". . .What we have loved
Others will love, and we will show them how."
                                                          William Wordsworth

Ellen Crain Introduces Us to Butte

Ellen Crain’s roots are laced through Butte history and its veins of copper, politics, social scene, architecture, social customs, family life, education, and tradition. She was born in the community and now raises her own family there. Not surprisingly, given her devotion to the preservation and understanding of Butte history, Ellen became director of the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives. Located in a historic “uptown” fire station, the archives is one of Montana’s most professional community archives and serves a steady crowd of historians, script and fiction writers, students, genealogists, and public agencies.

Ellen draws on her understanding of community and place-based research as she serves on the Montana Committee for the Humanities and the Montana Preservation Alliance.

Ellen and Janet L. Finn have just published Motherlode: Legacies of Women’s Lives and Labors in Butte, Montana (Clark City Press, Livingston, MT, 2006). Ellen and Janet edited this collection of 20 essays about the diverse roles and experiences of women in Butte during the twentieth century. “Like the mother lode, the women of Butte have been a rich, if hidden, resource. We have chosen that single word in the title to represent the fusion of gender, labor, and abundant resource which lies at th heart of this book.”

In her luncheon presentation, Ellen will introduce us to the Butte she knows from the inside--a place like no other.