Fun, educational family days & informative lectures set up at MOR
A Mecca for the Gallatin Valley’s curious minds, the Museum of the Rockies is never in short supply of special events to accompany its many exhibits. Here’s a look at some upcoming happenings at your neighborhood museum.
To commemorate its new exhibit, MOR will host the Genghis Khan Family Day on Saturday, June 1st from 10am–noon. Explore the life, land, people, and culture of the Mongolian Empire during a morning filled with extra educational activities. Games, crafts, and more will help attendees understand and discover this summer’s changing exhibit. Included with museum admission.
Following on Saturday, June 8th, join to celebrate the unveiling of the Nation’s T. rex in Washington D.C. with cookies and lemonade. The event will take place at the MOR Front Entrance from 1–2pm. In 2013, the fossil bones of Wankel T. rex (MOR 555) were sent to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History as a 50-year loan from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In its new pose devouring a Triceratops, the Nation’s T. rex will be the centerpiece of the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils – Deep Time, a 31,000-square-foot dinosaur and fossil hall slated to open on June 8th at the Smithsonian. A bronze sculpture of the Wankel T. rex, known as Big Mike, continues to welcome members and visitors to Museum of the Rockies. Free and open to the public.
Also on June 8th, the Living History Farm will host a Weaving & Crafting Family Day from 1–4pm. Waste Not, Want Knot. Discover what crafts were practiced by Montana homesteaders with Living History Farm volunteers and members of the Bozeman Weavers Guild. Weave some, knit some, and maybe even spin a little as local weavers, spinners, and knitters share their skills. Free and open to the public.
The Walter Rosenberry Lectures on the American West Series will present “The Steamboat Bertrand and the Montana and Idaho Transportation Company, 1865” with archaeologist and author Ronald Switzer on Thursday, June 13th in Hager Auditorium at 6pm. Free and open to the public.
This lecture will be about the remarkable Captain John J. Roe and the April 1, 1865 wreck of the steamboat Bertrand. The story of the Bertrand is inextricably linked to the Diamond “R” Transportation Company, which provided freight delivery to Fort Benton, Helena, Virginia City, and other gold mining towns.
In 1968, more than 300,000 artifacts were excavated from the wreck, most of which were in a remarkable state of preservation. Join Switzer for a fascinating presentation on the Bertrand’s cargo and what it tells us about the history of Montana’s river commerce.
Following Thursday, June 20th, the Extreme History Project Lecture series continues with “Indian Economics 101” at 6pm. The talk will be held in Hager Auditorium and is open to the public.
The lecture will discuss how the Blackfoot Confederacy’s economic influence over the Hudson Bay region perpetuated a unique condition for early non-indigenous traders to adapt and ultimately open the door for colonial and corporate interests to decide the economic fate of the tribes, whose best interests were not supported by their trustee, the U.S. Government. This analysis also includes a contemporary understanding of how historical trauma and other conditions experienced by the Blackfoot precipitated the current issues facing tribal nations, their remaining homelands, and the potential economic opportunities (and challenges) on the horizon that could bring back a sustainable, equitable economic future through self-determination and the exercise of the inherent tribal sovereignty they reserved for themselves through treaties with the U.S. Government.
MOR’s annual summer series Hops & History continues with Montana Brewing History, Part I on Tuesday, June 25th with Bridger Brewing and The Mint Café from 5:30–7:30pm. Take a look back at the Treasure State’s pioneer brewers. Brewmasters needed experience, good sources of ingredients and a little luck to survive in Montana’s territorial days. There was always a market for their beer however, as hard-working miners, ranchers, farmers and community builders brought a taste for beer with them! Admission for this 21+ event is $15, plus a $3 souvenir mug charge for new participants – reuse your mug!
Future Hops & History events include Brewing Montana History: Part II on July 30th with Pizza Campania and Bozeman Brewing Company, followed by the closing Hops & History Season Celebration at the Living History Farm on August 27th.
Also at MOR, NEW exhibit The Real Genghis Khan is now open. Explore the culture, conquests, and heritage of one of the world’s greatest conquerors, when the treasures and stories of Genghis Khan’s Mongol Empire are presented in Bozeman for the first time. The Genghis Khan exhibition offers an adventure in the vast grassland of Central Asia, amid the relics of Genghis Khan’s reign.
Experience life in 13th-century Mongolia, entering the tents, battlegrounds, and marketplaces of a vanished world. Explore Genghis Khan’s life and those of his sons and grandsons during the formation, peak, and decline of the Mongol Empire. View rare treasures with more than 200 spectacular objects on display to illustrate this story, including gold jewelry and ornaments, silk robes, musical instruments, pottery, sophisticated weaponry, and numerous other fascinating relics and elaborate artifacts.
Accompanying the exhibit, daily live performances by Mongolian artists will feature traditional music and dances. These will begin at 12:30pm and 3:30pm through Sept. 2nd in Hager Auditorium. Please note: there will be no performances June 7th–9th. And beginning June 8th, exhibit tours will also run daily at 2:15pm.
For more information about these and other upcoming events, as well as the Museum’s exhibits, visit www.museumoftherockies.org. •