Permanent Exhibits

For many generations, the mountains, valleys, and plains of present-day Montana have been (and still are) home to American Indian tribes. The topography of Montana is as diverse and enduring as its native peoples. The Big Bend area of the Yellowstone River (near present-day Livingston, Montana) was a crossroads of ancient trails and diverse cultures.

A Walk in Their Moccasins...The Native Cultures room interprets the Northern Plains Indians and their activities, including plant gathering, tools, hunting, and the buffalo. An Archaeology Timeline, developed by archaeologist George Frison, is illustrated by artifacts from Park County sites.

Beautiful murals and photographs on the walls  provide backdrops. The murals, painted by local artist Joyce Johnson, include the renowned Anzick Site in northern Park County. A wall-sized photographic collage illustrates Crow Tribal history, including Fort Parker, the first Crow Agency, which lies just east of Livingston. The Crow Tribe is also interpreted through text and artifacts.

Especially for Children: A tipi sits in the room’s center, inviting museum visitors of all ages to go inside and enjoy the buffalo hide.

Learn more about Native Peoples whose homeland includes Montana and Yellowstone:

Visit www.montanatribes.org for tribes with reservations in Montana today. Geographically closest to Park County are the Crow Reservation in Eastern Montana, www.crow-nsn.gov, and the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation in Idaho,  https://www.sbtribes.com.

Native people traveled through and lived in what is now Yellowstone National Park. Information about the park’s 27 affiliated tribes is available here. 

Living at the Edge, a new permanent exhibit about Yellowstone National Park, explores the relationship between people and the park, focusing on employees and local businesses through park souvenirs and other objects, photographs, and ephemera, as well as stories. The exhibit also interprets the wonders, wildlife, and wildlands of the park. In addition, Ice Patch Archaeology, a traveling exhibit curated by archaeologist Dr. Craig Lee, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Montana State University, Bozeman, is displayed through the summer of 2023. Yellowstone’s prehistory is revealed through ice-patch artifacts found on the Beartooth Plateau east of the park.

Water is central to the survival of people in this arid land. Native peoples and homesteaders needed water.  The number of farms and ranches grew when there was enough moisture for families, for growing crops, and raising animals.  But drought took its toll, leaving the area sparsely populated. Some families stayed, pursuing a living as best they could. Many families in Park County have been here for generations, a testimony to hard work and perseverance.

Exhibits include Life on the Homestead before Electricity and tributes to sheep and dude ranching.

A Military History of Park County, honoring the stories of local veterans, is also displayed and updated regularly on Veterans' Day. An interactive wheel explores World War II fun facts. In 2018, museum staff and volunteers curated a new First World War exhibit that includes new stories of local servicemen and women, beautiful large prints by John C. Haberstroh, and many artifacts from WWI.  In 2022, "A History of Service: Park County Vietnam Veterans" exhibit was added, including twenty-three biographies of local Vietnam veterans and newly displayed artifacts. The exhibit commemorates the 50^th anniversary of the Vietnam War.

Especially for Children: Children enjoy the dress-up area that includes a trunk of “pioneer” clothing and accessories.

Wilsall to Wonderland: Trails, Roads, and Rails. Spanning more than 12,000 years of transportation history, visitors can learn about Indian trails, wagon roads, railroads, bicycles, the Yellowstone Trail, as well as today’s routes and modes of travel. The notorious winds of this area are also interpreted.

The new exhibit includes the fabrication of a walk-through Northern Pacific Railway Vista-Dome North Coast Limited train car. Of all the modes of transportation used throughout Park County, railway travel has had the greatest impact. The Northern Pacific Railway set up shop in Livingston in 1882, and was the driving force behind the establishment of the town. A spur line extended south through Paradise Valley, carrying tourists, supplies, and mail to Yellowstone National Park.

Activities for all ages include question-and-answer flipboards, an opportunity to share bicycling stories, and more.

Especially for Children: Here, children can play with a transportation table,  peek out a train window for a photo op, and don a railroad conductor’s cap while sitting in the Vista Dome train car.