Livingston, MT: The annual meeting of the Friends of the Yellowstone Gateway Museum is Thursday, March 31, 6:30 PM, at the Livingston-Park County Public Library, 228 W. Calendar. Immediately following the brief meeting, at 7:00 PM, is a program by Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau speaker, Ken Egan, “Montana 1864, Stories from Montana’s Creation.” The presentation is free and open to the public. Partial funding for the Speakers Bureau program is provided by a legislative grant from Montana’s Cultural Trust and from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Sidney Edgerton, Mary Ronan, Pretty Shield and Crazy Horse are just some of the interesting people of Montana in 1864. Journey back to the year of Montana’s founding in this lively presentation on various characters and events that shaped the state from its beginnings. Egan talks about selected historical figures, then leads a conversation about Montana’s past and present.

Egan’s presentation is based on his book Montana 1864, which offers a lively panorama of events during the Territory’s first year. His earlier study, Hope and Dread in Montana Literature, provides insight into the state’s rich literature from the 1860s to the present.  Egan serves as executive director of Humanities Montana; he taught college literature and writing for 25 years.

After receiving his B.A. in English from the University of Montana Missoula and his Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Egan taught college literature and writing for 25 years at Middlebury College (Vermont), Rocky Mountain College (Billings), and Drury University (Missouri).  He became executive director of Humanities Montana in 2009, a dream come true for a Montana kid (born in Polson) who loves public humanities. Egan has authored book-length critical studies of nineteenth-century and Western American literature. He wrote Montana 1864 as part of Humanities Montana’s commemoration of the state’s territorial 150^th birthday and is now working on a sequel, Montana 1889, slated for publication in 2017.

Egan’s program is the first program in the museum’s Spring Speaker Series. The second program,

Yellowstone: Yesterday & Today” by Bob Berry and Paul Horsted is slated for April 14. The final program, “Resilience: Stories of Montana Indian Women” by Laura Ferguson will be held on Thursday, May 12. All programs are held at 7:00 PM at the Livingston-Park County Public Library and are free and open to the public.

Members of the Friends non-profit organization and others interested in learning about the museum are urged to attend the annual meeting. People only interested in the program are welcome to slip in at 7:00 PM when there will be a break for refreshments.

Please visit the museum’s website, www.yellowstonegatewaymuseum.org  or call 406-222-4184, for more information.