Montana The Magazine of Western History

11/05/2025

We’re THRILLED to announce the debut of The Story of Us: The Women Who Shaped Montana – EPISODE III, featuring three extraordinary women whose strength, creativity, and determination helped shape Montana’s history. Please share this with anyone you know who would like to attend or watch!

Join us for one of our free public screenings:

Helena: The Myrna Loy – November 5 at 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Butte: Butte-Silver Bow Archives – November 13 at 6:00 p.m.
Great Falls: Davidson Family Auditorium at Great Falls High – November 25 at 6:30 p.m.

Can’t make a screening? Tune in for the Montana PBS premiere on November 13th at 7:30 p.m. on your local Montana PBS channel.

Episode III continues the series’ exploration of the remarkable women who shaped our state’s identity:

Ella Knowles Haskell, Montana’s first female lawyer and a political trailblazer who fought for women’s voices to be heard in the late 1800s. Fannie Sperry Steele, a fearless bronc rider from the Prickly Pear Valley who broke barriers for women in sports and western culture. Nancy Cooper Russell, wife and business partner of artist Charles M. Russell, who preserved his legacy while forging her own place in Montana’s cultural history. Through powerful storytelling, archival materials, and expert insights, Episode III shines a light on the depth and diversity of Montana women’s contributions to law, art, and western heritage.

We hope you’ll join us to celebrate these incredible stories and honor the women who helped shape Montana. Thank you again!

11/04/2025

The shelves are loaded again at the Montana Historical Society, and they're ready for company.

After years of construction, the archives are coming back to life in 2026. That means millions of photographs, letters, and documents—Montana's actual story, in fragments—will be accessible again to researchers.

Since 1983, these fellowships have funded 91 scholars digging through the state's past. The result? More than 30 articles and over 10 books. Real scholarship that turns archival fragments into narratives people actually read.

Three fellowships will be available: the James H. Bradley Fellowship ($4,000), the Montana History Network Fellowship ($2,000), and the Dave Walter Fellowship ($1,250). Applications open in February.

The new Montana Heritage Center opens to the public this spring.
📖 Read the full story: https://www.distinctlymontana.com/research-fellowships-return-montana-archives-prepare-reopen

📬 Subscribe for more Montana stories: https://dmt.magserv.com/fb

11/03/2025

Thank you, Visit Helena Montana. We can't wait to welcome everyone!

10/31/2025

"Ghost stories have existed as long as humans have contemplated mortality and the afterlife, but they are particular to the time and culture in which they arise," writes author Daniel Hanson, as he explores the roots of the American "ghost rush."

In our Autumn issue, Hanson takes us to the Bannack State Park ghost town near Dillon, Montana, for an exploration of ghost tourism and its uneasy station at the crossroads of morality, morbidity, and a basic human desire to experience history—from a safe distance, of course.

Know Your Montana: Subscribe today to the "Montana Magazine of Western History"! https://loom.ly/GWS0Q7Q

Caption: A ghostly "Girl in Blue" stares out the window of the Hotel Meade during the October 2023 Ghost Walk at Bannack State Park. This eldritch skit recounts the tragic tale of young Dorothy Dunn, who drowned near Bannack in 1916. The story has been part of the Ghost Walk since the event's 1993 inception. Photo credit: Brittany Phelan, photographer, October 28, 2023. Courtesy of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

10/31/2025

It’s Throwback Thursday and today we’re time traveling to our autumn 1973 issue, featuring a painting by Peter Rindisbacher. Titled “Indian Women in Tent,” the painting is one of the earliest known depictions of the inside of a tipi. Rindisbacher, a Swiss immigrant, is believed to have painted the piece in the St. Louis, Missouri, area shortly before his death at the age of 28 in 1834.

The issue also featured a humorous reminiscence by renowned western writer Dorothy M. Johnson, author of The Hanging Tree, A Man Called Horse and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, all three of which were made into motion pictures.

In “Number Please!,” Dorothy recounts her years as a relief switchboard operator, a job she started at the age of 14. Demand for the well-paid operator positions was intense, writes Dorothy in her tongue-in-cheek style: “There were usually two or three girls hopefully waiting for a chance to learn. The relief operator (unless she was me, not intending to make a career of it) hoped that one of the steady girls would get married, move away, or drop dead.”

