Join us on April 5th from 2-4 at the Museum for the official opening of two new exhibits! Admission is free. Light hors d'oeuvres and drinks will be available.

🦬 Dover Family Homestead – Discover the legacy of John Henry Dover, a rancher from the late 1800s who built a cattle ranch on an island in the Yellowstone River near Coulson, Montana.

🛡️ Shields and Chevrons: A Warrior History of Southeast Montana – Explore 3,000 years of Plains Indian warfare traditions and how they evolved through time.

While you're here, don't forget to check out our Firearms Vault and get a rare glimpse of an incredible collection of firearms beyond our main exhibitions. With nearly 150 firearms on display from legendary makers like Remington, Winchester, Sharps, Harrington & Richardson, and J. Stevens to unique novelties and curios you won’t find anywhere else—there’s something for every history and firearms enthusiast to explore!

Don’t miss this chance to step into history and experience these fascinating stories! See you there!

During the open house, you will have the opportunity to view the new displays, learn about the ongoing facilities upgrade project, and hear about our future plans.   

The facilities upgrade will include adding a new entrance, stairs, wheelchair lift to the lower-level, and bathrooms. The historic Paul McCormick Cabin will become a display room dedicated to the early history of the area. The upgrade will also provide the first indoor space the YCM has had for educational programing during open hours. 

Birdie will present the history of beads and the importance and meaning of modern beading. Birdie will demonstration a series of different stitches and have a variety of beaded pieces will be available for viewing. 

The presentation will take place in the Student Union Building, Glacier Room at the MSU Billings campus. Call (406) 256-6811 for detailed directions.

The Apsaalooke clan system will be described by role playing with audience participation. Then, an explanation of how our children receive their names will follow.

Mardell Plainfeather is a retired National Park Service Supervisory Park Ranger, a member of the Big Lodge clan , and a child of the Whistling Water clan of the Apsaalooke Nation.

The presentation will take place in the Student Union Building, Glacier Room at the MSU Billings campus. Call (406) 256-6811 for detailed directions.

The Big Horn Medicine Wheel, also known as "Annáshisee" by the Crow “Apsaalooké". Charles will present the historical oral stories and knowledge, passed on of the Big Horn Medicine Wheel. Through a Crow Indian point of view, he will share traditional historical and modern uses of the Sacred Site.

Mr. Charles Yarlott Jr. is a former employee of the Big Horn Medicine Wheel and a member of the Crow Nation.

Presentation is in the Student Union Building, Glacier Room on the MSU Billings campus. Call (406) 256-6811 for detailed directions.

Newbies, beginners, and experts are all welcome! Come learn to throw arrows or participate in the tournament.

Event will take place at Cisel Field on the campus of Montana State University Billings.

This program is possible in part due to a generous grant from the Billings Community Foundation.

Join us for the unveiling of the 1907 Reliable Dayton High Wheeler! When the vehicle was designed, there were only 100 miles of paved roads in the United States. The Dayton was built to cross rivers and navigate wagon ruts. There are only 2 other 1907 Reliable Dayton’s known to still exist today.

To celebrate over two dozen vintage cars will be on display for your viewing pleasure!

Join us at the Yellowstone County Museum for a free glass of wine as Dr. Thomas C. Rust talks about a portion of his upcoming book Watching over Yellowstone: The US Army’s Experience in America’s First National Park, 1886-1918. 

Father Christmas is coming to the YCM on Thursday, December 12! Please bring your family for free photos with Santa, cookies, and an opportunity to buy a local authors book. Also, look around your county museum! Which always has free admission!

Santa will be signing books on behalf of a friend and local author Donald J. Nelson.

The Yellowstone River flows across Montana for approximately 700 miles. It is the most important resource for the valley in terms of productivity, livelihoods and wildlife. The presentation reviews the three standard concerns in sustainability sciences (economic, environmental and social sustainability) as means for thinking about the future of the valley. The presentation touches on agriculture, tourism, oil and gas development, endangered pallid sturgeons, cotton forests, fairness, mishaps, water rights and riparian area complexities.

Susan grew up on a cattle ranch in northeastern Wyoming. She attended small, rural schools through the 8th grade, and she earned bachelors and master’s degrees in communication from the University of Wyoming. Later, she earned her Ph.D. in Geography from Texas A&M University. In 2003, she joined Montana State University Billings where she studies how individuals become attached to particular places and how those attachments influence environmental philosophies and actions.

As the principle investigator for the project, “The Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory” she oversaw scores of interviews with people living near the Yellowstone River. Over 200 of those recorded interviews are now archived with the Western Heritage Center of Billings. Most recently she has been studying interfaces between water quality issues, industrialism and the traditionally rural communities of the Bakken oil and gas fields in eastern Montana. Her teaching and research interests have also taken her to China, Indonesia, Italy, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Oman.

Lecture by MSUB  Native American Studies Director, Joseph McGeshick

The Ghost Dance was a religious movement inspired by a Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka. The Ghost Dance spread rapidly, reaching many Northwest Plains groups within two years. Ghost Dances take place for five or six nights in a row with dancers adorned in elaborate painted designs on their faces and bodies. The spiritual dance had no restrictions of age or sex. All danced in a big circle, holding hands or draping their arms over each other’s shoulders, shuffling from side to side in a circle. The dance followed the pace set by the slowest participant, often a young child or elder.

The exhibit displays Ghost Dance shirts, dresses, drums, shields, pipes, a mink rattle, prayer staff, and bags. The objects are on loan from Billings native Larry Williams. Nowhere else in the world has a Ghost Dance collection of this size on public display.

