Tony Coppola, 9th grade teacher at Lone Peak High School in Big Sky, MT is the winner of the 29th Montana Statehood Centennial Bell Award honoring the Montana History teacher of the Year. A native of Wooster, Ohio, Coppola attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he double majored in History and Adventure Recreation and Outdoor Read More »
By Bethany Monroe DeBorde, The River Press From Charlie Russell artwork to Ming dynasty porcelain and Native American artifacts, Saturday’s Antiques Appraisal Fair in Fort Benton drew a wide variety of unique items brought from all over Montana. Organizers initially sold out of appraisal tickets, but the appraisers agreed to stay late, evaluating about 260 items for the public over the course of the day, said Read More »
One day in the 1990s, Ruth McFarland was reading a Montana Historical Society newsletter that sent her on a path that led to the historic gold rush towns of Virginia and Nevada cities. The newsletter announced the state’s purchase of Virginia City and Nevada City and the immediate need for restoration of the towns’ historic Read More »
“Cemeteries aren’t often on the top of the list when considering Montana’s cultural heritage. However, the state is home to hundreds of historic burial sites that provide a glimpse into the past and the people who made our future possible.” Click here to read the rest of the article from the Great Falls Tribune. Read More »
Beyond the fences of the Forestvale Cemetery, hidden in tufts of cheatgrass, sage and prickly pear, the stories of Montana’s foreign pioneers decay in heavy thumbprint depressions in the ground. As many as 200 Chinese immigrants were buried beyond the gothic arches, but the blank patch of prairie outside Forestvale wasn’t their final resting place—at least it wasn’t meant Read More »
China Row, an unkempt field outside of Forestvale Cemetery near Helena, lies filled with mostly unmarked graves of Chinese people from Helena and surrounding towns who were buried between 1890 and 1955. There were originally over 200 burials, but small-town rumors hold that the graves were disinterred in the 1950s, with the remains being sent back to Read More »
The Montana Historical Society just had a great reception for some of the Montana ranch women whose stories are told in a new book, “Montana Women: From the Ground Up.” Available Online at the MHS Museum Store The “Ground” in the title reminded me of the day I arrived at the ranch. As I drove Read More »
The Montana History Foundation invites you to a 3-day Cemetery Preservation Technology Workshop in Helena, June 21st – 23rd. Come meet Kayle, a specially-trained forensic canine who helps locate unmarked gravesites. Learn more about the capabilities of ground penetrating radar, forensic archaeology, drone photography and more. The workshop is open to the public and the Read More »
Two years ago, Kim Murphy Kohn, an archives technician at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, tuned into a friend’s online museum exhibit in Richmond, Virginia, titled “50 Objects of Richmond.” She was intrigued. It’s a given that when residents think of Butte, mining comes to mind for many. Still, others think of Our Lady of Read More »
Helena’s Guardian of the Gulch now has a guardian of its own. After a 2016 arson fire damaged the southwest strut of the Helena icon, the city floated plans to tear down the tower and build a replica in its place. But a group of concerned citizens has since come forward to take a closer Read More »