not until 1978 did Montana’s legislative women get a private restroom. From 1917 to 1979, MLW members watched their male counterparts take advantage of a private lavatory, often using the facility to avoid lobbyist. During this time, female legislators faced a gauntlet of lobbyists and press as they made their way to public restrooms. It was not until 1979 that they received a modicum of privacy with the installation of partitions; their bathroom situation further improved with the appropriation of monies for permanent facilities to accommodate their needs.

The Independent Record, 28 April 1985, pg. 1D

On the other hand, in 1985, Billing’s Senator Pat Regan took a humorous approach to bring attention to uncensored sexist remarks made by her fellow state senators. She kept a pink pig, labeled “MCP”—Male Chauvinist Pig—on her desk. When colleagues made sexist remarks, such as referring to staff as “gals” or “girls,” she had one of the pages deliver the MCP to their desk. One beneficiary earned the MCP by remarking that a woman murdered by her husband may have deserved it.

While the 2019 numbers did not break the record held by the 2015 legislature with forty-seven women, the percentage of Montana Legislative Women grows consistently. Each woman brings her own passions and style. They must be successful, because I have not heard the term “Male Chauvinist Pig” in quite some time.

For more information see:

Women’s History Matters particularly Montana Women’s Legal History Timeline
Digitized Montana Newspapers online
Montana Newspapers on microfilm
Montana Research Center catalog
- Waldron, Ellis, Montana Legislators, 1864-1979, Profiles and Biographical Directory, Missoula, Bureau of Government Researcher, 1980
- MC 180 Montana League of Women Voters, MHS Archives, Helena, MT
- RS 22 Montana Constitutional Records, 1971-1972, MHS Archives, Helena, MT

Pictures Needed in the Telling

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 13:28:00 +0000

By Kirby Lambert, Outreach and Interpretation Program Manager

K. D. Swan at work, ca. 1936
Photographer: H. T. Gisborne, Courtesy of Elizabeth Starks

As you head out to enjoy Montana’s national forests this summer, take a minute to thank photographer K. D. Swan (1887—1970) for the role he played in preserving this incredible legacy. At a critical time in Forest Service history, Swan documented the public value of these natural reserves and widely promoted their use and protection.

For more than three decades, Swan photographed the Northern Region of the U.S. Forest Service, an area that encompasses all of Montana as well as portions of Idaho and North and South Dakota. A native of Massachusetts and graduate of Harvard’s forestry school, Swan arrived in the Treasure State in 1911, six years after the Forest Service was formed. Initially, he surveyed homestead sites, planted trees, “cruised” timber to determine average tree sizes, volume, and quality, and worked as a topographic draftsman.

In the 1920s—recognizing the need for the agency to win further public support for its various programs and goals—the Forest Service established the Information and Education Branch. An accomplished photographer, Swan was soon transferred to the new division. As one chief later summarized Swan's charge: "There's a story there to be told, and pictures will be needed in the telling."

Hoodoo Lake Moose, #331160

Thereafter, Swan worked tirelessly, crafting exceptional photographs that dramatically illustrated the value that national forests held for the American people and vividly documented the myriad tasks involved in managing forest lands.

His images were used to illustrate numerous Forest Service publications—many of which he also authored—as well as non-agency publications ranging from National Geographic to the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor. In addition, Swan regularly toured the region, spreading the "gospel of forest conservation" through educational and entertaining programs that he illustrated with still and moving images that he had taken.

Swan retired from the Forest Service in 1947, but he continued writing and taking pictures of the forest, devoting his efforts to the cause he loved. In 1968 he published his memoir, Splendid Was the Trail. This highly readable narrative still offers a detailed look at life and work in a remote, sparsely populated region during the formative years of the forest service. Copies are available through your library or the MHS Museum Store.

Unless otherwise noted, all images courtesy of the USDA Forest Service, Region 1

USFS promotional pamphlet, MHS 634.9/SW34

Big Salmon Lake, #300292

Swan River near Salmon Prairie, #366216

Eagle Creek, #365158

Trail Riders Skirting the Chinese Wall, #346819

Lizzie Strohl Sketchbook

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 20:21:00 +0000

By Kirby Lambert, Outreach and Interpretation Program Manager

Sketchbook cover: Drawed by Elizabeth Strohl, Victor, Mont, 91 Years Old, Now Deceased.

Museums love to have the complete provenance, or history, of the artifacts in their collections. By knowing the “who, what, when, where, and why” associated with each item, we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the lessons that objects can teach us about our past. In spite of our best research efforts, however, sometimes it is simply not possible to uncover the untold stories about the materials we hold. Even so, items with little or no known story, can still educate and entertain us, while connecting us to the past in meaningful ways.

One example is the Lizzie Strohl sketchbook housed in our museum collection. This is what we know about the artist: Lizzie Buchanan was born in the community of New Chicago in Granite County, Montana Territory, on September 19, 1873. Her parents were Thomas and Luella Hatfield Buchanan. She married John Strohl in Deer Lodge on July 19, 1892. As reported in the New Northwest, the ceremony was held at the “Scott house” and was officiated by Judge Hartwell. The Strohls were farmers and had at least two sons—John, Jr., and George. Lizzie died on July 31, 1964, in Victor.

Dad Likes Jim; Susie Jane Likes Phillip So There is a Misunderstanding

These facts aren’t much to summarize a life of ninety-one years. No doubt Lizzie celebrated triumphs, suffered losses, loved her family, and endured the drudgery of hard work. For the most part, the sketches in her notebook document the quiet moments of daily life, with the chasing of a cattle rustler thrown in for a little excitement.

Clearly, Lizzie had no training in art and, most likely, only limited access to art supplies. So why did she choose to record her memories in this manner? And when did she create the drawings? At first glance, we might assume that this is the work of a child, but based on the presence of a car and the styles of some of the clothing depicted, we know that at least some of the images were not drawn before the 1920s when she was in her fifties. Or, maybe none of the scenes were executed until Lizzie neared the end of her life and she sought to record her fondest memories. We just don’t know.

These primitive drawings may always raise more questions than they answer but—for some of us at least—they still provide a heart-felt connection to the past and the lives of ordinary Montanans from long ago.

Noon Hour

Just a Pick Nick

Farmers Having a Chat Out in the West

In the Rockies, at a Prospectors Camp in Montana

After Cattle Thieves in the Rockies

Elk in Montana, Near the Black [sic] River

Cattle on the Range Near Drummond, Mont

Just Sweet Hearts at their Meeting Place

Out on the Home Stead

A Hereford Cow from One of the Herds from Dinwall Ranch in the Flint Creek Vallie, Mont

Spring Cleaning adds to depth and breadth of MHS archives collections

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 20:39:00 +0000

by Rich Aarstad, Senior Archivist

The first quarter of calendar year 2020 started with a crush. In just three months, the Montana Historical Society Research Center added 425 linear feet of records to our archival holdings, greatly enhancing our labor history and corporate history collections. Now if you are wondering how much 425 feet is...think one football field plus four first downs and you get an idea of the size! Below are some of the highlights of these new materials now in our permanent collections.

Montana Public Employees' Association—80 linear feet dating between 1945 and 2017. While this is a stand-alone collection, it has intellectual ties to the Montana Education Association, Montana Federation of Teachers, and MEA-MFT records already held at by MHS.

Established in 1945 to promote a retirement system for public employees (state, county, and municipal), MPEA merged with MEA-MFT in 2018 creating the Montana Federation of Public Employees.

