The Hockaday Museum of Art will host Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau program "A Jesuit Window into Western Montana Life in the 1840s and '50s" with Sally Thompson on Friday, February 19, 2016. The program will be in the Hockaday's classroom at 12:00 PM. The presentation is a brown bag luncheon and free to the public. Partial funding for the Speakers Bureau program is provided by a legislative grant from Montana's Cultural Trust.

Diaries, letters, field journals, sketches and paintings by Jesuit missionaries provide particular views of life in the Rocky Mountains in the mid-19th century, during the period after the active fur trade in the region and before the treaties and arrival of government agents. Thompson engages the audience in the recorded observations and the skewed perceptions of these European Jesuits. The presentation includes primary documents from history and anthropology, including maps, sketches and paintings; quotes from literature; interviews with Native American educators; oral histories and folk traditions from local tribes; and comparison of European, Catholic life with North American Native life.

Thompson has a passion for the untold stories of 19th century Montana, especially focused on the tribes of Rockies. Over the last two decades she has traveled all over the continent and to Europe in search of primary documents that reveal first-hand descriptions of people and places of our past. She is the author of People Before the Park.

That evening, the Hockaday will be hosting a free book signing event from 6:30 to 8:00 PM for Sally Thompson's People Before the Park. Joining the author are Blackfeet tribal members Smokey Rides At The Door and Darnell Rides At The Door for a brief presentation about the collaborative process of writing the book and working with the different tribes.

Please call the Hockaday at 406-755-5268 to reserve your table space for this unique experience.

The Hockaday Museum of Art is located in the cultural district of downtown Kalispell at 302 Second Ave East. It is housed in a 1904 Carnegie Library building that appears on the National Register of Historic Places. The Museum is a private nonprofit organization, open year-round, Tues-Sat from 10am-5pm. The mission of the Hockaday is to enrich the cultural life of our community and region, and preserve the artistic legacy of Montana and Glacier National Park. For more information, please visit www.HockadayMuseum.org or call 406-755-5268.