Clack Museum Foundation annual meeting covers area activities, dinosaurs

The H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation met for their annual meeting Saturday, which included a dinosaur presentation by local paleontologist Vicki Rae Clouse.

Foundation Board President Elaine Morse talked to attendees about the H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Foundation’s mission during the meeting portion of the event.

“As a reminder, the Clack Foundation’s sole purpose of existence is to raise money and to support the museum and the buffalo jump.” Morse said.

Two key points that define the Clack Museum Foundation’s vision statement, which are to secure and provide funding sources for the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum and Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump; and to work with other community organizations wishing to provide education and preservation of local art, culture and history.

The future home of the Clack Museum, known as the Havre History Center, is located at 2 Fifth Ave.

Morse said the conversion of the building, from a business operation to a building with the type of space necessary to house their museum displays and collections, has consumed the majority of efforts again this year.

“The biggest change in the past year includes the closing of Griggs Printing and our occupancy of the entire building,” she said, adding that the foundation and museum boards “have had work parties each month to work on some of the identified remodeling changes.”

She said that some of the projects have already begun which have included demolishing the “tobacco room,” which smells of tobacco, and a store room on the main floor, removing one stairwell to the basement, some window evaluations and more.

In regard to the recent buying of the Holiday Village Mall, she said, the foundation and the museum board have not received any communication from the new owners of the mall. They do not know what the plans are for the mall and what impact the sale will have on the progress of moving the museum, Morse added.

A variety of grants, fundraisers and activities were also sponsored by the museum, buffalo jump and foundation throughout the past year, she said, including Dinosaur Christmas, the Havre Historic Building Tea, Living History day and Hands-on-History.

Some of the annual events have schedules set for upcoming months. Dinosaur Christmas will be held Saturday, Dec. 7, and the Havre Historic Building Tea will be Saturday, April 25, no dates have been determined yet for Living History and Hands-on-History.

“We have received a grant from the Browning-Kimball Foundation for $10,000 that the check has already been received. It is an undesignated grant, so we can spend it on whatever we need to,” Morse said. “They have also committed to an additional $10,000 matching for us if we can raise another $10,oo0. So if we can raise another $10,000, they’ll grant us another 10. That’s my hope is that our fundraisers will be successful enough that we can prove to them that we’ve raised that money.”

Guest speaker at the meeting, paleontologist Vicki Rae Clouse, a professor at Montana State University-Northern, said she has been crazy for fossils and dinosaurs since she was 6 years old.

She gave a presentation about dinosaur fossil findings not just in Hill County, but also in Havre.

“Every rock and fossil has a story,” she said. “And if you can figure out how to read that story it’s amazing, just amazing.”

She said laws govern the collection dinosaur bones, including the Antiquities Act of 1906 which “protects all natural, cultural or scientific features on public” land and includes all vertebrate fossil bones, including dinosaur bones.

“Dinosaur bones on public lands belong to everyone of us,” she said.

She added that back in 1990 and 1991 she had found Lambeosaurus nests, eggs and embryos near what is known as the Judith River Formation, north of Havre and said it is about 75 million years old.

“This was probably one of the most heart-thumping moments of my life when we first started finding eggs,” Clouse said.

She said the Judith River Formation is very widespread as it goes up into Canada, to Alberta and Saskatchewan, where it is referred to as the Dinosaur Park Formation, then extends down into Wyoming.

“This is the only place, here, just north of Havre, Montana, where we find dinosaur eggs and embryos in the Judith River Formation. It’s not found elsewhere in the Judith River Formation,” Clouse said.

She said the first dinosaur nests, eggs, embryos and hatchlings were found in North America.

Maiasaura peeblesorum: Brandvold is Montana’s State Fossil, she said, designated in 1985. She said the fossil was identified by John R. “Jack” Horner in the Two Medicine Formation, near Choteau and that this was the first strong evidence of dinosaur parenting.

Clouse added that also in 1990 she found a mostly complete skeleton near Havre of an Albertosaurus libratus.

Her findings were the skull, pelvis, legs and feet.

Another dinosaur fossil finding, Brachylophosaurus Canadensis: Hadrosaur was discovered by Nate Murphy near Malta.

One of the most recent findings is Zuul crutivastor “destroyer of shins” which is currently curated at the Royal Ontario Museum

Morse said that the museum board hopes that by next year’s annual meeting Zuul, a replica or a casting of its head will be housed in the Clack Museum.

The H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Board will hold its next regular monthly meeting Monday, Nov. 11, at 6 p.m. at Havre Inn and Suites.