By Dale Alger

The Musselshell Valley Historical Museum has a new tipi. It is located east of the NF Cabin. Joe Trakimas is an excellent historically accurate artist. He did research on the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Tribe and the Crow Indians. The Musselshell River around here was the dividing line between the two nations. The Crow used the land south of the Musselshell and the Blackfeet used the land north of the Musselshell. Since the museum is located north of the Musselshell River, Joe used Blackfoot color schemes to paint our tipi. We really appreciate Joe's work on the tipi and his expertise as historian and artist.

We have many changes in the museum this year. We are working hard on the diorama project. Many of our board members have been researching different aspects of the history of Musselshell County. There will be panels around the edge of the diorama with information about many topics and locations from the area. The diorama should be put in sometime in August.

We also have a new building in the back with new display rooms. There is a tool room with many tools that were already owned by the museum, but you may not have noticed them. We are working on a dress shop in one of the new spaces. We will open it as soon as it is ready. Many displays have new signage. We have received a donation of a large collection of toothpick holders. We also have some new firearms that have been put on display.

Peggy Unterseher has created a beautiful stained glass window to replace one that was damaged by the hail storm two years ago. It is in the chapel upstairs. While it is not in the place where it will eventually end up, you can see the beautiful art piece. It will even be better when it is displayed with light behind it.

We appreciate all of the help we have had from the community. We have received grants to assist in the new changes from the Signal Peak Foundation and the Musselshell Valley Community Foundation. They have helped us with several projects to improve the museum.

We also appreciate the volunteers who are helping by being greeters at the museum. RSVP has done a great job of scheduling our volunteers.

The Teddy Blue Abbott Monument is just about ready to send to the company that will be bronzing it. Greg Eiselein has created this beautiful bronze that will be on the courthouse lawn next summer. You can still donate to the project by writing a check to the Musselshell Valley Historical Museum, or MVHM. Put TBA Monument in the memo line.

Come visit the museum and learn some more local history. We are open from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM seven days a week.