Save the Date!
The 52nd Annual Montana History Conference, "A Place in Time," will be held September 25-27, 2025, at the Best Western Great Northern Hotel in Helena.
Keynote speakers will include first-person interpreter Hasan Davis as York, Montana historian Kirby Lambert on memorable historic places; Montana journalist and conservationist Todd Wilkinson on Montana identity, and Piikuni elders Smokey and Darnell Rides at the Door on Blackfeet oral traditions.
Renewal units will be available for both the Thursday educator workshop and all conference sessions and tours. (Check here after July 1 for more details.) We hope you’ll consider attending!
As in past years, we will be offering travel scholarships for both teachers and college students.
About the Schedule
Thursday, September 25
The conference begins with an all-day educator workshop on Thursday and presentations by
- OPI Indian Education Specialist Mike Jetty (Spirit Lake Dakota) on the Declaration of Independence and its reference to "merciless Indian savages";
- Language and Cultural Preservation Department original territories researchers Nolan Brown and Bailey Dann (Newe) on curriculum they've developed for teaching about the Shoshone-Bannock tribes, whose traditional homeland includes parts of Montana;
- Dylan Huisken (2020 Montana Teacher of the Year) on teaching about treaties; and
- Kathy Martin and Mary Ellen Little Mustache (Piikuni) presenting the Blackfeet Medicine Show, featuring artifacts, art, stories, and games.
A welcoming reception Thursday evening will offer a sneak peek at the new Montana Heritage Center, followed by a showing of Winter in the Blood at the Myrna Loy Center.
Friday, September 26
Whereas the Thursday educator workshop includes a combination of content and teaching strategies, Friday focuses exclusively on content, with presentations on a range of Montana history topics, from the 1855 Lame Bull Treaty to the dams that changed western Montana. Tours of two historic cemeteries and a tour of Helena's African American history will be offered Friday afternoon for folks who are interested in visiting historic places. The evening will end with dinner and a movie, in this case a screening of Episode 3 of The Story of Us: The Women Who Shaped Montana.
Saturday, September 27
Saturday morning brings more focus on content, including talks about Bannack's Chinese community, the Western Federation of Miners union, graphic design of the WPA, and more. Optional tours of Charter Oak Mine and Mill and Hidden Helena historic building tour closes out the conference on Saturday afternoon.
About the Scholarships
Funded by the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, the scholarships will consist of full conference registration plus up to $400 in travel/expense reimbursement. All teachers and students in Montana’s colleges and universities are eligible to apply (residents of Helena and vicinity are eligible for the conference registration scholarship but not the travel reimbursement). We will also be offering scholarships to cover the $30 registration fee for teachers who only wish to attend the Thursday workshop.
Teacher recipients of the full scholarship must attend the entire conference, including Thursday’s Educators Workshop and the Saturday sessions (afternoon tours are optional). Student recipients must commit to attending all day Friday and Saturday, including a Saturday tour.
Preference will be given to
- Helena area teachers
- Teachers and students from Montana tribal colleges
- Teachers from Montana's on-reservation schools
- Students from Montana community colleges and four-year universities
- Teachers from Montana's rural, under-served communities.
Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. June 16, 2025. Awards will be announced on Friday, June 27, 2025. Applying for a scholarship is quick and easy. Apply online.
P.S. My recent email about the August Historical Thinking through Student-Driven Research training listed the right date in one place and the wrong date in the other. The training will take place in Billings August 5-6 (9 a.m.-5 p.m. both days.) Learn more or apply through this link.
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