The MPEA Master Contract has withstood the test of time as it commemorates its 44th year.

MFPE-MDT Local 3511
Courtesy Local President David Krause

Montana AFL-CIO—285 linear feet dating between 1923 and 2016. This new donation fills in the Montana AFL-CIO collection already held by MHS: MC 341 Montana State AFL-CIO records 1896-2000.

Onsite storage of MT AFL-CIO records

Tailgate preliminary processing

Jeff Malcomson, Photograph Archives Manager, and Roberta Gebhardt, Library Manager, lend a much needed hand.

Senior Photograph Archivist, Kellyn Younggren packing up historic photos.

Archivist's Toolkit

Montana Power Company—60 linear feet dating between 1896 and 1999. This transfer from the Butte Silver Bow Public Archives is the missing link that pulls together UPMC 6 Montana Power Company records 1885-1979 and MC 268 Montana Power Company Predecessor Company records 1880-1947.

How many feet of archival records can you fit in a 1/2 ton four-door pickup with canopy. Turns out 60 linear feet!

Ingesting the collection.

Archivist's best friend—the 3 shelf cart

Musings from an Exhibit Designer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:04:00 +0000

by Roberta Jones-Wallace

“Long sleeves” prepared for exhibition along with other items of clothing which it might have been worn (MHS catalog numbers 1986.79.21, 1986.79.94, 1986.79.105, and L2014.08.05)

Numerous activities occur behind the scenes here at the Montana Historical Society. Newly acquired artifacts coming in must be catalogued, condition-reported, and carefully stored. Later, when we look at objects, or art, for possible exhibition, we assess items by their looks, sure, but also for their back story (their provenance), their condition (in need of conservation, or good to go?), and how well they fit the story we are trying to tell.

We look at their mounting needs (how we will display them) and case needs (how we will protect them). We think about how long an item will need to be on exhibit and plan ways to mitigate exposure for items susceptible to the damage caused by light. Clothing might need a mannequin; artwork, matting and framing; other items, small mounts or supports to allow them to “shine.” Archival and fragile paper items may need to be rotated in and out of the exhibit more frequently than less sensitive materials.

We also have to consider cultural context. We have in our collections a beautiful Chinese shirt, which we sent out for conservation in preparation of the exhibit, “Our Forgotten Pioneers: The Chinese in Montana.” When the shirt came back, the conservator made the comment that the person who wore it must have been a gorilla because the sleeves were inordinately long and the shirt itself quite broad. For each exhibit we produce, we must respect the customs and culture depicted. Our Chinese exhibit challenged us in many ways to try to depict the Chinese in Montana and show the clothing in our collections to our best understanding. In my scramble to understand this shirt and other items of clothing I had to reach into my poor memory banks—for I was sure I had seen images of Chinese wearing clothing with overly long sleeves. And indeed, I did find that the Chinese had quite rigorous protocol for clothing, color, and symbols which reflected social status and profession. This lovely shirt with its overlong sleeves may have been worn by a scholar, definitely someone of a higher status since the sleeves would interfere with manual labor.

Each exhibit we do, especially when depicting another culture, challenges my cultural bias—forcing me to try to be as sensitive as possible to representing our collections in the most respectful way I or we understand. We try to include consultants to help us in that endeavor, and to correct things when we get them wrong.

“Opposition makes me stronger for you:” The interconnected lives of Jeannette and Wellington D. Rankin

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 20:45:00 +0000

By Barrett Codieck

Jeannette and Wellington Rankin, circa 1914. Catalog #944-477. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Photograph Archives.

Montana history enthusiasts need no introduction to Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973), the first woman elected to the United States Congress. Over a dozen published biographies celebrate, mythologize, debunk, and simply seek to explain “Miss Jeannette.” Weaving in and out of every account of Jeannette’s life is the sometimes-enigmatic figure of her brother Wellington (1884-1966). No biographer can dismiss Wellington’s importance to his sister’s story, but the nature of the siblings’ relationship remains difficult to define. The Montana Historical Society Research Center holds newly expanded collections of the personal papers of both Rankins, offering new insights into these complex historical figures.

The Rankin family [date]: (L-R) Wellington, Harriet, John, Olive, Jeannette, and Philena. Catalog #Lot 039 B1F05.01. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Photograph Archives.

Besides the ties of family, two threads kept the Rankins connected throughout their lives: politics and money. Jeannette’s success in both of her elections were the result of favorable political circumstances and her great talent for organizing and campaigning in the field. However, both campaigns might never have happened without Wellington as campaign manager and financier. Once in office, Jeannette continued to seek Wellington’s political advice. Wellington was not shy to provide it, as he was dismayed by Jeannette’s antiwar votes and opposition to the all-powerful Anaconda Copper Mining Company.

Wellington’s opposition to Jeannette’s actions was not necessarily ideological, although the two siblings would drift in very different ideological directions over the years. Rather, Wellington seemed galled by his sister’s willingness to sacrifice her electability by embracing unpopular and politically dangerous positions. Given that Wellington would wage and lose eight campaigns for public office between 1914 and 1952, it is perhaps understandable that he considered electability to be a precious resource.

“I shall…vote my conviction regardless of future of political life.” Jeannette Rankin to Wellington Rankin, April 22, 1917. Jeannette Rankin papers, MC 147, box 1, folder 1, Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives. (Hereafter JR papers)

“let your conviction be right and not sickly.” Wellington Rankin to Jeannette Rankin, April 22, 1917. JR papers, box 1, folder 1.

“Grieved at vote but opposition makes me stronger for you.” Wellington Rankin to Jeannette Rankin, April 28, 1917. In this case Wellington was partly misinformed, Jeannette had voted for a competing conscription bill instead of President Wilson’s. JR papers, box 1, folder 1.

“Mining companies no possible way to blame.” Wellington Rankin to Jeannette Rankin, June 20, 1917. Wellington correctly predicted Jeannette’s response to the Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine Disaster of 1917 and tried in vain to limit the political damage of opposing the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. JR papers, box 1, folder 1.

As critical as Wellington could be in private correspondence, in public he always maintained a united front with his sister. Even after Jeannette’s vote against entry into the Second World War made her politically toxic in Montana, Wellington refused to publicly criticize her during his own 1942 Senate run. Repaying loyalty with loyalty, during each of Wellington’s doomed campaigns Jeannette reached out to progressive and labor voters alienated by her brother’s increasing conservatism.

“My brother has been an active friend of labor always.” Jeannette Rankin to Edward Keating (editor of the newspaper Labor), June 11, 1934. Wellington D. Rankin papers, box 26, folder 4, Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives. (Hereafter WR papers)

Money defined more than the Rankins’ political relationship, as Jeannette’s sources of income were often sporadic and unreliable while Wellington amassed an enormous fortune from his law practice, ranching empire, and business interests. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Jeannette relied upon Wellington’s financial support to care for their ailing mother and to afford expensive trips to Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. At the same time, she adopted an idiosyncratic and anti-materialistic personal lifestyle and her politics became increasingly anti-capitalistic. This uncomfortable dynamic sometimes strained the siblings’ relationship, but again never broke their fundamental family loyalty.

“You were very good to send me the checks. For anyone without a salary I’m getting on fine.” Jeannette Rankin to Wellington Rankin, January 24, 1940. WR papers box 2, folder 9.

“I feel very badly over all the horrid things I said…I really do appreciate all you have done…to make it possible for me to go to Europe.” Jeannette Rankin to Wellington Rankin, July 25, 1937. WR papers box 2, folder 9.

