Montana: a Cultural Medley
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts when Montana historian Robert Swartout gathers the fascinating stories of the state’s surprisingly diverse ethnic groups into this thought-provoking collection of essays. Fourteen chapters showcase an African American nightclub in Great Falls, a Japanese American war hero, the founding of a Metís community, Jewish merchants, and Dutch settlement in the Gallatin Valley, as well as stories of Irish, Scots, Chinese, Finns, Mexican Americans, European war brides, and more.
Robert R. Jr. Swartout
Robert R. Swartout, Jr., is Professor Emeritus of History, Carroll College, Helena, Montana, where he taught both United States and East Asian history from 1978 to 2014. Professor Swartout was born in Portland, Oregon. He received both his bachelor's and his master's degrees from Portland State University and his doctorate from Washington State University.
Dr. Swartout served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Korea from 1970 through 1972, and was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Korea from 1986 to 1987 and again from 1994 to 1995. He has been a visiting professor on numerous occasions in Korea, teaching at Korea University, Yonsei University, Ewha Women's University, and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. From 1998 to 2008, he served as an Honorary Consul in Helena for the Republic of Korea.
He was corecipient of the first Burlington Northern Outstanding Teacher Award at Carroll College in 1985. He received Carroll's Outstanding Teacher Award for Research in 1997, the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2009, and the Outstanding Teaching Award in 2013. He has served as a member of the Original Governor's Mansion Restoration Board in Montana and was a member of the Board of Editors for Montana, The Magazine of Western History from 1997 through 2013. In 2006, he received the Outstanding Educator’s Award from the Montana Historical Society Board of Trustees. In early 2013, he was awarded the Governor's Humanities Award by the state of Montana and Humanities Montana.