The lecture is free and takes places at the Yellowstone County Museum Thursday, October 24th at 6:30 PM.

September 13th (Friday) 5:30 PM, YCM Lobby

Join us to listen to Katrina talk about the Smith Coal Mine Disaster of 1943.

On February 27, 1943, the No. 3 Smith Mine in the small town of Bearcreek, Montana exploded killing a total of seventy-five individuals, seventy-four miners who were working in the mine and one rescuer. The Smith Mine disaster is the worst coal mining accident in the state of Montana and the second deadliest mining accident in Montana – behind the Granite Mountain explosion in Butte’s copper mine. Despite the importance of mining in Montana’s history and economy, the Smith Mine is slowly fading from the state’s history. This paper briefly analyzes the coal mining industry in Montana, the town of Bearcreek, and the conditions within the Smith Mine that allowed for a disaster such as this to occur. Following the historical backdrop of coal mining and the city of Bearcreek, this paper delves into the events that occurred on February 27, 1943 and the effect the explosion had on the community of Bearcreek.  

Come meet, Trudy Kempton Dana, the author of “The Kemptons: Adventures of a Montana Ranch Family, 1880-1964” at YCM on Monday September 9th from 1 to 3 pm.

“In its day, the famed Kempton Ranch was one of the larges horse and cattle operations in Montana, selling mounts to armies and polo-playing royalty alike. The Kemptons themselves were a storybook family - descended from Mayflower pilgrims, Sioux Indians, and a singer of the Declaration of Independence. Their own exploits make for a larger-than life Western epic.”

The Yellowstone County Museum (YCM) is celebrating 65 years of preserving, protecting, and interpreting the natural history and diverse cultures of the Yellowstone Valley and the Northern Plains. The open house takes place Saturday, April 20th from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. Admission is free. Billings Airport short term parking tickets will be stamped at the museum for free parking.

The museum includes the McCormick Cabin, originally home to a pioneer family in Billings. It was transported along the Rims in 1954 and opened to the public as a museum in 1956. Located atop the Rims at 1950 Airport Terminal Circle, across from the Billings Logan International Airport, the cabin serves as the entrance into the expanded museum.

The museum offers visitors an astonishing array of cultural artifacts and one-of-a-kind memorabilia from authentic Native American objects to keepsakes from the earliest pioneers through the mid-20th century.

Our anniversary celebrates an exhibit dedicated to the early Emergency Services of Yellowstone County. Other current exhibits include a tribute to the Billings Baseball Preservation Society, the involvement of our brave Yellowstone County soldiers in WWI, historically significant firearms of the region, and “Waiting for the Earth to Move” – the nation’s largest public display of Ghost Dance regalia.

YCM’s open house takes place Saturday, April 20th from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. The museum is located at 1950 Airport Terminal Circle. For more information, call Terry Steiner, Director at the Yellowstone County Museum, at (406) 256-6811.

Fall has arrived and the moon is waxing - it's time for our annual Howlin' at the Moon fundraiser! Please join us on the museum's deck for an evening of dinner, drinks, music, and fellowship. This year we are also adding a live auction with some BIG PRIZES you DON'T want to miss!

This year's Howlin' at the Moon commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the United States of America joining the War to End All Wars. 1910s and WWI era costumes are encouraged!

TICKETS
$50
Please call or visit the museum to purchase your tickets.

AUCTION PRIZES

• Week-long stay on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands (beach house, pool, lobster dinner with excruciatingly good wine, island tours, and more included!!)
  ***UPDATE: With the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, our focus on St. Croix has shifted. In lieu of offering this trip, we will be taking a collection to support relief efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands.***
• Winchester Model -94 .30-30 Lever Action Rifle
• 2 Round trip flights with Cape Air
• and more!

Want to bid but can't make it to the event? We are accepting phone bids! Please call the museum for details.

Free parking available at museum and airport short term lot (bring parking pass to museum for validation).

Thank you to our 2017 sponsors:

At a time of political and cultural turbulence, the 1890s Ghost Dance offered hope to the downtrodden tribes of the American Southwest and Plains. It promised Native Americans an escape from the oppression of white settlers and the federal government. They looked forward to a cataclysmic renewal of the earth that would herald the return of the bison and the resurrection of their ancestors.

Yellowstone County Museum's new exhibit features the Larry Williams Ghost Dance Collection, the largest assemblage of Ghost Dance objects on display in the world. The evocative imagery of Ghost Dancers' clothing and regalia captures both their pain and their anticipation of a better future.

Join us on Saturday, February 18th as we celebrate this new exhibit with a reception.

Keep your eyes and ears open for more information coming soon about this special 60th Anniversary celebration of the Museum! Coming this fall!

The great West that George Bird Grinnell first encountered in 1870 as a 21-year-old man was shortly to disappear before his eyes. Nobody was quicker to sense the desecration or was more eloquent in crusading against the poachers, the hide-hunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.”

Grinnell founded the first Audubon Society, co-founded the Boone and Crockett Club with Teddy Roosevelt, and led the effort to establish Glacier National Park. Audiences will travel back in time to the 19th century, listening to Grinnell’s own words as taken from his field journals, memoirs, personal correspondence, and newspaper editorials. Presented by Hugh Grinnell. 

Join us at the museum, where history, entertainment, and refreshments await you! No admission fee.

Parking is available at museum or airport short term lot (bring parking pass into museum for validation).

This event is presented in collaboration with Humanities Montana. For more information on supporting this organization, please visit http://www.humanitiesmontana.org/donate/whygive.php