O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West Oral History Project
This collection contains interviews detailing the history of the Carroll and Nancy Fields O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. The University of Montana founded this research center in the early 1990s to study the culture, policy, and economics of the Rocky Mountain West region. The interviews were conducted by Dr. Michael Larmann while working as the O’Connor Center’s public historian in Spring 2025. The interviewees include previous center directors, Montanan politicians, technology specialists, journalists, and other employees who worked at the Center between 1991 and 2019. They discuss the Center’s origins and its mission to serve as a resource for the people in the West. Narrators discuss the meaning of regionalism and the importance of preserving the Rocky Mountain West’s distinct character during a period of rapid change. They also examine how the O’Connor Center’s programming changed over time from history and culture, towards government policy, and finally economic development. As of 2025, the O’Connor Center still operates at the University of Montana with a particular focus on environmental research. This collection contains ten interviews. The original interviews are held as Oral History collection OH 489 at Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula.
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Timothy J. Abbenhaus Interview, March 18, 2025
Timothy J. Abbenhaus
TJ Abbenhaus describes how he became the GIS Technology Specialist for the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West between 1998 and 2003. Abbenhaus first explains how his outdoor activists and work for local government counties got him interested in Geographic Information Systems. Abbenhaus explains ... Read More
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Robert J. Brown Interview, March 14, 2025
Robert J. Brown
Bob Brown discusses how he transitioned from Montana State politics to work at the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in the mid-2000s. Brown explains how he first got involved in politics and ran for office after the Kent State shootings in 1970. After ... Read More
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William E. Farr Interview, February 13, 2025
William E. Farr
William E. Farr, a Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Montana, discusses his journey as the first director at the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. After explaining how he developed his passion for Medieval and Native American studies, Bill Farr describes ... Read More
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David Highness Interview, March 17, 2025
David E. Highness
Dave Highness describes his experience working as an Information Technology Specialist at the O’Connor Center in the mid-1990s. After recounting his upbringing in Missoula, Dave details how his passion for making maps led him to pursue a master’s degree in geography at the University of ... Read More
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Daniel Kemmis Interview, February 11, 2025
Daniel Kemmis
Daniel Kemmis, a former Mayor of Missoula, Montana discusses how he became the second director of the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. He describes his teaching and the Center’s relationship with the University of Montana. Daniel Kemmis then speaks in detail about the ... Read More
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Margaret Kingsland Interview, April 24, 2025
Margaret C. Kingsland
Margaret Kingsland, a former director of the Montana Committee for the Humanities, discusses the creation of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West. She begins by explaining how her upbringing in the American South and in various poverty-stricken countries throughout the world sparked her passion ... Read More
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Gregory Lakes Interview, May 6, 2025
Gregory Lakes
Greg Lakes discusses his tenure as the head editor of Headwaters News in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After working for the Missoulian and the Ravalli Republic, Lakes edited the O’Connor Center’s newsletter. He explains how Headwaters News reflected the Center’s mission to analyze ... Read More
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Doug Lawrence Interview, March 11, 2025
Doug Lawrence
Doug Lawrence describes his 20-plus-year long career as a computer program specialist at the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. After reminiscing about his time as a computer science graduate student at the University of Montana, Lawrence explains how he found work at the ... Read More
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Shellie Nelson Interview, April 30, 2025
Shellie Nelson
Shellie Nelson discusses her work as the editor of the O’Connor Center’s newsletter Headwaters News (later renamed Mountain West News) from 2003 to 2016. She explains how her upbringing on a cattle ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska sparked her interests in water law and ... Read More
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Jeannie Thompson Interview, April 22, 2025
Jeannie Thompson
Jeannie Thompson of Bozeman examines her career working at the University of Montana, first as the office manager of the News and Publications Office and then as the Administrative Assistant of the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. She explains her duties in the ... Read More