Montana, Ireland of the American West

By Kathleen Gilgannon for Teh Celtic Connection (Denver CO)december 16

Photos 1:  Mass Rock (St. Patrick’s Cemetery — Butte, MT) “stands as a perpetual reminder of those dark days (Penal Times) and of the unyielding spirit of the Irish.”  We visited this cemetery as part of the Anaconda/Butte coach tour.

2: H.E. Anne Anderson, Ambassador of Ireland to the USA, addresses a group of ACIS participants and Irish of Butte, MT at the  Butte Silver Bow Archives.

3: AOH Building in Anaconda

4: Ladies of AOH in Anaconda chat with Traolach O’Riordain  (UofM Irish Studies Dept Chair and ACIS organizer) as they wait to greet Ambassador Anderson

The Irish culture in Montana is alive and vibrant.  For years I took note of the ad in the Celtic Connection for language courses held annually in Butte, sponsored by the Friends of Irish Studies.  Finally, this past summer, I had the great fortune to attend.  I was so drawn in to my ancestral culture and language during the well-spent week that I considered relocating to the area in order to participate in the community there more fully.   In the meantime, though, I’ve decided to take advantage of as many of the offerings in Missoula and Butte as I am able.  This is what led me to attend the ACIS (American Conference for Irish Studies) NW event in October.

We gathered early on the morning of 20 October for what was to become one of the highlights of the ACIS weekend.  Initially, the bus tour through Anaconda and Butte was presented as an “add on” to the weekend conference, and it ended up being so well attended that we could have easily filled another bus entirely.  Joining us on the tour was H.E. Anne Anderson, Irish Ambassador to the United States, along with many of the guest speakers from whom we would hear later in the weekend.  The rich history of the Irish diaspora (Irish living abroad) in the area was well told by Dave Emmons, a long-time local historian and scholar, as we travelled through the soft day via our coach, making stops along the way at the Granite Mountain Memorial, the Berkeley Pit, St. Patrick’s Cemetery, and were guests at receptions honoring Ambassador Anderson in Anaconda (AOH) and Butte (Butte Silver Bow Archives).   Stories of Thomas Francis Meagher (Irish influence in politics), Marcus Daly (economics), William Clark, James Moriarity, Sean O’Sullivan and the long-standing competition between the towns of Anaconda and Butte were but a few of the tales told.

The theme of this year’s conference was HER EXILED CHILDREN:  IRELAND AND IRISH AMERICA.   “To know who we are, we should know those who came before us,” quotes Traolach O’Riordain.  Dr. O’Riordain (Department Chair – Irish Studies, University of Montana) was the local organizer of the ACIS conference this year.  And a fabulous job he did.  This was the first conference that I attended, but reports from others who have been participating for years, claimed it to be the best yet.  The panels and papers presented included:  Irish American Nationalism and the Easter Rising; Irish Identity and the New State; Irish Identity in Music, Song, Print and Stone; The Theater and the Forgotten (where I learned about the orphan trains); Irish Language, Law and Learning; and many more.  Lectures by Irish broadcaster and author Myles Dungan (How to lose a country in sixteen executions) and Ruan O’Donnell, University of Limerick (Irish America and the 1916 Rising) were fascinating.  Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill gave a wonderful poetry reading of her celebrated works, and Breandan Feiritear’s lecture entitled “Dragging it Home:  Songs and Stories from Gaelic America” was an experience to which we all could relate.

I have decided to remain in Colorado and to seek out and become more involved with the Irish Gaelic goings on here.  But I full heartedly encourage you to join the Friends of Irish Studies in Montana and support their projects.  They provide a valuable resource not far from where we sit.  Beir Bua.

www.Indiegogo.com/projects/her-exiled-children-a-clann-dibeartha

http://hs.umt.edu/friends-irish-studies/