Jeannette and Wellington’s relationship was far from that of typical siblings, yet its complex dynamics were driven by a relatable mix of love, loyalty, resentment, rivalry, and extreme familiarity common to all families. These archival records complement our understanding of the past and ultimately humanizes its very human subjects.

Explore the full finding aids to the Jeannette Rankin and Wellington D. Rankin papers.

The Exhibits are Lonely!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 17:44:00 +0000

By Roberta Jones-Wallace, MHS Exhibit Designer

The exhibits are lonely—their main visitors now are staff continuing to work in the building and security staff making their rounds.

How do the exhibits and collections fill their time?

In the Russell gallery, cowboys meet around a campfire (no concern here for social distancing) where they tell jokes and stories, reminisce about their lives, or dream about future possibilities.

Another group is disrupted by a bronc, who has either had too much coffee, or not enough. Or perhaps he is simply enforcing the social distancing rule.

Charlie is ever ready to spin a yarn and add color to your imagination. He’ll model you a mini animal—something his talented fingers can do without supervision—and will pull from his pocket a surprise. Knowing Charlie's affinity for horses, you bet that's what it's going to be; but no … it's a pig. How clever. You guessed wrong—this beer is on you!

Read All About It!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 20:41:00 +0000

Montana’s Content on Chronicling America Grows

By Natasha Hollenbach, Digital Projects Librarian

Last September, I shared how we selected newspapers for our latest National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) grant-funded project, which focuses on booms and busts after 1922. Now those titles are starting to appear on the Chronicling America website. As new papers come online, we’re going to share a little bit about why each paper was chosen. We hope this will serve as a reference, pique your interest, and encourage you to head to the site to search or browse.

Bozeman Courier (1921–1927)
Despite the agricultural depression starting in Montana immediately after World War I, the Courier doesn’t address the problem until 1926 and even then, it’s abstract. While several of the chosen papers deny that there are problems in the agricultural section, they are active and vocal in their denial. The Courier in contrast has no comment even while it is covering the extension school and including a weekly state livestock news section. While it might not take a stand on agriculture, the Courier definitely has political opinions. During this period, they are extremely isolationist and vocally Republican.

Carbon County Chronicle/Carbon County News/Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County News/ Carbon County News (1924–July 1945) Note: Right now, 1938–1945 is available online. This is one of the titles that was split across several batches.
Originally, we were going to digitize this paper starting with 1932, but by then the coal mines were mostly closed, so I extended the date range back. The extended date range includes not just the coal mine but rural electrification through the Beartooth Electric Co-operative, the intersection of transportation and tourism with the creation of the Beartooth Highway, the oil refinery which burned in 1941, CCC/WPA activities in the county, and fish hatcheries. Politically the Carbon County News is anti-New Deal, anti-Roosevelt, pro-business, and isolationist, which is an interesting combination with many of these topics.

Eureka Mirror(March 1932–November 1936)
The Mirror like most of the papers chosen have a little bit of everything, but something unusual that struck me was transportation. There is discussion of railroads, highways and airports, which is an area that we weren’t focusing on but that appears in several of the chosen titles, though not usually all in the same paper.

The Fort Peck Press (August 1934–May 1937)
The Fort Peck Press is specifically tied to the building of the dam. While many newspapers cover the Fort Peck Dam’s construction, the Press has weekly updates on how the project is developing. However, this coverage tends to be positive, so when scandal or controversy hits the dam, the Press usually ignores those stories.

Glasgow Courier (1942–1945)
Note: In a previous grant cycle we digitized 1915–1922.
We also want to recognize the boom and bust of military bases. While there were several other bases we could have used, the Glasgow Courier provides both a quick boom and bust cycle as well as a reasonable page count. In fact, my notes say that that I wanted to include 1946–1947 if page count allowed, but between this being one of the final papers chosen and the page count per issue increasing, it was necessary to stop at 1945.

Hungry Horse News (Aug 1946–1955)
Note: Currently, only Aug 1949–1954 is available online. The rest will be available soon.
There are a lot of things happening in this newspaper. The building of the Hungry Horse dam, the logging and Christmas tree industries, the story of the Anaconda Aluminium Company (from approval through building and opening to unionization), Forest Service activities and the Great Northern railroad. In addition to all that, it relays news from the surrounding communities.

The Kevin Courier/The Montana Courier/The Kevin Review (May 1922–June 1929)
If you’re discussing the oil industry in Montana, you have to include the Kevin Sunburst strike in the early 1920s, which kicked it all off. During this period, the Kevin papers shift from focusing almost solely on Kevin oil strikes to becoming a full-fledged community paper including local sports, automobiles, fiction, crossword puzzles, and the other material typical of community newspapers of the period.

Laurel Outlook (1944–1950)
We originally chose the Laurel Outlook for news about the refinery, and while it does have some discussion of that, it’s more valuable for its coverage of other topics including railroads, the local grain elevator, oil, veterans, and polio. We usually think of post-World War II as a boom era, but the Laurel Outlook shows the recovery and shortage issues of the immediate postwar era.

The Wolf Point Herald (1920–1932)
The Wolf Point Herald illustrates the depression era through its coverage of local events and institutions. The chosen date range shows how often businesses are changing hands and how hard the town is trying to attract employers. From grain elevators to oil and gas exploration, the Herald shows its community trying to adapt to the times.

J. P. Ball: Legendary African-American Photographer in Montana

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 19:33:00 +0000

Jeff Malcomson
Photograph Archives Manager
Montana Historical Society

Portrait of a music teacher, Helena,
ca.1887-1900 (Catalog # Lot 22 B8 F15 02)

From the unusual circumstance of being born to free black parents in 1825 Virginia, James Presley Ball lived a long life as a pioneering photographer and businessman. Ball applied a portion of his pioneering spirit to his steady movement westward across the country, and another portion he applied to his early adoption and development of photographic skills and entrepreneurship. Ball also pioneered as a social activist, using his photography for the advancement of African American rights and social and political acceptance. [Ball’s intriguing life can be followed in an online exhibit created by the Cincinnati History Library and Archives where you can also browse or search nearly 300 of his photographs .

J. P. Ball arrived in Helena, Montana, late in life sometime in the fall of 1887, just two years before Montana achieved statehood. He was an experienced and successful photographer, having worked decades since 1845 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and many other locations. He strongly supported the abolition of slavery prior to the Civil War, and in the years following it he continued to promote the political and social advancement of African Americans. His son, J. P. Ball, Jr. came to Helena with him, sharing his father’s political views and his father’s business, a photography studio then known as J. P. Ball and Son. J. P. Ball Jr. published and edited a short-lived newspaper in Helena called The Colored Citizen, while his father remained active in the Republican Party and at one time served as president of the Afro-American Club, a state-wide support group for the black community in Montana. Ball saw the Montana Territory become a state in 1889, Helena become the state capital in 1894, and he photographed the laying of the cornerstone for the Montana State Capitol building in 1899. Ball followed his son to Seattle in 1900 and died in 1904.

Ball photographed a series of views from the ceremony to lay the cornerstone of the Montana State Capitol building in Helena on the 4^th of July 1899 (Catalog # 957-627).

