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

Wednesday, March 6, 12:00 p.m. Empowered and Empowering Women
Historian Dr. Ellen Baumler will present a portfolio of women whose stories demonstrate resilience and strength of character. Some—like Caroline McGill, Frieda Fligelman, and Sarah Bickford—may be familiar. But others—like Ma Smith and Sheriff Ruth Garfield—are unsung heroes who made their marks under the Big Sky. The timeless legacies of these special women serve to inspire and empower us to live up to the bar they raised and be the best that we can be. This program is part of the March Lecture Series which is sponsored by the Friends of the Montana Historical Society as their primary annual fundraiser. Lectures are $5.00 each. Feel free to bring a brown-bag lunch. Seating is first come, first served, and is limited to 57 people. Call Katie White at 406-444-9553 or email kwhite@mt.gov to get your name on the list and reserve a spot in the auditorium. Payment is accepted at the door the day of the program.

Saturday, March 9, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., 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. 

Wednesday, March 13, 12:00 p.m. Margaret “Unsinkable Molly” Brown and a Mythmaking Press
One of the American’s twentieth century’s most enduring myths, the life of Margaret "Unsinkable Molly" Brown, was largely a creation of the press and a society that craved a very specific type of heroine. Mary Jane Bradbury will explore the legend that formed around Margaret Brown, even in her own lifetime, a myth that has been unraveled to reveal a remarkable woman quite different from the popular story. Margaret was the epitome of the reform era’s "New Woman," and she used her wealth and fame to work for the social, political and labor reforms she felt were critically needed during the early decades of the twentieth century. Bradbury will reveal the truth about Brown’s life and about the era’s myth-making press that almost always chose to “print the legend.” This program is part of the March Lecture Series which is sponsored by the Friends of the Montana Historical Society as their primary annual fundraiser. Lectures are $5.00 each. Feel free to bring a brown-bag lunch. Seating is first come, first served, and is limited to 57 people. Call Katie White at 406-444-9553 or email kwhite@mt.gov to get your name on the list and reserve a spot in the auditorium. Payment is accepted at the door the day of the program.

Tuesday, March 19, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Come celebrate women’s history month with the Interagency Committee for Change by as it hosts Mary Jane Bradbury's first-person presentation of Jeannette Rankin. Humanitarian, pacifist, and tireless advocate for social reform, Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to U.S. Congress, and the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. entry into both world wars. Hear about her journey from grass roots suffragist to being the first woman to participate in United State government.  Hear in her own words her views on equality and government reform— words that still ring true today. Join us as gifted storyteller Mary Jane brings Jeannette Rankin’s story to life! Light refreshments will be provided.

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m. Blackfeet John L. "Cutapuis" Clarke and the Silent Call of Glacier National Park: America's Wood Sculptor
Raised at the edge of what would become Glacier National Park on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and robbed of his hearing by scarlet fever at age two, John L. Clarke overcame many hardships to become a celebrated and widely collected artist. He rose to fame by applying his passions for the Glacier country, its wildlife, and Native Americans to the arts of wood carving, sculpture, sketching, and painting. Author Larry Len Peterson accompanies the tale of this Blackfeet icon with photographs, printed materials, full-color images of his artworks, and images of contextual works from other famed artists of the time to provide a unique view of the artist's historic and cultural milieu: a view at once panoramic and intimate.  Peterson will be the featured speaker on Saturday, March 23, at the Russell Educational Symposium—offered as part of the Russell Auction—in Great Falls.  His presentation in Helena, however, will mark the book’s début. Copies are limited, so get yours today: https://app.mt.gov/Shop/mhsstore/blackfeet-john-l-cutapuis-clarke-and-the-silent-call-of-glacier-national-park-americas-wood-sculptor

Wednesday, March 20, 12:00 p.m. Homes & Honky Tonks: Post WWII Women in Country
Singer-songwriter Almeda Bradshaw will examine the ways in which honky-tonk music became the voice of working-class country folk, exposing the loneliness and alienation they felt as they coped with the stress and adjustments of life after the atomic bomb. 1950s suburban conformity, meant to help normalize the family unit, only contributed to feelings of victimization for both men and women. Examine how PTSD, then unrecognized, contributed to the dysfunction of families and learn how Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and others responded in their songs to the social changes of post-World War II America. This program is part of the March Lecture Series which is sponsored by the Friends of the Montana Historical Society as their primary annual fundraiser. Lectures are $5.00 each. Feel free to bring a brown-bag lunch. Seating is first come, first served, and is limited to 57 people. Call Katie White at 406-444-9553 or email kwhite@mt.gov to get your name on the list and reserve a spot in the auditorium. Payment is accepted at the door the day of the program.

Wednesday, March 27 Living with the Land
Louise Ogemahgeshig Fischer will describe the American Indian struggle for survival in often harsh conditions, triumph over hardships, and spiritual and creative achievements. Her inspiring talk enhances understanding of how Indian peoples traditionally lived, what they ate, wore, and used for medicine. Fischer, a traditionally raised Anishinaabe artist, has been sharing traditional knowledge for the past thirty years. This program is part of the March Lecture Series which is sponsored by the Friends of the Montana Historical Society as their primary annual fundraiser. Lectures are $5.00 each. Feel free to bring a brown-bag lunch. Seating is first come, first served, and is limited to 57 people. Call Katie White at 406-444-9553 or email kwhite@mt.gov to get your name on the list and reserve a spot in the auditorium. Payment is accepted at the door the day of the program.

Most Saturdays in March, every hour on the hour beginning at 10:00 a.m.
We will be showing historic films from the MHS film archives.

• Saturday, March 2, Construction of Fort Peck Dam
• Saturday, March 9, No movies will be shown
• Saturday, March 16, Growing Baby Beef in Montana
• Saturday, March 23, Explore the Old West Trail Country and ACMC—Copper Refineries
• Saturday, March 30, The Wind Drinkers and Interesting People in Montana: Al Hibbard

Sign up to learn about upcoming programs.