Cascade County Historical Society

Purpose: Supporting Lifelong Learning In its project Trailing History, the Cascade County Historical Museum will build public access to museum programming, exhibits, and services by creating a mobile museum for its 32,000-square-mile rural Montana service area. Modeled after the rural bookmobile, the mobile museum will take samplings of exhibits and programming to rural communities and schools, while providing classes and adult education opportunities to teachers and other adults in rural communities. It will reach out to rural families and children who, because of distances (less than one person per square mile), climate and road conditions, and economics (Montana ranks 50th in economic health) rarely visit a museum. The project will first capture the rural public's attention, then use electronic technology to help people further explore the portion of the museum's 90,000-piece collection that has been digitized. An educational consultant will help develop the programming, and a conservator will provide collection care advice and conduct several rural workshops. The mobile museum's itinerary will be posted on the Web site and advertised in local media. This project is a creative solution for increasing access and encouraging lifelong learning for an underserved population.