University of Providence English professor Aaron Parrett examines what may be considered Montana’s first novel. Josephine White Bates lived in Butte when it was a silver-mining camp, before the transition to large-scale copper mining, and described life in the fictionalized city of Colusa in her 1880s book “A Blind Lead.” Her work serves as a capitalist morality tale, but also offers a unique perspective of Butte before its boom. The October Lecture Series is sponsored by the Friends of the Montana Historical Society as their primary annual fundraiser. The lecture is $5 and brown-bag lunches are welcome.
