Montana The Magazine of Western History

10/14/2025

Get the spooky vibes going with this audio book CD read by award-winning Montana historian Ellen Baumler.

Perfect for a Halloween-themed book club gathering or an October road trip!

Order from farcountrypress.com and you’ll also receive a companion CD featuring haunting melodies from Montana pianist and composer Philip Aaberg.

Order today at https://loom.ly/CtDrHDQ

10/09/2025

Are you a graduate student or early career scholar? Submit your work to our Emerging Scholar Contest!

We welcome 5,500-7,500 word manuscripts that deal with significant facets of Western history or provide a new interpretation of historical topics or trends. Manuscripts do not need to focus on Montana history, but must address a topic related to the American West.

To learn more and submit your work: https://loom.ly/mYtI3kA

Published since 1951, Montana The Magazine of Western History showcases the people, places, and events that shaped the state and the western region. In addition to scholarly feature articles, the magazine includes book reviews, commentaries on historical events and people, and advertising relevant t...

10/07/2025

Our MTHS Publications Team is excited to see our friends and colleagues at the Western History Association 2025 Conference in Albuquerque next week! If you’re headed to New Mexico, please stop by our table to learn about all the exciting new things happening at the Montana Historical Society.

Don’t miss our Thursday morning panel discussion! As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Montana The Magazine of Western History, editors past and present—Chuck Rankin, Diana Di Stefano, and Jeff Bartos—will join historians Renee Laegreid and Kerri Clement for a discussion of the magazine’s legacy, our contribution to the field of Western History and what’s next for one of the nation’s most respected history journals.

If you’re a graduate student or early career scholar, please visit with us to learn more about the Emerging Scholar Article Contest.

See links in our profile to shop, subscribe and learn more!



Western History Association

10/02/2025

Caption: "Bud Lilly poses next to his truck outside his trout shop in West Yellowstone. Lilly's work as a teacher turned entrepreneur, fishing guide, mentor, and conservationist made him a Montana outdoors legend. He influenced MSU Library's Archives and Special Collections decision to establish its Trout and Salmonid Collection by soliciting the donation of a private library."

Read more about the intersection of angling and academics in our autumn issue with Montana State University librarians Heather Mulliner and James Thull.

Their article "Documenting a Life in Fishing and Literature: The Thomas McGuane Papers at Montana State University," explores the writings of Thomas McGuane, who donated his papers to the library in 2022.
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Photo Credit: Photographer unknown, ca. 1960–1970. 2258-11-16-007, Bud Lilly Papers, MSU Library.

Big Sky Anglers

09/30/2025

Congratulations to these aspiring historians! Their posters drew a lot of interest and positive comments at the Montana History Conference last week!



Helena Public Schools

09/26/2025

Congratulations, to one of Montana’s best!!! Thank you, Allen, for your contributions to Montana’s literary tradition and cultural heritage. Well deserved!

We're thrilled to announce that Governor Gianforte has named Allen Morris Jones of Bozeman as Montana's Poet Laureate for 2025–2026.

With a 30-year career in writing and publishing, Jones has published more than 100 poems, essays, profiles, short stories and incidental pieces. His most recent book of poetry, Mumblecusser (Drumlummon Institute, 2023) won the High Plains International Book Awards, and was his second book to be named an honor book by the Montana Book Awards. Jones is the owner/publisher of Bangtail Press, which has published numerous Montana writers since its founding.

Allen says he's thrilled to be carrying on the work of previous poets laureate like Mark Gibbons, Mandy Smoker Broaddus, Melissa Kwasny and Chris La Tray. “I’ve watched as some of the finest writers in the country have sat in this laureate chair and advocated for poetry and literature even while shaping the public dialogue. I’m grateful that I now have the opportunity to continue their work.”

Congratulations, Allen!

09/24/2025

Listen in as Montana Historical Society Press author Michael K. Johnson discusses his book “A Black Woman’s West: The Life of Rose B. Gordon.”

Johnson joined “The Naked Rancher” podcast host Ginger Allen to talk about the remarkable life path of the White Sulphur Springs restauranteur, massage therapist, caretaker, and newspaper columnist. In an era when Black women in America were marginalized, Rose distinguished herself as a community influencer and public figure.

