BUTTE — Butte’s historic graveyards are home to thousands of elaborately carved tombstones, mausoleums and monuments that honor the various burial practices of immigrants who began settling in the Mining City around the 1860s.
Along with caskets made in Butte, monuments like a life-size angel or unique embellishments on tombstones are part of the business of burials that staff at the Butte Public Archives say help to tell the stories of the people who once lived here.
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"This is Woodrow and Velma Platt, but he went by Marvin the Magician and him and his wife had an act where he could levitate her. This is him and his wife on Big Butte and she’s levitating and there’s a similar photograph on their tombstone," says Lindsay Mulcahy, the assistant director at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives.
Mulcahy and her colleague Aubrey Jaap, the director of the Butte Archives, have been leading cemetery tours for the past five years as a way to dig into the stories of Butte.
"We love cemeteries. I think I speak for both of us when I say that I think Butte’s history is in its cemeteries," says Jaap.
Now with the help of a grant from the Foundation for Montana History, they are telling the story of the business of burials in Butte through objects like embalming kits, coffins, and even sketches drawn by memorial masons. Some objects are on loan from the World Museum of Mining. Death records and objects tell a story of Butte's immigrant population.
"While they can seem maybe a little bit dark, I actually think it’s a really great way to honor the people who have, you know, been here before us," says Jaap.
The exhibit, on display through April, delves into the various burial practices of the immigrant like a midnight wake for a Scottish man and masses spoken in German, as well as the practice of the Irish wake.
"I hope by people coming to view our exhibit they can get a deeper appreciation for the cemeteries and other burial practices associated with it in Butte," says Mulcahy.