To find back issues of "Montana The Magazine of Western History," visit https://loom.ly/XOrYztI To purchase, call 406-444-4708 or write [email protected].

Magazine Cover Art: "Indian Women in Tent" by Peter Rindisbacher, West Point Museum Collections, U.S. Military Academy.

10/30/2025

This week’s Throwback Thursday feature is our Autumn 1987 issue.

The themed edition, titled “The Centennial West—Politics,” features an 1899 architectural rendering of the Montana State Capitol by J.H. Kent, 1899.

Between November 2, 1889 and July 10, 1890, the largest block of states was admitted to the Union since the transformation of the thirteen British colonies, with Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Idaho, and Wyoming achieving statehood.

The magazine’s Executive Editor, William L. Lang, seized the opportunity of upcoming state centennials to dedicate the issue to this pivotal time for the West.

Articles included:
- "The Prizes of Statehood," by Kenneth N. Owens
- “Insurrection, Agitation, and Riots: The Police Power and Washington Statehood,” by Kent D. Richards.
- “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves”: The Farmers Alliance and Dakota Statehood,” by Larry Remele
- “Spoils of Statehood: Montana Communities in Conflict, 1888-1894,” by William L. Lang.

To order back issues of “Montana The Magazine of Western History,” call 406-444-4708 or write [email protected].

10/30/2025

Want to dig deeper? In our Spring 2023 issue, the Montana Historical Society's Jennifer Bottomly-O'looney delves into the life and art of Voldemar Podder, chronicling his artistic journey through two world wars, life in a post-war displaced persons camp, and subsequent emigration to America, where he settled in Butte, Montana. While Podder surrounded himself with a community of artists and lifelong friends in Butte, little is known about his personal life and world views. Bottomly-O'looney writes that Podder's work "remains a cryptic archive of a man's journey through tremendous suffering and trauma." Podder's assemblage of work—296 paintings, 15 woodcut and linoleum block prints, and seven sculptures—is now part of the Montana Historical Society's permanent collection.
Bottomly-O'looney is the co-author of the award-winning "Montana's Charlie Russell: Art in the Collection of the "Montana Historical Society" and co-author of "Charles M. Russell: The Women in his Life and Art."
To order back issues of the magazine, call 406-444-4708 or write [email protected].

Estonian soldier and physician Voldemar Podder (1899–1971), began painting after escaping N**i occupied Estonia in 1944. Podder spent a decade living in European refugee camps, aiding the wounded and honing his macabre, surrealist and neo-expressionist art style. His paintings were inspired by the misery and horrors he witnessed during both World Wars. In 1956, Podder immigrated to Montana where he continued to paint fastidiously exploring religious, mythological and historical, themes conveyed through his use of dark hues and striking contrast. This untitled piece—depicting a silhouetted figure dangling limply from a frigid hanging tree—may have been inspired by Montana’s murky history of vigilantism.

Painting (Untitled)

Oil on canvas, 1956

Collection No. X1970.30.240

10/29/2025

10/29/2025

10/24/2025

We love this! Legendary Montana reporter and current Montana Historical Society Board Member Norma Ashby puts actor Vincent Price at ease in a television interview in the early 1970s!

Price chats with Ashby about his recently released book, "Treasury of American Art," and in particular his love for Charlie Russell and pieces by Native American artists.

Thank you, Distinctly Montana, for sharing!

Montana Historical Society KRTV Great Falls

In the interview, Price discusses his desire to have a Charlie Russell ashtray, his abiding love for Native-American art, his opinion on whether men or women are better cooks, talks about his affection for the "young director Roger Corman" (still alive to

10/24/2025

10/24/2025

🚨Purchase your Bootlegger Ball tickets by 2pm Wednesday to guarantee your entree choice!

After Wednesday, October 22 at 2pm, your entree choices will be limited! Call 406-452-3462 ASAP to choose between Steak Diane, Chicken à la King, or Eggplant Parmesan