“People loved her, right, and she loved people,” Johnson told Allen during his interview for the podcast’s “Women Rancher Series.”

“Her interest in local history was part of what she wrote about,” Johnson recounts. “She did these memorial tributes for people in the newspaper after they died. Those were extremely popular, and she wrote into the hundreds of these.”

Johnson’s book is available for purchase at https://loom.ly/g_Ty_bQ

09/22/2025

“Montana The Magazine of Western History” extends our sympathy to the colleagues, friends, and family of Dr. Quintard Taylor, one of the foremost historians of the Black experience in the American West. Taylor left a major impact on the historiography of the Black West through his publications and through BlackPast.org An article drawn from Taylor’s classic 1997 book “In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528–1990” appeared in the Winter 1996 issue of "Montana."

Taylor was the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor Emeritus of American History at the University of Washington and a president of the Western History Association in 2011.

09/22/2025

Acclaimed Montana author Thomas McGuane donated his papers to Montana State University in 2022. Spanning more than 36 linear feet across sixty-three boxes, the collection runs from McGuane’s master’s thesis at Yale to his most recent collection of short stories, “A Wooded Shore,” published in 2025.

In our autumn issue, MSU archivists Heather Mulliner (right) and James Thull (left) ply the rich depths of the collection, where the currents of literature and angling mix.

McGuane’s papers bridge the university library’s Trout and Salmonid Collection and its collections of Western and regional writers, where McGuane joins the likes of Ivan Doig, Paul Schullery, and John Gierach—authors whose work has helped define and shape the West.

Indeed, McGuane’s work left an indelible mark on the Livingston area where he settled and drew inspiration.

“Rather than moving to Los Angeles or New York to be closer to established literary and art scenes, McGuane settled in Montana and created his own scene, drawing a cadre of offbeat artists and writers to the Rocky Mountains,” write Mulliner and Thull, who take us on a fascinating journey through McGuane’s work, from the glitz of Hollywood to the glimmer of a quiet trout creek.

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09/18/2025

With their allure of “arrested decay,” ghost towns are popular draws for tourists wanting to explore the real West and the mythical one. In “There’s Ghosts in Them Thar Hills!: Ghost Walking through Bannack’s Dark History,” Daniel Hanson examines the Gothic roots of disaster tourism, the rise of ghost towns’ popularity, and how some historical topics are more appropriate than others for the spooky treatment.

Grab a blanket and a cup of warm apple cider and enjoy this insightful autumn read!

Not a subscriber? Want to gift “Montana” to a friend? Sign up today at https://loom.ly/h5w-7f0

09/02/2025

As we welcome kids across Montana to the 2025-26 school year, we owe much to the inspiration for this classic brick school building located in the town of Terry about 35 miles northeast of Miles City.

Its namesake, Charles W. Grandey, arrived in Terry in 1907 to teach in a two-room schoolhouse. “The budding community quickly embraced Grandey’s energy and enthusiasm, and in January 1908, the school board offered to build a new grade school if Grandey would stay on. He agreed, and voters passed a $15,000 bond issue,” writes historian Christine Brown in our newly released book, “A History of Montana in 101 Places: Sites and Stories from the Montana Historical Society.”

Grandey went on to influence public education statewide, helping revise Montana school law in 1912, rewriting Montana’s high school English curriculum, and stopping proposed cuts to humanities instruction during World War II. He was a founding member and president of the Montana Education Association (now the Montana Federation of Public Employees) and the Montana High Schools Association.

Writes Brown: “A newspaper reporter wrote of Grandey’s accomplishments in 1947, ‘To be sure there was a Terry before Grandey came west. There would have been a Terry if he had never migrated, but it would have been a different Terry.’ And without Grandey, it would have been a different Montana.”

The Grandey School is just one of the educational institutions featured in “A History of Montana in 101 Places” alongside train depots, theaters, homestead cabins, and numerous other buildings and landscapes that have made and remade Big Sky Country. Get your copy today at https://loom.ly/KiKiGmQ or visit your local bookstore.

Photography by Tom Ferris.



Farcountry Press