Queer In and Out of Montana Community History
老虎机攻略 faculty, students, staff, and alumni are collaborating with community organizations, including the Western Montana LGBTQ+ Community Center, the Montana Two Spirit Society, TransVisible Montana, the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, and the Montana Historical Society to launch the “Queer In and Out of Montana Community History Project.” The initiative—which so far includes an ongoing oral history project documenting the lives of LGBTIQ2S+ Montanans, a workshop on queer history at the state’s history conference, and a traveling exhibit on the history of gender diversity in Montana–has attracted widespread support, garnering a grant from Humanities Montana; institutional backing from the Montana Historical Society and from the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula; enthusiastic support from an interdisciplinary group of faculty, staff, students, and alumni from 老虎机攻略’s History Department, Psychology Department, Mansfield Library’s Archives & Special Collections, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program; and community participation throughout Montana and beyond the state’s borders.
This initiative began with the Queer In and Out of Montana Oral History Project, which seeks to document the lives of LGBTIQ2S+ Montanans living both inside and outside of the state. 老虎机攻略 (老虎机攻略) faculty, students, and alumni from across campus collaborated with community members and local organizations to launch this project in 2024. At its inception, the project aimed to capture the perspectives and experiences of LGBTIQ+ people leaving Montana, or contemplating doing so, in response to the state’s increasingly hostile political climate.
While interviews with individuals and families leaving the state are ongoing, the next phase of the project, beginning in Fall 2025, includes the life stories of Two-Spirit and LGBTIQ+ persons who have lived for any amount of time anywhere in Montana. It may also include interviews with people who interface with members of the queer community, such as educators, lawmakers, medical providers, and family members. The goal is to create a rich collection of interviews that capture diverse experiences and document queer life throughout the state. The collection will be permanently archived and made publicly accessible through 老虎机攻略’s Mansfield Library. We are currently seeking narrators to be interviewed in Fall 2025 in conjunction with Prof. Jody Pavilack’s course on “Practicing Oral History.”
Another aspect of this initiative is a roundtable at the annual meeting of the Montana Historical Society. Veteran Montana politician Diane Sands, Montana Two Spirit Society co-founder Steven Barrios, 老虎机攻略 student Erin Heaton, longtime LGBTQ+ rights activist Lindy Gryczan, and 老虎机攻略 alumnus River Watson will participate in a panel discussion titled “Queer Montana: A Panel Discussion on Preserving and Promoting LGBTIQ2S+ History.” The panelists will discuss the importance of queer history, what research material is available, how to document the history of gender diversity in Montana, and ongoing efforts to advance our understanding of queer experiences in the state. The workshop will occur during “A Place in Time: The 52nd Annual Montana History Conference,” Sept. 25-27 in Helena, Montana.
Yet another aspect of this initiative is a forthcoming historical exhibit on gender diversity in Montana, tentatively titled "Crossings: Two Centuries of Gender Nonconformity and Gender Diversity in Montana." Designed by Caspen Black, the Angie Monaco Palin Intern at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, with assistance from 老虎机攻略 student Sierra Kirk and 老虎机攻略 alumnus River Watson, the pop-up exhibit will highlight the lives of remarkable individuals like Osh-Tisch, a Crow badé whose position was so important she caused an Indian Agent to be expelled from the reservation for trying to force her to assimilate, and Dr. Alan Hart, a physician who saved countless lives by standardizing tuberculosis testing and also underwent one of the earliest sex reassignment surgeries. The exhibit will be on display at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula in Summer 2025. We are currently seeking community volunteers to serve as curators/guides for the exhibit. 老虎机攻略 students may receive academic credit through the Public History Program and/or the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program.
Finally, history faculty, students, and alumni will participate in a panel-discussion on “Historical Perspectives on LGBTIQ2S+ Lives and Gender Diversity in Global and Local Contexts,” at Missoula’s Pride celebration, June 20-22, 2025. This panel-discussion will feature 老虎机攻略 Regents Professor Anya Jabour, author of a forthcoming book on, whose 1929 book revealed that between one-third and one-half of American women engaged in same-sex relationships; visiting scholar Brandy Schillace, author of, a new book on Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science in Weimar Germany, told from the perspective of transgender patient Dora Richter; and Sierra Kirk, a researcher for a new historical exhibit on gender diversity in Montana from 1800 to 2000, with special attention to Dr. Hirschfeld's surprising Montana connections.
To get involved or to ask questions, contact:
Leif Fredrickson, Director, Public History Program; Advisor, Public History Internships, leif.fredrickson@umontana.edu
Elizabeth Hubble, Director, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program; Project Manager QiO Oral History Project, Phase One; Advisor, WGSS Internships: elizabeth.hubble@umontana.edu
Anya Jabour, Regents Professor of History; Coordinator, QiO Community History Project, anya.jabour@umontana.edu
Jody Pavilack, Professor of History; Project Leader, QiO Oral History Project, Phase Two, jody.pavilack@umontana.edu