Welcome to the streaming video page. Here you can view full-length videos online, including several posted by the Montana Historical Society and several from PBS Montana. Other videos include a tribute to Oshanee Kenmille and an interview with Linda Gryczan of Gryczan v. the State of Montana. Videos on the National Suffrage Movement are also included.
Videos
Daphne Bugbee-Jones: Montana Modernist
A tribute to Montana architect Daphne Bugbee-Jones. To learn more, see Hipólito Rafael Chacón, “Daphne Bugbee Jones: A Modernist Architect’s Legacy.” Montana The Magazine of Western History 65, no. 2 (Summer 2015): 57-69. Download here.
Betty Babcock (1:28)
A brief tribute to former Montana first lady Betty Babcock, who passed away on August 4, 2013, in Helena, Montana. Produced by Beartooth NBC.
The Life and Legends of Calamity Jane (45:31 minutes)
Author Richard W. Etulain discusses his new book, “The Life and Legends of Calamity Jane.” Scores of dime novels and movie and TV Westerns have portrayed this original Wild West woman as an adventuresome, gun-toting hellion. Although Calamity Jane has probably been written about more than any other woman of the nineteenth-century American West, fiction and legend have largely obscured the facts of her life. This lively, concise, and exhaustively researched biography traces the real person from the Missouri farm where she was born in 1856 through the development of her notorious persona as a Wild West heroine. Download the full text of his article Calamity Jane: A Life and Legends (Montana The Magazine, Summer 2014) by clicking here.
Dolls: More Than Just Toys (37:19 minutes)
Join MHS Historical Interpreter Bobi Harris and discover what historic dolls can reveal about our shared history, art, and culture. (April 16, 2014)
From the Ground Up: Montana Women in Agriculture (1:22:03 minutes)
Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) and Montana Historical Society (MHS) celebrate Women’s History Month by recognizing the first participants in a unique statewide oral history project developed by DNRC with support from MHS, Montana Conservation Districts, Montana History Foundation, Montana State Library, and Montana Stock Growers Association. The project seeks to document the lives of Montana women who have lived and worked on the land as ranchers, farmers, mothers, and stewards of the state’s irreplaceable natural resources.
Participants include Pauline Webb (54 Ranch, Townsend), Dolly McMaster (McMaster Ranch, Townsend), Arlene Pile (EOB Ranch in Big Timber), Esther McDonald (McCattle Ranch LLC, outside of Philipsburg), and Glenna Stucky (Stucky Ranch in Powell County). Recorded on March 8, 2014, in the Craney Studio at MHS. For more information on the statewide oral history project, contact Linda Brander, Director, at (406) 444-0520 or LLbrander@mt.gov
Laundry Day (26:28 minutes)
Presented by Bobi Harris at the Montana Historical Society and the Original Governor’s Mansion on May 11, 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob1r9-tsaM0a
“Montana Stirrups, Sage, and Shenanigans” (51:22 minutes)
Authors Anne Krickel, Francie Berg, and Jeanie Thiessen reveal highlights from their new book, “Montana Stirrups, Sage and Shenanigans: Western Ranch Life in a Forgotten Era,” in a program featuring a unique blend of music, history and storytelling. The Brink sisters grew up on a historic cattle ranch, founded in the 1880s, where the owner once ran thousands of cattle on free range. An Old West epic with a modern touch, their book is filled with vivid personal stories of ranching, wildlife, and western humor. It is a social history as well, of the uncommon people of the West, who practiced tolerance and respect, knew the close ties of family and community, and extended hospitality to strangers. Recorded on September 12, 2013.
Mother Gleim: Iron-Fisted Queen of Missoula’s Red-Light District (34:12 minutes)
Presented by Jodie Foley at the Montana Historical Society on May 23, 2013.
Poetry on the Prairie (42:33 minutes)
The Story of Mary Frances Benton Connor. Presented by Christy Eckerle at the Montana Historical Society on
February 7, 2013.
Queens of the Clouds (56:58 minutes)
Like their counterparts throughout the nation, Montana’s early “Queens of the Clouds” received accolades and the attention of the press. They realized a freedom in flying that released them from social expectations. Their celebrated achievements, however, were presented as curiosities, and only rarely resulted in long-term careers. MHS Community Preservation Coordinator Kate Hampton and Carroll College history student Anthony Wood explore the lives of some of Montana’s first aviatrixes in this presentation that celebrates the determination of these remarkable women.
