Celebrate Montana history with us! Your interest and love of Montana’s past energizes our work. With your help, more real stories of the past can be shared and more history is preserved for future generations. We invite you to enjoy, engage, explore, know, visit,and preserve Montana history by joining and supporting the Montana Historical Society.

Upcoming Films and Events

Saturday, February 9, Second Saturday at MHS
Sponsored by Intrepid Credit Union, Second Saturday at MHS features free admission all day long and drawings for door prizes. Free admission is also offered at the Original Governor’s Mansion, 304 N. Ewing, where tours begin on the hour at noon, 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 9, 1:30 p.m.
Outdoor Gear Stories from the Treasure State: 75 Years of Outdoor Recreation History in Montana. Outdoor gear is central to Montanans’ identity. To learn how outdoor gear—from teardrop snowshoes to Frostline vests—has shaped Montanans’ outdoor experiences, University of Montana faculty member Rachel Gross and her students interviewed residents about their recreation experiences and visited their gear closets. Come see hear stories about a Yvon Chouinard–designed ice axe, a Trapper Nelson packboard, a bulky miner’s headlamp, and handmade outdoor gear and clothing that represent the changes in clothing and equipment technology since World War II.

Wednesday, February 20, 10:45 a.m.
Encounters in Avalanche Country, 1880–1910. In this presentation, Dr. Diana Di Stefano, editor of Montana The Magazine of Western History, will discuss the surprising ways nineteenth century miners and railway workers adapted to their challenging mountain environment in the American West, what they thought about avalanches, and who they blamed when disaster struck. This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Montana Historical Society.

Wednesday, February 27, 1:00 p.m., Rotunda of the Montana State Capitol
Gallery of Outstanding Montanans Induction Ceremony. Join us to celebrate the honorees in Montana’s Hall of Fame. Butte architects John G. “Gus” Link (1869–1954) and Charles S. Haire (1857–1925) worked both together and independently to help shape Montana’s built environment; their work includes the wings of the State Capitol, schools, churches, hospitals, office buildings, libraries, private homes, and a third of the state’s county courthouses. Fannie Sperry Steele (1887–1983) was born in the Prickly Pear Valley near Helena and learned to ride almost before she could walk. In 1907, Sperry began participating in women’s bucking horse competitions. At the Calgary Stampede in 1912, her ride on the bronc Red Wing earned her the title “Lady Bucking Horse Champion of the World.” She earned the title again in 1913.

Saturdays in February, every hour on the hour beginning at 10:00 a.m.
We will be showing historic films from the MHS film archives (Note: No film will be shown at times when another program, as described above, is schedule for the auditorium).

• Saturday, February 2—Kootenai and Old West Trail Country: Your Land and Mine
• Saturday, February 9—Interesting People in MT: Jean Sullivan and Montana and its Aircraft
• Saturday, February 16—YNP: The Scenic Wonderland of America and Red Sunday: The Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn
• Saturday, February 23—Daphne Bugbee-Jones: Montana Modernist and On Her Own Terms: The Outfitting Adventures of Mary Faith Hoeffner

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