The historic barns of Montana are a threatened part of our heritage. To capture their history and encourage their preservation, Chere Jiusto, Christine Brown and photographer Tom Ferris collaborated on the award-winning book Hand Raised: Historic Barns of Montana, released by Montana Historical Society Press in 2011. Montana Preservation Alliance (MPA) championed this decade-long project, which traces the agricultural history of Big Sky Country and celebrates the craftsmanship that went into building these icons of rural life. This conversation includes an overview of Montana’s barn-building history, stunning photographs of barns from across the state, and the stories attached to some of Montana’s most memorable, photogenic, and historic barns.
The presentation is free and open to the public and will be part of The Heritage Museum's 40th Anniversary Opening Day. Funding for the Montana Conversations program is provided by Humanities Montana through grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Montana’s Cultural Trust, and private donations.