Spiritualism and Madams in 19th Century Bozeman highlight special Extreme History PechaKucha Night at the Ellen
Spiritualism, or talking with the dead, enjoyed incredible popularity in the 19th century. Marsha Fulton will describe the rise of spiritualism and its unique twist in Bozeman. Dia Johnson will talk about another shadowy side of the town in her presentation on madams and prostitution.
Both presentations are part of a special Extreme History PechaKucha Night Wednesday, Sept. 13 and Thursday, Sept. 14 at the Ellen Theatre at PK’s new start time of 6:40 p.m.
The Bozeman-based Extreme History project s a nonprofit group that makes history more relevant by looking for untold or little-told stories that helped shape the community.
Other fascinating presentations include Rachel Phillips on “The Mystery of Sammy Williams.” Sammy cooked for many years for rancher Henry Heeb and others in the Manhattan area, but died with a big secret only discovered after his death. Kelly Hartman will describe the early years of the Cooke City mining camp as seen through the letters of a loyal miner’s wife. And Anthony Wood will tell the neglected story of blacks in Montana at the turn of the century through the trial of one black man and his connection to the Zanzibar Club in Helena.
Nancy Mahoney relates the early history of archeology in Montana through the controversial story of Oscar Lewis, a self-taught archeologist and foreman at the WPA excavation at Pictograph Cave. He was later accused of looting historical artifacts. Bekah Shields gives us an inside look at the fascinating history of the Ellen Theatre, built by the Story family in 1919.
Other presentations include Shane Doyle’s “Messages from Medicine Wheel Country” and Lisa Verwys’ behind-the–scenes look at how the Museum of the the Rockies curates its history collection. Finally, for those who want to know more about this alternative approach to looking at history, Crystal Alegria and Marsha Fulton offer “10 Things You Should Know about the Extreme History Project.”
Emcee is author, comedian and actor Kent Davis. The event is sponsored by American Bank.
PechaKucha (peh-chak-cha) offers anyone with a passion or a vision–designers, artists, inventors, architects, adventurers, entrepreneurs—an opportunity to share their ideas with the community during a fast-paced, friendly social get-together. There’s just one catch—presenters have only 20 slides x 20 seconds each, a total of 6 minutes, 40 seconds!
Advance tickets ($7.50 plus $1.50 restoration fee) are available online at theellentheatre.com. Student tickets are available at the door for $5.