Remembering Dave Walter

As much as his own scholarship, his innumerable public presentations, his initiation of the Montana Scholars panels at the annual Montana History Conference, and his oversight of a new Montana history textbook, Dave's work as a reference historian is his legacy to Montana. I doubt there is anyone who has written on Montana history in the last thirty years who is not in Dave's debt. Dave represented the Montana Historical Society with style and grace in many venues, and I have many memories of him. But first and foremost, I will remember him sitting at the reference desk, flipping through the Rolodex, and coming up with a ready answer.

Mary Murphy

Michael P. Malone Professor,

Montana State University, Bozeman

I had the pleasure of knowing Dave Walter for more than thirty years. I first met him when he was a young historian. Over the decades, I worked with Dave in many different contexts, including as a speaker for public programs in the humanities and as a Montana Committee for the Humanities board member from 1990 through 1993. Dave's modesty, kindness, shyness, and quiet humor, together with his love of Montana and its people and history, made him a delightful friend and a wonderful scholar. I shared with others the pleasure of seeing his confidence grow and of seeing his work receive the recognition it deserved.

In addition to the many people who benefited from Dave Walter's expertise and assistance at the Montana Historical Society, there are thousands in large and small towns across Montana who were stimulated by his work and his example. Dave was ever generous with his knowledge and time, and he grew to be one of the most effective humanities scholars in the state. For example, after Dave developed his interest in "jerks in Montana history," he created five different presentations for the Montana Committee for the Humanities Speakers Bureau, as well as five other program topics. Over the past ten years, he gave more than 125 Speakers Bureau programs across the state.

Dave Walter was an effective public scholar because he was a skilled researcher and because he could show how a quirky event related to its times and to ours-and he always did so in lucid, accessible prose, with wit and modesty, and without pedantry. Dave brought to his audiences the challenges and ambiguities of historiography. He could develop the links between story and history and between storytelling and the motives of history writing. He knew that history isn't about the past. It's about how we discuss the past in the present and how we shape present discussions to inform future discussions.

In his presentations, it often seemed that Dave could barely wait to end his speaking role because he wanted to reach the important matters that would surface in the conversation that would follow: How would others tell the same story? Why do we select one story instead of others? How will any of these stories be told in the future? He could even press the point of responsibility: How will you tell this story in the future?