08/24/2026
Join the Lewis & Clark Library Foundation and the Montana Historical Society on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at 6:30 pm at the Montana Heritage Center to welcome Nate Schweber as the 2026 distinguished speaker for the 15th Annual Stephen E. Ambrose Memorial Lecture. The lecture will be followed by a brief reception.
When the book "Montana: High, Wide and Handsome" was published in 1943 it shocked the nation with its explanation of what was happening in this beautiful and sparsely-populated part of the West. Montana, wrote author Joseph Kinsey Howard, had been “piteously exploited,” more than any other state. For the 2026 Stephen Ambrose Memorial Lecture, author and journalist Nate Schweber will give a presentation about the life of Joseph Kinsey Howard.
Hounded by the Anaconda Copper Company until his early death, Howard fought to curb corporate corruption, to bind Montanans together through education, and to bring recognition to the Métis people. Posthumously, Howard would influence the crafting of Montana’s constitution.
Schweber’s presentation is adapted from his essay about Howard that will appear in a new Montana anthology scheduled for publication in fall 2027.
Nate Schweber is a freelance journalist who was born and raised in Missoula, attended the University of Montana, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. His work has appeared in The New York Times, ProPublica and Montana Quarterly. His 2022 book "This America of Ours: Bernard and Avis DeVoto and the Forgotten Fight to Save the Wild" won the High Plains Book Award for nonfiction.
Visit https://nateschweber.com.
Visit https://www.lclibfoundation.org.
Visit https://mths.mt.gov.