Though very little of his written record remains in Montana, Ball’s photographic legacy in the Treasure State is preserved through over 100 known Ball photographs in the collections of the Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives. He was first and foremost a master of studio portraiture; most of his extant work is individual studio portraits. Ball served all members of the Helena community, taking portraits of a U. S. Senator, a Chinese cook, an immigrant family fresh from Europe, and many other Helenans, both white and black. However, he occasionally took his camera outside to photograph significant events. His work documenting two public executions in Helena in 1896 is some of the most intriguing work by any photographer in 19^th century Montana. We recently digitized over twenty of Ball’s more interesting photos. These can be browsed here on the Montana Memory Project. Several select images are displayed below.

Portrait of 'Tex' Rose, the long-time caretaker
at the Broadwater Hotel in Helena,
ca. 1891-1900 (Catalog # 957-598)

Portrait of an unidentified man, ca.1887-1900
(Catalog # 957-602)

Portrait of William Biggerstaff, a convicted
murderer, prior to his public hanging,
April 1896 (Catalog # 957-610)

Portrait of the body of William Biggerstaff, after his public hanging, April 1896 (Catalog # 957-613). For Ball’s images of his public execution and that of William Gay see the photos on the Montana Memory Project link above.

Happy Valentine's Day , Love Charlie

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 16:58:00 +0000

Jennifer Bottomly-O'looney
Senior Curator
Montana Historical Society

My Valentine by Charles M. Russell
watercolor and gouache, ca. 1896-1897, 18” H x 15½” W
Historical Society Collection, Gift of Mrs. Charles L. Sheridan in memory of Lela V. Roberts, X1954.03.03

In My Valentine the artist surrounds the beautiful central figure with a decidedly Russell-esque sinuous, heart-shaped frame and places two putti floating next to her.

After a courtship of just over one-year Charlie and Nancy Russell—whom Charlie called Mame or Mamie—were married on September 9, 1896, in a ceremony at the home of their good friends Ben and Lela Roberts. It was in the Roberts’s home in Cascade where Russell had first met Nancy the year before. The bride wore a blue wedding dress that Lela Roberts made for her. The event was newsworthy. As the Anaconda Standard on reported on September 13:

“Wednesday evening at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. B. R. Roberts, Miss Mamie Mann and Charles M. Russell were united in marriage by Rev. B. W. Pierce. Many guests were present and after the ceremony the party sat down to an elaborate collation. The occasion was one of the most pleasant social events ever held in Cascade where the couple have many friends.” The Standard noted that “Charley Russell, the happy groom, is known all over the west as the ‘Cowboy Artist’… [and] now more than ever before [he] will confine himself to his profession. In the classic language of Charley, he’s ‘done settled down to business and can’t trot with the gang anymore.’”

The couple honeymooned in the small twelve by twenty-four-foot shack behind the Robert’s house, where they would make their first home.

Charlie was persuaded to paint this very atypical, and romantic watercolor, My Valentine, for his friend Lela, who used it as a sign for a candy booth set up as a fund-raiser for a church social in Cascade. It was given to the Montana Historical Societyin 1954 in memory of the donor’s mother, Lela V. Roberts.

ExploreBig Gets Bigger and Better

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 15:00:00 +0000

by Christine Brown, Historical Specialist

In 2017, MHS launched ExploreBig.org—a website and mobile app—to share the history and architectural significance of selected Montana buildings, neighborhoods, and cultural sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Initially, ExploreBig included approximately 250 individual stories and several historic district and themed tours. In January 2019, the MHS Outreach and Interpretation program began efforts to make a good thing even better by showcasing our entire treasure trove of interpretive material.

Contractor Michael Connolly points out the interactive map featured on MHS’s ExploreBig.org, soon to be renamed HistoricMT.org.

After many months, ExploreBig now has 1,700 brief stories on a dizzying array of historic sites ranging from grand business blocks, churches, and schoolhouses to railroad depots, brothels, mansions, humble homes, cabins, and industrial buildings. Thankfully we had help in this time-consuming process from a dedicated group of volunteers and students. MHS volunteer turned part-time contractor Michael Connolly assisted in uploading photos and text and creating links to digitized bibliographic sources. The project is far from complete however. Connolly continues to expand the site’s visual resources, researching and adding historic images from the MHS Photo Archives and State Historic Preservation Office collections, while MHS volunteer Joe Furshong is scanning photographs from National Register of Historic Places records and contributing contemporary photographs from his travels around the state.

ExploreBig looks good now, but will soon have a new name and look.
Watch for the launch of Historic Montana in 2020.

Students have also been key players in expanding the project. In September, Carroll College intern Augustus Krier-Ness and seven graduate students in a University of Montana public history course started work to add at least ten new themed tours to the site. And most recently, the Butte High School History Club has agreed to capture new photographs of buildings with National Register signs in the Butte National Historic Landmark, about 250 properties. Pairing new photos with historic Butte photos collected from the MHS Photo Archives and the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives will create a striking “then and now” virtual tour of Butte’s unparalleled collection of historic buildings.

A glimpse of the forthcoming Historic Montana exhibit on the
second floor of the museum. Rendering by Wyatt Design.

The next step in ExploreBig’s transformation is a new name and look and a physical exhibit inside the Montana Historical Society building. The website and app will be renamed Historic Montana and have a new address, HistoricMT.org. The makeover clearly defines the site as Montana’s go-to place to learn about historic Montana buildings and places. The exhibit, near the Society’s second-floor Research Center, will provide a dedicated touchscreen tablet for visitors and researchers to use during their visit.

Work on Historic Montana will continue long after the name change becomes part of history. MHS historians create about fifty to a hundred new National Register signs every year and the content of each one will be added to the site along with photographs and links to research sources. It’s hard to say if the site will ever be complete, but the ongoing process is well worth the time to make this information readily available. Historic Montana will be an invaluable tool for students and teachers, researchers, and curious travelers delving into place-based Montana history for years to come.

Betty’s Kitchen, Sleeping Buffalo and Heidelhaus: Montana Restaurants, 1984

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 14:49:00 +0000

by Molly Kruckenberg,
MHS Research Center Program Manager

In 1984 Ray Risho, a chef and restaurateur from Missoula, traveled across the length and breadth of Montana, stopping at restaurants in every small town or crossroads that he found. As a former chef at Emmaus Road restaurant in Missoula and a cooking instructor, Risho understood the restaurant business. In his work as a wine salesman in 1984, Risho visited and reviewed 450 different eating establishments across Montana. The restaurants included everything from the “finest continental restaurants” to small, family cafes. The reviews resulted in the book Risho’s Registry: From Absarokee to Zortman, A Town-by-Town Review of Montana Eateries.

In the course of gathering the information for Risho’s Registry, Risho also gathered menus from many of the restaurants and cafés that he visited. Ray and his wife, Susie, recently donated those menus to the Research Center at the Montana Historical Society. Their menu collection contains 288 menus from 87 different towns across Montana. They represent all types of eating establishments, from the fanciest restaurant in Whitefish to the local café in Saco. This menu collection is important in that it is representative of the restaurant business in Montana at a time before the wide-spread introduction of national chains to the state. The menus are from single location restaurants for the most part, although there are a few restaurants that could be considered Montana chains, having multiple locations within the state.

Menus provide a wealth of information, in both their content and their design. They provide us with information on the popularity of different foods at certain time periods and, when looked at over time, can provide evidence of changing culinary tastes. They indicate what and how particular foods were utilized locally and regionally. The graphic designs of menus show the use of design elements over time.

