The Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives Brown Bag Lunch Series welcomes Dr. Pat Munday to speak on Our Lady of the Rockies. Our Lady of the Rockies (OLR) is a ninety-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking Butte, Montana, from its perch high atop the Continental Divide. OLR began as a plan for a small, private altar. With the collapse of Butte’s copper mining economy, unemployed miners rallied around the idea of building a major shrine to the Virgin Mary that would help restore the city’s culture and economy. In the popular account, OLR is a uniquely local undertaking reflecting the community’s character and pride. Yet OLR is far more than this, for it taps into a rich vein of cultural and spiritual tradition. Attend to learn more about Dr. Munday’s views pertaining to Our Lady of the Rockies and the earth as females pervaded in early Western civilizations.

The Brown Bag Lunch will begin at noon and run for about an hour at the Archives, 17 W. Quartz Street. Coffee and water will be served, and guests may bring a sack lunch. For more information, please call the Archives at 406-782-3280.