Women and Prohibition: When Montana Went Dry (53:41 minutes)
Prohibition failed in numerous ways except in the illegal activities it fostered. From 1918 to 1933, it failed especially in Montana, where organized crime, prostitution, bootlegging, and gambling involved some very plucky women. MHS interpretive historian Ellen Baumler looks at some of these characters and their extralegal enterprises.
Women’s History Matters (58:44 minutes))
In 1914, Montana women won the right to vote, six years before passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. In honor of this centennial, MHS is hosting a blog with short essays on a wide range of Montana women’s history topics over the course of 2014. MHS Historical Specialist Martha Kohl speaks about how and why this project came to be—as well as about the importance of expanding our study of history to include women’s experiences.
Work for ‘Two-Fisted’ Rangers (43:06)
Annie Hanshew discusses some of the various roles women have played in the U.S. Forest Service. Recorded on March 5, 2014, in the Craney Studio at MHS.
The Work is Never Done: Montana’s Homesteading and Ranching Women (1:44:08 minutes)
Presented by Dr. Ellen Baumler at the Montana Historical Society on March 6, 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmHPUDt1BRM
PBS Videos
Class C: The Only Game in Town (1:31:23 minutes)
Class C follows five basketball teams from Montana’s smallest schools on their journey to win the state championship. The feature length documentary tells the story of a changing rural America and the girls who carry hope and heartbreak onto the basketball court.
For This and Future Generations (56:48)
In mid-winter 1972, 100 grassroots delegates (including 17 women) and a staff of some of the best and brightest young people under the Big Sky, gathered in Helena for what many would recall as the proudest time of their lives. Their task: to re-write the lumbering, old state constitution. 30 years later, in a new century, this is the story of their legacy.
Frances Senska – Art All the Time (25:29)
MSU-Bozeman professor emerita Frances Senska taught some of the most influential innovators in American ceramic arts, among them Rudy Autio, of Missoula, and the late Peter Voulkos, a native of Bozeman. What connects their work with hers?
Playing for the World (56:41 minutes)
In 1902, a unique combination of Native women came together at a boarding school in Montana. They used the new sport of basketball to help them adjust to a rapidly changing world. Their travels and experiences led them to places they never imagined. Ultimately, these women played for something much larger than themselves.
Read the WHM blog post about the Fort Shaw basketball team by clicking here!
Other Videos About Montana Women
Oshanee Kenmille (2:47 minutes)
This brief video clip is a tribute to Salish Indian elder Oshanee Kenmille, who passed away in 2009. She was fluent in Kootenai, Salish, and English. It was her love of life and her wonderful humor that made her extra special, according to documentarian Steve Slocomb. This video is comprised of clips from The Story of the Bitterroot Slocomb created in 2004.
Linda Gryczan of Gryczan v. the State of Montana Responds to Vote to Revoke the Sexual Deviant Law (2:56 minutes)
Linda Gryczan, plaintiff in Gryczan v. the State of Montana, responds to the April 9, 2013 vote of the MT State House of Representatives to repeal the sexual deviant law that criminalized homosexual sex. In 1997 the MT Supreme Court found the law to be unconstitutional, but it has taken until this day for a bill that would remove the law from the books to pass both the state senate and house. From Truth in Progress.
National Suffrage Movement
Bad Romance: Women’s Suffrage (5:07 minutes)
Bad Romance: Women’s Suffrage is a parody music video paying homage to Alice Paul and the generations of brave women who joined together in the fight to pass the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote in 1920. For lyrics and teaching resources, visit Soomo Publishing.
Crash Course, led by author John Green, is an educational Youtube channel. Green combines primary sources, political movements, social movements, and humor to explain various issues in American history. This video on women’s suffrage explores the rise of the WCTU, the expanding political participation of women, the divisions between the National Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Women’s Party (NWP), and the rise of female professions such as social work. Notable figures discussed include: Alice Paul, Margaret Sanger, Frances Willard, and Jane Addams.