The Montana menus in the Ray Risho Menu Collection provide all of these different insights for restaurants in Montana at one specific time – 1984. In that way, they provide a snapshot of both common and unique foods being served. The collection contains menus from Montana icons – Lydia’s in Butte, On Broadway in Helena, The Mustard Seed in Missoula – as well as many establishments that did not survive the last ensuing decades. Fare in Montana restaurants in 1984 was as diverse as the many towns that populated the state. Steak, burgers and pizzas share menu space with German, Mexican, Oriental, Lebanese and Hungarian foods. Sandwich shops and pancake houses vied for customers with supper clubs, inns and cafés.

Whether you are studying the foods Montanans were eating, the types of restaurants found in the state or graphic design of menus, we invite you to visit the MHS Research Center to see the wealth of menus in the Ray Risho Menu collection.

How to Choose a Newspaper

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 19:30:00 +0000

By Natasha Hollenbach, Digital Projects Librarian

Last August, we were awarded a fourth NDNP grant, and with this blog post, we’re announcing which titles and date ranges have been selected and giving you a little behind-the-scenes of the selection process.

First some NDNP basics. NDNP stands for the National Digital Newspaper Program. It is funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities; but, the content is hosted by the Library of Congress on the Chronicling America website. Each grant cycle is 2 years and should produce about 100,000 pages.

One hundred thousand pages sounds like a lot, until you actually try to select titles and date ranges. When we were putting together our application, we needed a focus, a reason why NEH should approve our proposal. Since our last grant, the accepted date range has expanded from 1836-1922 to 1690-1963, so we knew we wanted to choose content after 1922, but what? We decided to focus on booms and busts in the mining, logging, agriculture and oil industries. Consider that for a moment, four major industries across the entire state over four decades, which include the Great Depression and WWII, in 100,000 pages!

Geographic distribution of selected newspapers this round

At this point the selection committee became my lifeline. We had a meeting in November 2018. They gave me a list of titles with date ranges that they thought would accomplish our goals. However, many of those titles were suggested with a 20 or 30-year date range. I had to look at these titles on microfilm, and if you’ve ever tried to look at a long date range of newspapers on microfilm you know how challenging and time consuming that is. Here are a few factors that I considered.

The Microfilm Itself:

The quality of the digital image is dependent on the quality of the microfilm image, which in turn is dependent on how it was microfilmed and, on the quality of the print pages it was created from. It’s also important to keep in mind that when the microfilm is digitized, the settings are determined for the whole reel, not for individual pages. When you see digitized newspaper pages that are too light or dark to read, are partially covered by the next page, or have random ink blots, those problems were on the microfilm.

Content - % of Local/State Coverage:

Obviously, priority goes to newspapers that have higher percentages of local and state coverage, but what counts as local or state coverage? Much of the state coverage comes from regular columns that you see in newspapers across the state or, from reprinted articles for other Montana newspapers. What I focus on more is how much of the issue is local. Columns titled “Local News”, “About Town”, or any news that comes from surrounding communities are what I look for. Are they covering the county commissioners’ meetings? Are they publishing obituaries? Do they talk about the local schools? And, for this grant in particular, are they covering one of the industries we’re interested in? For example, in an agricultural community are they providing advise from the extension service, information about crop prices, and legislation that will affect farmers? If the paper is overwhelmingly concerned with national or international news from the AP and doesn’t tie these events back to Montana, it won’t be selected.

Content – Copyright:

For published materials including newspapers, anything published in 1923 or earlier is in the public domain. From 1924-1963, a newspaper might be in the public domain. (In order to still be under copyright, they had to register the copyright for each issue and then renew the copyright 28 years later.) I have yet to find a Montana newspaper that went through the trouble of copyrighting. However, during this period, newspapers published things like comics and fiction that potentially has its own copyright. Therefore, another selection question is how much copyrighted material is in each issue? We decided early on that we wanted to include the Producers News, a socialist newspaper out of Plentywood. But, we also wanted to pick another paper from the area for that same time period in order to compare and contrast political positions of the time. The committee suggested the Daniels County Leader; however, over half of each issue was copyrighted material. The thing about copyrighted material isn’t just that it’s copyrighted, making it a potential legal issue. If there is a high percentage of that, then, there’s probably not enough local and state content. The Plentywood Herald was chosen instead.

Page Count:

Here’s a little newspaper math for you. The page count for a year’s worth of an 8-page weekly is 416 pages. A year’s worth of an 8-page paper published 6 days a week is 2,504 pages. Unfortunately, daily papers tend to have more pages per issue and, they also include a lot more non-local and state content; such as, a full sports page, a society section, a fashion section, and so on. This is why there are few daily Montana papers on Chronicling America and the few included have very short date ranges. While we didn’t choose any daily papers this time around, we are including the Montana Farmer-Stockman which was published twice a month, the shortest issue having 28 pages. We’re also doing an extended run of it (1948-1963), which is unusual for such a high page count paper. The difference is that this paper pulls content, and highlights people, from across the state, as opposed to covering the news of just one town.

Now that you know a little more about the process, here is the list of titles that have recently been chosen.

Belt Valley Times (Oct 1921-1926)

Bozeman Courier (1921-1927)

Montana Labor News (1932-1951)

Circle Banner (Nov 1914-1924, 1921 and 1/2 of 1922 missing)

Columbian/Hungry Horse News (Aug 1946-1955)

Eureka Mirror (Mar 1932-Nov 1936)

The Fort Peck Press (Aug 1934-May 1937)

Glasgow Courier (1942-1945)

Montana Oil Journal/Montana Oil and Mining Journal (1931-1946)

Montana Farmer-Stockman (1948-1963)

The People’s Voice (Dec 1939-1963)

The Kevin Courier/The Montana Courier/The Kevin Review (May 1922-Jun 1929)

Laurel Outlook (1944-1950)

Western News and the Libby Times/Western News (1929-1949)

The Producers News (1928-Mar 1937)

Plentywood Herald (1927-1936)

Carbon County Chronicle/Carbon County News/Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County News/Carbon County News (1924-Jul 1945)

The Sidney Herald (1955-1963)

The Wolf Point Herald (1920-1932)

Olga Ross Hannon, artist

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 21:06:00 +0000

by Kirby Lambert, Outreach and Interpretation Manager

Olga Ross Hannon

(1890-1947)

Olga Ross Hannon was born in Moline, Illinois, and educated at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, the Art Student’s League in New York City, and The School of Fine and Applied Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. An extensive traveler, Hannon also studied widely in Europe where she focused her study on traditional arts and crafts.

Life In The Open – Crow Fair

Olga Ross Hannon

Watercolor, 1941

Montana Historical Society Collection, 1977.39.236

Gift of Jack and Isabel Haynes

Hannon worked as a teacher and administrator at various institutions before moving to Montana in 1921 to head the art department at Montana State College (MSC) in Bozeman. In her capacity as department chair, a position she held until her death, Hannon worked tirelessly to strengthen the school’s art program, especially in the field of painting. In addition to hands on instruction in the classroom, she augmented students’ development by organizing a chapter of Delta Phi Delta, an art honorary fraternity, on the MSC campus, and serving as the national president of that organization for eight years. She was sponsor of the college art club and the Spurs, a sophomore women’s service organization.

Hannon’s contributions to the development of the arts in Montana were not limited to her work on campus. She organized the Bozeman Chapter of the American Federation of the Arts and maintained a membership in the Western Association of Museum Directors. She held various offices in the Montana Education Association, chaired the selection committee for Montana paintings and sculptures to be exhibited at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, and served as the Montana representative for the American Artists Professional League. In addition, she was a regular contributor to various professional and education publications.

