Historical Society Hosts April Events
The Montana Historical Society is hosting their third Saturday Pop-up Exhibit event April 14. Paul Snyder will talk about how childhood interest in his local saloon’s large, ornate backbar led him to delve deeper into their history as well as the bars they graced. Fascinated by their artistic woodwork, Snyder captured both their history and took as many photographs as possible of Montana’s backbars. Join Snyder for a close up of these beautiful, often overlooked, silent witnesses to Montana’s history. The talk is set for Thursday at 4:30 p.m. As a bonus, admission is free for all the MTHS galleries. If you can’t make it to MTHS, the exhibit will be available via livestream the MTHS You-Tube channel youtube.com/ user/MtHistoricalSociety The program is being recorded.
Additional MTHS program offerings for April include the following. All programs will be available online.
For decades after the emancipation of African Americans from slavery, Black communities across the country celebrated this freedom annually. The Emancipation Proclamation was celebrated on either Jan. 1, when it took effect, or on Sept. 22, the day it was first announced in 1863. Still other celebrations took place on Aug. 1, marking the end of slavery in the British empire in the 1830s. But in the American West, a curious custom of celebrating Emancipation Day on Aug. 4 persisted. Anthony Woods, the author of Black Montana: Settler Colonialism and the Erosion of the Racial Frontier, will share the origins of this other Emancipation Day and suggest the meaning it may have had in the Black communities of the American West. This presentation is set for Wednesday, April 20, at noon.
Richard A. Harlow, without adequate financing, is said to have “jawboned” (talked) the first railroad in central Montana into existence. That creation, thereafter known only as the Jawbone, is one of the most interesting stretches of the Milwaukee Road. Join Montana Historical Society Board of Trustee President and longtime educator Hal Stearns to learn about this 157-mile stretch between the cities of Lombard and Lewistown Montana, through the sixteen Mile Canyon. The event is set for Thursday, April 21, at 4:30 p.m.
In 1846, the Mexican American War cast together Latter-day Saints fleeing persecution and the U.S. Army on a desperate mission to capture California. The Mormon Battalion — including two pregnant laundresses — had to march two thousand miles. Among the army’s First Dragoons was Moses Cole, a Virginia farm boy running from his abusive father. Among the Mormons was Orson Everett, who battled personal devils while teaching his followers to work for their brethren with God in their hearts. On such a journey, some will thrive, some will perish, all will be transformed. This deeply researched depiction of the U. S. military’s longest march, told in evocative prose, brings a little known yet uniquely American story to life. The event is set for Thursday, April 28, at 4:30 p.m.
