Sally Thompson will share “Northwest Montana Stories and How They Shape Our Lives” as the next John White Series speaker on Jan. 19 organized by the Northwest Montana History Museum. 

Thompson, who has an academic background in anthropology and archaeology, prefers to call herself an ethnohistorian or cultural heritage specialist.  

She ran the archaeology program at Historical Research Associates; served as expert witness for the Taos Pueblo Water Rights case, and for the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes on the ARCO lawsuit regarding pollution of the Clark Fork River; and as director of the Regional Learning Project at University of Montana, where she worked with tribes to develop curriculum resources on history, geography, and culture.  

Focusing on several regional stories in her newly published “Disturbing the Sleeping Buffalo,” Thompson will talk about frontiersman William Hamilton, aka “Wildcat Bill,” and his time in the Tobacco Plains; the Glacial Lake and Kootenai origin story; and how Thompson followed the trail of Father De Smet and found a cross that had been installed at the headwaters of the Columbia in 1845.  

The presentation starts at 2 p.m. and a social time will be held afterward.  

For 23 years, the museum has organized presentations on many facets of Montana history as part of the series which pays tribute to beloved former staff members John Whites Sr. and Jr. of Central School. The series serves as a fundraiser for the museum and its mission to preserve and present regional history.  

Tickets for individual talks are $15 for members, $20 for nonmembers. The four-part series costs $40 for members, $75 for nonmembers. Tickets may be purchased online at https://flatheadtickets.com, at the museum on 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell, or by calling 756-8381.