During summers away from Bozeman, Hannon traveled and studied around the globe, or taught art courses at universities and institutes ranging from Maine to Colorado. While traveling, she collected artworks created by the indigenous peoples of the countries she visited, and gathered Plains Indian art from Montana and the surrounding region to strengthen the college’s art collection. In the early 1940’s she began a project to record traditional Blackfeet tipi designs that was completed by Jessie Wilber after Hannon’s death.

Throughout her career as an educator Hannon remained active as an artist. Oils and watercolors were her favored media but she was also quite proficient at lithography, etching and wood block printing. Subjects commonly depicted in Hannon’s paintings included Montana’s historic mining camps and other early settlements as well as the arts and customs of the Big Sky’s Native American residents.

First Gold in Montana

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:30:00 +0000

Ellen Vogelsang, MHS Volunteer

Most Montanans are familiar with the Grasshopper Creek Gold Discovery in 1862, which began the gold rush to Bannack and the Montana Territory. However, Granville Stuart “found” gold four years earlier, near what is now Gold Creek. Stuart had been delayed by illness at Malad Creek (Utah) in 1857, on his journey from the gold rush of California back to the 'States'. He heard, from other mountaineers, of gold found on a branch of the Hell Gate River (present-day Clark Fork River) and detoured to the north. He found gold, but lacked sufficient tools to excavate and did not return until 1862.

Granville Stuart, 1883 [MHS Photo Archives 981-260]

Earlier in Utah, Granville Stuart had learned of Metis trapper named Francois Finlay, known as “Benetsee”, who had found light float gold on what he called Benetsee Creek (now named Gold Creek) in 1852. This prompted the detour north by Stuart and associates. Benetsee traded the gold to Angus MacDonald at Fort Connah, which ultimately led to MacDonald finding gold in British Columbia. Both Benetsee and MacDonald were employed by the Hudson Bay Company and were told to keep the gold discovery quiet to protect HBC’s interests. The company had seen what the California gold rush had done to their trapping grounds and business.

Stuart returned to Gold Creek in the spring of 1862 with the proper equipment to viably mine gold. The Pike’s Peakers got wind of gold in Montana, which led to John White coming north from Colorado and finding gold in Grasshopper Creek on July 28, 1862.

View of Bannack in 1891 with Grasshopper Creek in the background
[MHS Photo Archives 940-699]

Benetsee can be credited with finding the first recorded gold in Montana, 10 years prior to the Grasshopper Creek/Bannack discovery. Granville Stuart had the means to make his discovery profitable several months before John White.

References:

Angus MacDonald (1816-1889) - MHS Archives Papers/SC 47: Box 3/Folder 3

Granville Stuart “Forty Years on the Frontier”

Montana DEQ: http://deq.mt.gov/Land/AbandonedMines/linkdocs/163tech

Wikipedia: Gold Creek, Hell Gate

Montana and the Nineteenth Amendment

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 12:30:00 +0000

by Martha Kohl, MHS Outreach and Interpretation Historian

When Governor Samuel Stuart summoned legislators back to Helena on July 29, 1919, for an extraordinary legislative session, providing aid to Montana’s drought stricken farmers was his primary concern. Ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution—the women’s suffrage amendment—was almost an afterthought.

Hazel Hunkins, Billings Suffragist, as a young student [from https://mhs.mt.gov/Portals/11/education/Women/HH_LessonPlan_Final2.pdf]

Montana women had won the right to vote in 1914 and Montana had elected Jeannette Rankin—the first woman U.S. Representative—to Congress in 1916. As Governor Stuart explained in his call for a special session, “Montana already has woman suffrage; her women vote upon every important issue presented to our people.” The amendment’s ratification would not change Montana women’s lives or rights at all; “nevertheless our women feel that the women of other states should have their aid and support in this important matter.”

Both parties supported the ratification, which passed the very first day of the special session. Governor Stuart certified the ratification on August 2, 1919, making Montana the thirteenth state to ratify (tying with Nebraska). The biggest controversy was over which party would get the credit. The Republican majority insisted that Emma Ingalls, Republican representative from the Flathead, introduce HJR #1, much to the dismay of Representative Maggie Smith Hathaway, a longtime suffrage advocate and Democrat from Ravalli County.

Emma Ingalls [from https://mhs.mt.gov/Portals/11/education/Women/HH_LessonPlan_Final2.pdf]

The vote, though inevitable, came about only after years of struggle, within Montana and nationally. Jeannette Rankin is, of course, the most famous Montanan involved in the fight for women’s suffrage, but my favorite suffrage activist is Hazel Hunkins from Billings, who moved to Washington, D.C. at age twenty-six to work as the National Woman’s Party’s organizing secretary. She also engaged in direct action, spending many hours on the picket line in front of the White House as a “Silent Sentinel,” and was arrested three times. Her intimate letters home to her mother reveal that she hated picketing, persevering only because she believed it was “a wonderful piece of publicity. …. It would be like base desertion to quit at a time when they need me worse than they ever have before. But oh how I hate it.”

Women Voters Day on the Picket Line, February 14, 1917
The lead woman carrying the American flag and wearing a sash that reads “Voter” is Hazel Hunkins.
[from https://mhs.mt.gov/Portals/11/education/Women/HH_LessonPlan_Final2.pdf]

Hunkins’ letters and telegrams—preserved at the Schlessinger Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts—bring the suffrage story to life. Reading them, I can imagine her mother, worried in Billings—especially after receiving a telegram declaring, “TWENTY SIX OF AMERICAS FINEST WOMEN ARE ACCOMPANYING ME TO JAIL ITS SPLENDID DONT WORRY.”

In 2014, as part of the Montana suffrage centennial, the Montana Historical Society Outreach and Education Program worked with Billings school librarian Ruth Ferris to publish Hazel Hunkins, Billings Suffragist. The primary source investigation makes the fight over the Nineteenth Amendment real and personal, reminding students that the unfolding of history is not preordained and that women gained the right to vote only after seventy-two years of struggle. Hazel Hunkins’ letters are also just fun reading. Feel free to download the curriculum from the MHS website as you remember August 2, 1919, when Montana formally ratified the Nineteenth Amendment.

Flashback Montana 1969

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 17:45:00 +0000

Christine Brown
Historical Specialist

The world watched in awe in July 1969 as scientists and astronauts successfully launched the Apollo 11 spacecraft, explored the moon’s surface, and safely returned to Earth. The momentous occasion was ever-present in the media and for good reason. Nine years and billions of dollars brought unprecedented advances in engineering and technology, spawned whole new industries, and gave the world technological innovations we still benefit from (and can barely live without) today.

The Eagle has landed. Apollo 11, July 22, 1969. U.S. National Archives

While the nation focused on the space race, in Montana advances in aerospace engineering and space exploration took a back seat and local matters dominated the state’s newspaper headlines.

Governor Forrest Anderson took office in January 1969. Back then legislators had just sixty days to decide on a lengthy docket of proposed legislation. The state desperately needed money for infrastructure and programming, and the legislature passed a 15 to 18 percent increase in the individual income tax, along with increases in property tax, corporate income taxes and fees, gas and cigarette taxes, and a doubled beer tax.

Other historic legislation lowered the voting age to nineteen, created a Constitutional Revision Commission, funded the state’s five vocational-technical colleges, and condensed 100-plus agencies into 29 departments. Legislators failed to fund public kindergarten and a prison pre-release program, and voted down the minimum wage and collective bargaining for state employees.

