Briefly Noted: ‘I Do: A Cultural History of Montana Weddings’

“A young and plucky eastern girl moves to the Wild West to be swept off her feet by a handsome and muscular cowboy: it’s the stereotypical plot of countless romance novels set in Montana.” – Montana Historical Society Press

We’ve all seen wedding stories like this in movies, novels and television shows. Some of those stories might even be real. However, historian Martha Kohl, a fifteen-year specialist at the the Montana Historical Society in Helena, found that the reality of Montana weddings over a 150-year period was every bit as romantic and absorbing as the fiction.

If you live in or near Helena, you can meet the author and enjoy the society’s new exhibit “And the Bride Wore…Montana Weddings, 1900-1960″ on January 10th, between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. at the MHS headquarters at 225 North Roberts.

From the Publisher:

Through engaging stories of romance, insightful analysis, and historic intriguing photographs, I Do: A Cultural History of Montana Weddings provides an intimate and surprising look at an important tradition. I Do journeys through the last 150 years of Montana history, from the 1860s gold rush to the internet age, to reveal the lives of ordinary people, from Finnish homesteaders, Chinese restaurateurs, and Métis fiddlers to struggling miners, Blackfeet students, and Jewish merchants.

About the Exhibit:

The Montana Historical Society’s newest temporary exhibit, will examine how history has shaped weddings—and particularly wedding fashion—during the first half of the twentieth century. Sixteen delightful and diverse dresses will be on display, including a hand-stitched dress made of white lace and yellow silk ribbon (worn in Butte in 1907), a Crow elk-tooth dress (worn in Lodge Grass in 1945), and a ballerina-style white dress of synthetic satin, lace and tulle (worn in Hardin in 1957). An opening reception will be held January 10, 2013, from 6:30-8:00. The opening will feature a wedding dress fashion show, a 1950s style cake and punch reception, a book signing by Martha Kohl, author of I Do: A Cultural History of Montana Weddings, and Slovenian wedding dance music. Don’t miss the fun! Viewers will be asked to participate in the exhibit by voting for their favorite ensemble and trying their hand at an old-fashioned Singer treadle sewing machine. The dresses will remain on exhibit through November 2013.

The exhibit is listed on line here with contact information and other details.

–Malcolm

A long-time member of the Montana Historical Society, Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of contemporary fantasy novels partially set in Glacier National Park, including “The Sun Singer,” “Sarabande,” and the upcoming new adventure, “The Seeker.” Watch the trailer.

Time to pick up a 2012 Montana Calendar

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

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

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

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Ledger Art by Curly, Crow - MHS

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

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

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

–Malcolm

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

a young woman's harrowing story

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

from the Montana Historical Society

1942 "V for Victory" work party of Italian detainees

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

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

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

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

–Malcolm

99 cents

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

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

Tracking Montana’s History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Malcolm R. Campbell

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Malcolm

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

Glacier Park Centennial Calendar

MHS Calendar

Every year, I look forward to my new calendar from the Montana Historical Society. This year, it’s especially good, for it celebrates the 2010 centennial of Glacier National Park with a series of historic black and white photographs.

I couldn’t resist showing you the photograph on the cover.

–Malcolm

Montana Historical Society Exhibit Tells Glacier’s Story

from the Montana Historical Society:

Courtesy NPS Glacier

The Montana Historical Society Museum’s new “Land of Many Stories: The People and History of Glacier National Park” is a real adventure.

The Society will have the grand opening of the new exhibit Thursday, Nov. 5, at 6:30 p.m. with opening remarks and ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda. Society Director Richard Sims, Glacier Park Deputy Superintendent Stephanie Dubois and other dignitaries will offer opening remarks.

The keynote talk for the event will be by Tim Cahill, founding editor of Outside Magazine. After the talk attendees will be invited across the street to tour the new exhibit with trail mix and coffee, tea and water for authentic refreshments.

The exhibit, which will be up from Nov. 5, 2009, until Feb. 26, 2011, is designed so that visitors actually have the experience of finding their way through it — as though they were on a hike. It is one of the Society’s most ambitious exhibits ever.

The park will be commemorating its centennial in 2010, and the exhibit honors the role it has played in the history of the state. The exhibit features historic photos from the Society collection, artwork, and
artifacts.

It features the important people in the parks history including George Bird
Grinnell, who first came to the area in 1885. “No words can describe the grandeur and majesty of these mountains, and even photographs seem hopelessly to dwarf and belittle the most impressive peaks … the region is a wonderful attraction for the lover of nature,”
Bird wrote.

Others not so famous like Elizabeth Collins, called the Cattle Queen of Montana later used as the title for a motion picture, are also featured. Collins mined with meager luck for three years along a creek in the park now named in her honor.

The exhibit takes the museumgoer from the days that Native Americans honored and used the land now knows as Glacier, all the way up to modern times and the pressures on America’s last wild areas. Bear management, forest fires, the environment, and how people have used the park over the years, are dealt with around different corners of the new exhibit.

The exhibit is a cooperative effort between the Society, Glacier National Park-National Park Service and is made possible by the generosity of Glacier National Park Fund and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation.

The Society’s Montana’s Museum is located just across the street east of the State Capitol in Helena. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
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Malcolm