Wednesday, March 18, 2026
7:00 p.m. via Zoom
The program is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register!
Our presentations include:
Montana Revisited
In 2006, a group of MNSAH members traveled to Montana at the invitation of former board member Patty Dean, who had returned to her hometown of Helena. During the course of a multi-day tour organized by Patty, we spent one day in Butte, touring buildings designed by Minnesota architects and learning about the area’s history.
MNSAH member Fred Quivik takes us on a return trip to Montana as he discusses his new book, Smoke and Tailings: An Environmental History of Butte and Anaconda, Montana, 1880-1930 (University of Nevada Press, 2025). Together, Butte and nearby Anaconda comprise the fourth-largest National Historic Landmark (NHL) District in the United States, significant for their architecture as well as mining and labor history. They are also at the heart of the largest Superfund complex in the nation. Smoke and Tailings is a history of the environmental damage caused by copper mining and smelting that led to the Superfund designation. Fred will describe the historic architecture of the landmark district and will then argue that environmental degradation and remediation, features of which are well represented on the cultural landscapes of Butte and Anaconda, should be added to the themes embodied in the Butte-Anaconda NHL. The environmental damage was caused by sulfide mining, a fact that will resonate with Minnesotans concerned about proposed copper-nickel mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Fred Quivik lives in Saint Paul. He has worked for more than thirty years as an expert witness (industrial historian) in Superfund litigation. He is also an architectural historian who previously worked as a consultant on cultural resource management projects in Montana, the Dakotas, and Minnesota.
Elizabeth Scheu Close Documentary Project
Kim Loken and Jane Hession will present on their work to date on a new documentary on architect Elizabeth (Lisl) Scheu Close, a pioneering woman in the field of architecture, who left an indelible mark on Minnesota’s built environment during her long career.
As they work to adapt Jane’s book, Elizabeth Scheu Close: A Life in Modern Architecture, into a feature-length documentary, they are conducting additional interviews, commissioning drone footage, filming time lapses, and spending time at archives near and sites afar to document the ephemera of Lisl’s life and the enduring qualities of her architecture.
MNSAH is serving as the fiscal agent for the documentary project and will sponsor the Minnesota premier of the documentary in 2027.
Kim Loken is an associate professor in the School of Art & Design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, teaching interdisciplinary courses to undergraduate and MFA students. A licensed architect, her work directing a short documentary series on Minnesota’s women Fellows of the American Institute of Architects keeps her connected to the profession.
Jane Hession is an architectural historian and curator specializing in modernism. Her book on Lisl Close was the recipient of MNSAH’s 2022 David Gebhard Award.
The program is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
