| Get a glimpse of sites statewide, including Kalispell’s Woodland Park, that made the cut for 101 places that tell Montana’s story, and learn why, by one of the authors, Kirby Lambert (pictured), an engaging presenter with a lifelong love of Montana history. From the ever-busy Logan Pass Visitor Center in Glacier National Park to the rusting remnants of Smith Mine Number 3 on a lonely hillside in Carbon County, A History of Montana in 101 Places is an impressive anthology of the locations that have made and remade the Last Best Place. The illustrated 304-page book from the Montana Historical Society Press follows on the popular A History of Montana in 101 Objects (2021). Essays by current and former Montana Historical Society historians Christine Brown, Martha Kohl, Kirby Lambert and the late Ellen Baumler are accompanied by photographs from Tom Ferris. Some images, like Alberta Bair’s bright yellow kitchen in her home near Martinsdale, need little visual interpretation, leaving us to enjoy the carefully researched and artfully told stories of the people who created them. Others, like the remote Rosebud Battlefield National Historic Landmark in Big Horn County—known to the Tsétsėhéstȧhese naa Suhtaio (Northern Cheyenne) as “Where the Girl Saved Her Brother”—offer few visual clues to the dramatic history they have witnessed and are brought to life instead by the stories behind them. The selections show cultural, economic and political developments that shaped the Montana we know today. Battlefields and government buildings appear alongside homes, schools, and taverns. Indigenous cultural sites share space with farms and mines, telling the stories of the community groups, tribes, elected officials, workers, and everyday folks who lived and labored there. About the presenter: Now retired, Kirby Lambert worked for more than 36 years at the Montana Historical Society where he served in a variety of capacities—as museum registrar, curator of collections, curator of art, and director of outreach and education. Among numerous other duties, he curated nearly three dozen exhibits on a wide variety of topics relating to Montana art and history and, for a number of years, organized the society’s annual Montana History Conference. Kirby has co-authored several publications, and regularly contributes to Montana The Magazine of Western History. Details: Doors open 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26, for history happy hour in Hollensteiner-Stahl Hall; free presentation starts 6 p.m. Northwest Montana History Museum, 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell; 406-756-8381; nwmthistory.org Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays through August |
