Northwest Montana History Museum

09/01/2026

History Book Club will soon party for the pages.

Not only will readers get back to the books (this time "Counting Coup") on Sept. 2, but on Oct. 7 we will celebrate the club's 20th birthday with refreshments and a book swap before the regular meeting.

History Book Club draws around 15 to 25 readers, and the public is always invited!
To support more free community events like this, consider donating to the museum through the Great Fish Community Challenge through Sept. 11! Thank you to everyone who makes all we do possible.
https://whitefishcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list

08/31/2026

Yes! We made it to the $10,000 mark in the Great Fish Community Challenge, which means the museum now is eligible for a percentage match on funds raised up to $25,000 (and, yes again, that is our next goal!).

Thank you so much to all the donors!

Today we feel as lucky as someone might stepping up to one of our larger, seldom-seen artifacts: an Old Royal Comet five-cent slot machine, commonly produced in the late 1930s and early 1940s. If you have ever wondered why slot machines such as these incorporated different matching fruits as indicators for winning, you can thank Prohibition for that! In the 1920s and '30s, many machines were banned under the Volstead Act and had to be redesigned to display the iconic fruits we know today, as well as changing to noncash prizes such as candy and fruit.

Instead of playing the slots, consider the sure win of donating to the museum through the Great Fish Community Challenge!

Every donation helps us present and preserve Northwest Montana history!
https://whitefishcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list

08/29/2026

2 more weeks to go! Thanks to donors, we are more than 50% on the way to matching-funds eligibility in the Great Fish Community Challenge! We would love your help getting to the $10,000 mark.

All donations directed to the museum through the fundraising initiative come to the museum, plus a percentage match that kicks in once we reach $10,000.

Thank you for considering support of the museum and other 88 worthy nonprofits in the Great Fish Community Challenge, open until 5 p.m. Sept. 11. Every dollar counts! Here's to all the good in our valley https://whitefishcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list

08/27/2026

Proud to participate in the Downtown Kalispell Forward summer sendoff Sept. 12, and to help draw visitors and locals as we have for dozens of years to the hub of the Flathead! The museum will open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day, Saturday, Sept. 12.

08/27/2026

Would you like a slice from a can?

Indeed, canned bread served as a vital source of nutrition for wilderness explorers.

Here, museum staffer Elle Eberts-Robocker shows off Burbank Brand White Bread, canned for the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Region. These special "loaves" likely were part of food rations given to lookouts, trail crews, packers, and rangers of the 1940s and 1950s.

To support more artifact collection, presentation, and research, please consider donating to the museum via the Great Fish Community Challenge through Sept. 11! Thank you as always to the donors and the Whitefish Community Foundation for its ace organizing
https://whitefishcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list

08/26/2026

Kirby Lambert of the Montana Historical Society will be in the house tonight, presenting on "A History of Montana in 101 Places." Many Northwest Montana places made the cut, including a few right here in Kalispell. Can you guess the one pictured? Learn more about significant sites statewide tonight! History happy hour kicks off at 5, the presentation at 6. See you real soon

08/25/2026

We are nearing the halfway mark to matching-fund eligibility in the Great Fish Community Challenge! Look for us to pop up Thursday at First Interstate in downtown Kalispell, where you can easily drop off a donation that benefits all the good in the valley! Thank you to all the supporters out there.

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08/25/2026

Join us Aug. 26 for a presentation by Kirby Lambert on "A History of Montana in 101 Places."

From the ever-busy Logan Pass Visitor Center in Glacier National Park to the rusting remnants of Smith Mine No. 3 on a lonely hillside in Carbon County, "A History of Montana in 101 Places" is an in-depth anthology of sites that have made and remade the Last Best Place.

Doors open 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26, for history happy hour in Hollensteiner-Stahl Hall; the free presentation starts 6 p.m.

To support more free programming like this, consider donating to the museum through the Great Fish Community Challenge through Sept. 11! Thank you to everyone who makes all we do possible!
https://whitefishcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list

08/24/2026

Can you dig it? They can (and did)! Next time you drive in or out of Bigfork, give thanks to these highway workers of 1910. A Charles Fox is identified on the back of the photograph (fourth from left). Thank you to the Conrad History and Transportation Museum for passing along this treasure!

08/21/2026

Six more walking tours remain in the season! Learn the history of the hub of the Flathead in about a mile and at 10 a.m. Mondays through September. No matter how long you've been in the valley, you will learn something new.

Sign up in person or online. We hope to see you there! https://www.flatheadtickets.com/events/downtown-kalispell-walking-tour-the-iron-horse-snorted-in-the-garden-of-eden

We are nearly halfway through the 2026 Great Fish Community Challenge, a monthlong fundraising blitz for 89 hardworking nonprofits. Thank you for your donations and support.

https://whitefishcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list