The year 1969 saw low unemployment in Montana, but an increasing demand for federal welfare funds as county governments tried to help the working poor and correct social and economic inequalities. Federal funds transformed Montana’s physical landscape too, as Montana cities applied for urban renewal grants to clear deteriorated buildings in their historic commercial downtowns. At the same time, developers built new shopping centers at the outskirts of town.

Teens, college students, and drugs were of rising concern. Both Helena and Missoula reported multiple teen arrests and sentencing for marijuana crimes. The University of Montana addressed the issue by inviting noted professor and LSD user Timothy Leary to the campus for a debate on drug use.

The war in Vietnam also preoccupied Montana campuses. Thirty-four students and instructors at the University of Montana turned in their draft registration cards in April, refusing to serve in the war. On October 15, thousands of Montana students participated in a national day of protest against the war. By the end of 1969, Montana had lost 204 men to the conflict in Vietnam.

Peace march in Helena

Montana’s Jeanette Rankin, at age 89, participated in the October 15 Moratorium Day activities from her adopted home in Georgia and continued to campaign for women’s rights. Almost exactly fifty years after women won the vote, 30 percent of Montana women were full-time workers. While a few more women each year rose to prominent posts, female pay in 1969 was about 40 percent less than a male’s pay for doing the same work.

In many ways Montana in 1969 was in a parallel race alongside the U.S. and Russia. Instead of rocketing to the moon, Montana was racing to keep pace with neighboring states in the never-ending quest to fund, maintain, and modernize. Just prior to July 20, U.S. President Richard Nixon declared the impending moon landing a national holiday, a day to watch and reflect on the U.S.’s scientific achievements. While many Montanans stayed home, watched television, and toasted the moon landing with glasses of champagne, Montana state offices remained open and Governor Anderson was at work. He declined NASA’s invitation to watch the moon landing from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and instead traveled to Sun River with fish and game officials to survey problem elk range areas and help set antelope quotas.

The Independent Record (Helena, Montana) 22 July 1969

"The Whole Country was...One Robe"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 15:00:00 +0000

by Barbara Pepper Rotness, MHS Research Center

We just received the book back from the conservator, nicely bound and protected from further wear and tear, it had been so well-used and perused. “The Whole Country was…’One Robe’”, the definitive history of the Little Shell tribe of Métis in Montana. And, the life work of Nicholas Vrooman, folklorist, historian and defender of Métis rights. With this one book, Nicholas made their complex history accessible to the rest of us. And, he continued making it accessible through presentations and interviews. And, through his genuine passion for and love of a culture not his own.

We were honored to hear Dr. Vrooman share a bit of his vast knowledge during a panel discussion this past April. Not nearly enough time to even scratch the surface, attendees stayed an hour after the discussion to talk with the panelists. Between the extensive experience and knowledge of both Nicholas and his partner on the panel, Al Wiseman, a Métis and Montana Heritage Keeper, the audience was mesmerized from beginning to long after the end.

[Image from the Humanities Montana website]

You can watch the video of the panel discussion here, and, you’ll see for yourself the passion and intelligence of a man who is no longer here to share his knowledge with us. Nicholas Vrooman died June 26, 2019, and there is now a void in this ‘whole country’.

The ‘under one robe’ part of the book's title refers to the fur trade days when vast buffalo herds roamed the plains and resources were plentiful; when the peoples sharing a space and time could learn from one another. The Métis, or, ‘mixed blood’, are the result of that coming together from two very different worlds: that of French, Scottish, and Irish, and, that of predominantly Chippewa, Cree, and Assiniboine. In addition to the intermarriages, the exchange of ideas and resources led to cross-cultural innovations like the red river cart. An ingenious combination of Native travois and Celtic cart, red river carts had no metal parts. They could be easily built and maintained and, at the height of their use, there were thousands of them on the plains. Now, there are, at the most, one or two original carts remaining.

[Red River Camp and Carts, c.1890, MHS Photo Archives 950-581]

The most innovative and beautiful combination of the two peoples that has survived is their language, Michif. It's not a babel of a language. The melding of a rural type of French with the Cree language created a lilting, rhythmic language that has a tidy simplicity of structure – all verbs are Native, all nouns are French.

Even their music is a blend of cultures. Heavily influenced by the Celtic side of their heritage, they took Irish fiddle music and added a syncopated beat. This film explains and demonstrates what that means.

And, of course, food became an amalgamation of two cultures. Bannack bread (or, Li Galette) is a type of Irish soda bread that is quick and inexpensive to make. And, it was portable and filling, something they could take with them on the red river carts.

[Galette recipe courtesy of Reno Charette, MSU-Billings]

Instead of the buffalo robes of their earlier days and ways, the Métis now carry sashes woven with colorful threads. Al Wiseman pointed out what most people don’t know, that even Charlie Russell incorporated one into his own wardrobe. “Russell also used his sash to store his art supplies when he was traveling horseback. “All the breeds wear them,” he said.”* Black, red, white, green all have significance. Red is the blood of their ancestors, green the grass, black symbolizes loss and death, blue the sky, and white represents the clouds.

[‘Would you know me Bill?’ Charlie Russell watercolor, 1901, MHS 1986.06.07b]

As Nicholas commented, the story of the Métis is a difficult but beautiful one.

Currently, the Little Shells' tribal status is being reviewed in the U.S. Senate as part of a decades-long effort to become federally-recognized as a unique people and culture to be honored and protected. Vrooman, who dedicated years of his life to this fight, won't see the fruits of his labor, but his work and his impact will live on. So, too, will the Métis people, whose flag, with its infinity symbol, represents lasting life and hope. Today, we raise it high!

[From: http://easternwoodlandmetisnation.ca/flag.htm]

*Quotes from https://truewestmagazine.com/why-did-the-great-artist-charlie-russell-wear-a-red-sash/

THE SELLING SAVVY OF SAGE ADVERTISING

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Kelly Burton
MHS Film Archivist

One of the more frequent visitors to the Montana Historical Society’s moving image archives is Helena advertising entrepreneur and filmmaker Robert Henkel. After selling ads for the Billings Gazette for seven years, Henkel started his own company in 1959 under the name of Sage Advertising. While Henkel worked (and continues to work) from Sage’s headquarters in Helena, partner Jim Graff handled the Billings office. Sage had immediate success with the creation of promotional materials for Yellowstone National Park, a fact that is detailed in a July 5, 1987 issue of the Helena Independent Record: “The account with the private concessionaire at Yellowstone National Park has been Sage’s major success, a national ad account that ‘made’ Sage in the late 1950s and has stayed with them over the decades. In 1971, Sage noticed that Yellowstone was peopled with tourists who ‘weren’t spending any money there,’ who treated Yellowstone as a stopping-off point ‘to the rodeo and the South Dakota snake pit.’ Sage convinced the park to increase its ad budget by a third, reach visitors before they hit the park, and target their ads to a more upscale tourist. Ads began to appear in ‘Sunset’ and ‘Better Homes & Gardens’; the next year was a record-breaker.” Sage Advertising estimated that Yellowstone visitation went up 20 percent the following year, and the “average stay went from 1.7 to 2.4 days.”

from the Helena Independent Record, 5 July 1987

In addition to creating a wide range of print materials for Yellowstone National Park, Sage Advertising also made promotional films which served to highlight the various features and amenities of the park. Sage Films soon became a prolific arm of the company in its own right, with various employees – including Henkel and Graff – often handling the production, direction, writing and photography of the films themselves. The printed promotional materials for ”Yellowstone: A World Apart” describe the 1963 film as “a wondrous tour through nature’s unspoiled domain” with highlights that include “the great basins, bubbling mud pots, miniature volcanoes, geysers (starring Old Faithful), begging bears with cuddly cubs, and the many sports activities available.” Celebrated outdoor magazine ‘Field & Stream’ made note of the 1967 Sage Films production “The White Face of Yellowstone”, calling it “a pictorial winter tour into Yellowstone Park via snowmobile” that “captures the smoky eruptions of Old Faithful, focuses in on the park’s majestic wildlife, and its fantastic bubbling hot springs.” Sage also created “Four Seasons of Yellowstone” for the park in 1970, which sought to “explore the 4 delightful seasons of Yellowstone’s 2 million-acre sanctuary” and promote year-round visitation to the park.

