YGM streams ‘Borderlands’ speaker series this fall
Following its initial event focusing on the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, the Yellowstone Gateway Museum continues to host “Borderlands,” a virtual speaker series on November 10th and 17th. All are uploaded to museum’s YouTube channel after the live virtual event.
Next up is “Ivan Doig: Writer of Montana’s Land & People” with Mary Murphy on Wednesday, Nov. 10th at 7pm. She will discuss the deep respect for working people and the love of Montana language that characterize all Doig’s works and that grew from his own experiences.
Doig captured the Montana landscape and the Montana voice in his novels. But his own voice was born in Meagher County in his beloved memoir This House of Sky, the story of his childhood and coming of age. Doig returned over and over to the world of central Montana and the Rocky Mountain front in his novels. But he learned to write about the land and people of Montana by living and listening in Meagher County.
Murphy is a Distinguished Professor of History at Montana State University Bozeman and the Director of the Ivan Doig Center for the Study of the Lands and Peoples of the North American West. Her courses focus on gender and on the history and culture of food. Among Murphy’s books are Hope in Hard Times: New Deal Photographs of Montana, 1936-1942 and Mining Cultures: Men, Women, and Leisure in Butte, 1914-41.
Jon Axline presents “The Beartooth Highway: A History of America’s Most Beautiful Drive” on Wednesday, Nov. 17th at 7pm. The famed Beartooth Highway is particularly noted for its sometimes frightening switchbacks, steep grades, and its spectacular views.
The construction of the highway is a story in and of itself. Built during the Great Depression, the Beartooth Highway was the result of many years of political lobbying by Montana’s congressional delegation and the National Park Service. The highway also presented significant engineering and construction challenges. This is the story of how the highway came about and the story of the men who designed it and the contractors who built America’s most scenic highway.
Axline is the long-time historian and interpretive marker coordinator at the Montana Department of Transportation. He’s a fourth-generation Montanan and graduated from Montana State University with an MA in American history.
These lectures are free and open to public viewing. Visit YGM’s social media channels for event updates. Register for each program at www.yellowstonegatewaymuseum.org. •