Translate
Font size options
Increase or decrease the font size for this website by clicking on the 'A's.
Contrast options
Choose a color combination to give the most comfortable
contrast.
Writer and Bohemian provocateur Mary MacLane had a complex relationship with Butte.
Infamous during her lifetime but largely forgotten to history, writer and bohemian provocateur Mary MacLane had a complex relationship with Butte, the city that both formed and frustrated her as an artist. Her first confessional memoir, originally titled I Await the Devil’s Coming, was published in 1902 and became an international bestseller. Awash in overnight fame and fortune, MacLane left for Chicago and the East Coast to establish herself as a journalist and novelist. She returned to Butte in 1910, where she wrote a second memoir that was published in 1917. I, Mary MacLane, expanded upon the themes of loneliness, self-awareness, and creative expression that MacLane explored in her first book. Both her memoirs feature striking descriptions of Butte and illuminate MacLane’s feelings about the place and about herself.
Lindsay Tran is the historic architecture specialist at the Montana Historical Society’s State Historic Preservation Office. She manages the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program in Montana, conducts architectural review for projects subject to state and federal laws, and gives technical preservation guidance to the public.
Originally from Bozeman, Tran graduated from University in Montana with a bachelor’s degree in history and earned a Master of Science in historic preservation from the University of Oregon. She writes regularly for Distinctly Montana.
In partnership with The Extreme History Project.