New Director Digs Into History At Ravalli County Museum
With less than a month on the job, Michelle Nowling is already deep into the local history that is expertly preserved and presented at the Ravalli County Museum. The former Ravalli County Courthouse has been a museum since the construction of the current courthouse just to the east of the building. And the collections have grown substantially since the days of the first director Erma Owings.
Nowling is Montana native, growing up in Philipsburg and attending Montana State University in Bozeman. She picked up a graduate degree in Museum Studies in Virginia, where she also dug deep into Civil War history. Upon arriving in Hamilton, she started an intense study of the valley s history. When we talked this week, she was looking at Nez Perce history, getting ready for a Native American exhibit that will be coming this year.