MOR enters Year’s final months with new Exhibits, revealing Lectures & an Early Brews
Museum of the Rockies is known far and wide for the famous Siebel Dinosaur Complex, also attracting visitors with its changing exhibits. This fall sees Amazing Butterflies and Light on the Land: The Photographs of Albert Schlechten in the south Bozeman space. But that’s not all!
MOR hosts regular public events, many of which are free of admission. Here’s a look at some upcoming happenings at our neighborhood museum.
First up is special lecture “Thurgood Marshall: The Story Behind the Supreme Court Justice” at 6pm on Monday, November 4th.
Acting Director of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture Dr. Spencer Crew will present an in-depth look at Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. During his long tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court (1967-1991), Justice Marshall played a key role in advancing American civil rights. The grandson of slaves, Marshall had a distinguished legal career before being appointed to the Court by President Lyndon Johnson. Among his notable legal victories was Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education.
The Gallatin History Museum Lecture Series continues with “Encounters in Yellowstone” on Wednesday, November 6th. Author M. Mark Miller will present at 6pm.
Few know the stories of the confrontations between the Nez Perce Indians and tourists to the new Yellowstone National Park during the late 19th century. Encounters in Yellowstone, Miller’s book from which the lecture is based, tells about those thrilling adventures: Emma Cowan’s watching Indians shoot her husband in the head and then taking her captive; Andrew Weikert’s blazing gun battles when he tries to rescue friends missing after an Indian attack; and George Cowan’s six-mile crawl to get help after he was shot three times and left for dead. The book tells these and other true stories with all the detail and drama of fiction.
In conjunction with its new “Light on the Land” exhibit, Museum of the Rockies presents lecture “Through the Camera’s Lens: Early Bozeman Photographers” at 6pm on Thursday, November 7th.
Beginning in the late 1860s, Bozeman was home to several commercial and amateur photographers. Their photographs provide a valuable record of the people, places, and events of Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley. Steve Jackson, MOR’s curator of art and photography, will present a look at these early photographers from the museum’s extensive Photo Archive collections.
The next edition in MSU’s College of Letters and Science Distinguished Speakers Series will take place Tuesday, November 12th. Journalist and writer Todd Miller will present “Climate Change, Migration and the Expansion of U.S. Border Security” at 5:30pm.
The twenty-first century has brought about the rapid hardening of international borders. Security, surveillance and militarization are widening the chasm between those who travel as they please and those whose movements are restricted. Miller’s work takes a hard look at the intersection between climate change, migration, border security and the corporations that profit from border militarization. Using examples from throughout the world, Miller considers the implications of a world where borders become battlegrounds and where rich nations barricade themselves from the poor and environmentally exposed.
The next Science Inquiry Lecture, “Ice Patch Archaeology: Exploring the Greater Yellowstone’s High-Elevation Human Past,” is set for Wednesday, November 13th. The presentation will begin at 7pm.
What can we learn about the history and heritage of Greater Yellowstone’s human story as ancient materials are revealed in melting high-altitude ice? Dr. Craig Lee, research scientist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and instructor at Montana State University, will share his insights in exploring high-elevation sites to understand the long Native American presence in the Greater Yellowstone Area within the context of Earth’s changing climate.
Following on Thursday, November 14th, is Archaeology Institute of America Lecture “Who Built the Parthenon?” George Washington University’s Dr. Diane Harris Cline will present at 6pm.
Examine the social networks of quarrymen, stone-carvers, road-builders, scaffolding-suppliers, sculptors, metal-smiths, importers, and more during the Periclean Building Program of ancient Greece. Follow the birth, rise, and fall of this complex system in the classical period, which provided an optimal environment for creativity and innovation, leading to buildings including the Parthenon. Athens sustained such a system for fully twenty years, building temples, a concert hall, and other infrastructure, putting thousands to work and creating an unparalleled city of craftsmen and artists.
Author, artist and environmental historian Jenny Price fronts MSU’s next Perspectives on the American West Lecture on Monday, November 18th. “Stop Saving the Planet! A 21st-Century Environmentalist Manifesto” begins at 6pm.
Are you freaking out about climate change? Then come hear why “save the planet!” has always been a lousy environmentalist mantra. Why “environment” has become the F-word in American politics. And why, if we really want to clean up environmental messes, we need to stop obsessing about how to “save the planet” and start obsessing instead about how to change, use and live inside of environments more sustainably and more equitably.
To accommodate Thanksgiving schedules, MOR’s Brews & the Big Sky: Montana Made, Montana Brewed moves from its usual last Tuesday slot to November 19th. Light on the Land: The Photographs of Albert Schlechten will be held from 5:30–7:30pm. View Schlechten’s work and explore the history of one of Montana’s best landscape photographers. The evening will feature suds from KettleHouse Brewing Co. and delicious bites by Pizza Compania. There is a $15 admission including beer tasting, gallery talks, exhibits, and light appetizers for those 21 and older.
Please note: All held in Hager Auditorium, public lectures have a limited capacity and are free of admission on a first come, first served basis. Doors open 30 minutes prior to each. Attendees may not save seats for others.
For more information about these and other upcoming events, as well as the Museum’s exhibits, visit www.museumoftherockies.org