(collection MOV 0099)

In addition to Yellowstone, Sage Films worked with other customers throughout the region to create effective travelogues and promotional films. The company was very prolific through the 1970s, and some of the tiles from the Sage Advertising moving image collection (MOV 0099) include: “Montana: Land of the Big Sky” (1971); “Escape to Montana’s Glacier Park” (1972); “Montana: A Little Farther North” (1973); “Explore the Old West Trail Country” (1973); ”Red Sunday: The Story of the Battle of Little Big Horn” (1975); “Montana Grain Helps Feed a Hungry World” (1976); and “Old West Trail Country: Your Land and Mine” (1977). Customers for these films included the Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming Travel Divisions, the Montana Bicentennial Administration, the North Dakota Bicentennial Commission, the Montana State Advertising Department, Glacier Park, Inc., Montana Dakota Utilities Co., United States Travel Service, Old West Trail Foundation, Northwest Airlines, and the Montana Power Company, to name a few.

Sage Films promotional materials (MOV 0099 accession file)

The 1987 article from the Helena Independent Record also discusses the political work of Sage Advertising, stating that “a large chunk of Sage’s reputation stems from its political track record – only two general election losses since 1968 – the 1982 gambling initiative and Don Allen’s unsuccessful bid to unseat U.S. Congressman Pat Williams in 1986.” Noting that “every Montana governor for two decades has used Sage,” Helena’s newspaper quotes Henkel as he describes Sage’s approach to the regional political landscape: ‘We like to win, so we try not to pick candidates we can’t work with. We can’t stop our compulsion to win. We’ve had clients who were egotistical, aggressive, hard-to-work with, nearly impossible. But even then we couldn’t stop ourselves from wanting them to win. We’re a success story because our clients are a success.” Sage often created motion picture films for their political clients, an excellent example of which are the ten “Forrest Anderson: Democrat for Governor” commercials currently housed at the Historical Society. These commercials were created for the Anderson campaign in 1968 by Sage Films, and their airing on Montana television was followed by a victory for the candidate later that year.

(MOV 0099)

The Sage Advertising moving image collection at the Montana Historical Society consists of 73 films and videos, in addition to ephemera such as promotional materials and production documentation. Seven films from this collection are available for viewing via the MHS Moving Image Archive playlist on the Historical Society’s YouTube channel.

Sage Films production documentation (MOV 0099 accession file)

Montana and the Nation's Flag

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 15:50:00 +0000

by Kirby Lambert, Outreach and Interpretation Program Manager

While July 4th is celebrated as America’s birthday, since 1949 citizens of the United States have also celebrated June 14th as National Flag Day. The Treasure State is, of course, represented by the 41st white star on the field of blue in the upper left-hand corner of the “stars and stripes” (that’s us—the second-from-the-left star on the second-from-the-bottom row). But what did Old Glory look like when it only had 41 stars? Or did it, in fact, ever have exactly 41 stars? That’s a more complicated question than you might think.

In January 1889 there were 38 states, and 38 stars on the flag.

On February 22, 1889, President Grover Cleveland signed an omnibus bill that paved the way for the entrance of Montana, Washington, and North and South Dakota into the Union. By July 4, 1889, however, none of those territories had yet become states, so the U.S. still had a 38-star flag.

This mural depicts President Grover Cleveland (right), Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard (left),
and Joseph K. Toole (standing), congressional delegate from Montana Territory at the signing of the
“Omnibus Bill” on February 22, 1889,
an enabling act which ultimately led to the creation of four new western states:
Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington.

In November of 1889, the four territories did become states: North and South Dakota on the 2nd; Montana on the 8th; and Washington on the 11th. Although the states were admitted to the Union on those dates, the flag—as is always the case—would not officially be changed until the following July 4th. Manufacturers began making 42-star flags in anticipation.

On July 3, 1890, however, Idaho became the 43rd state. Therefore, when Montana’s star was added to Old Glory on July 4, 1890, it was officially a 43-star constellation. In reality, however, no one had had time to manufacture 43-star flags. Most of the flags actually used that day were 42-star flags.

On July 10th, 1890, Wyoming became the 44th state, so many manufacturers went straight to making 44-star flags, knowing that 43-star flags would soon be obsolete. This 44-star constellation remained official until Utah was admitted to the Union in 1896.

A relatively small number of 41-star flags were manufactured in spite of the fact

such a configuration was never the official design of the U.S. flag.

Obviously, the early 1890s were a confusing time for flag makers and the result was a wide variety of unofficial and inaccurate flags. Although the U.S. flag never formally had 41 stars, some 41-star flags were nevertheless manufactured. The Montana Historical Society has two in its permanent collection.

For more information refer to: The Stars and the Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present, by Boleslaw and Marie-Louise D’Otrange Mastai (New York: Alfred A. Knopf), 1973 (reprinted 2002).

The Poindexter Collection of Abstract Expressionism

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 23 May 2019 15:00:00 +0000

by Jennifer Bottomly-O'Looney, MHS Museum Senior Curator

Forest No 1, 1959, Robert Goodnough, MHS Museum X1962.03.04
https://bit.ly/2qvUFEk

The Poindexter Collection is an assemblage of 99 works of art (98 paintings and one photograph) representing the New York School of Abstract Expressionism—a defining art movement of the mid-20th century which had world-wide impact. The Collection contains representative works by such leading artists as Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, Richard Diebenkorn, and Robert DeNiro (the father of the actor), as well as significant holdings of works by lesser-known artists like Earl Kerkam and Robert Goodnough.

Untitled, 1947, Willem de Kooning, MHS Museum X1974.04.05
https://bit.ly/2ARbi3c

It was given to the people of Montana by Everton Gentry “George” Poindexter and his wife, Elinor (the Poindexters also donated a similar collection to the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings). George was a third-generation Montanan who grew up in Dillon. His family was associated with the Poindexter & Orr Ranch in Beaverhead County, and his father was a judge and Attorney General of Montana. George moved to New York City where he was a highly successful businessman. He fell in love with and began collecting abstract art, and he and Elinor eventually owned and operated an influential art gallery in New York. The Poindexters were friends with and supporters of the artists represented in the collection long before these artists became famous.

Untitled, 1943, Jackson Pollock, MHS Museum X1973.05.01
https://bit.ly/2x56GDw

The collection was donated to the Society in increments beginning in 1960 (most of the collection was here on loan before it was officially donated). The last piece was given in 1987. The Poindexters’ motive in donating the collection was to give Montanans the opportunity to experience first-hand this type of art and, as George wrote, in “hope that the pleasure they [these paintings] have given me will be shared by the people of my native state.” Both George and Elinor are now deceased.

Flowers, 1955, Robert DeNiro, MHS Museum X1967.04.01
https://bit.ly/2OahY4W