Brown Bag Lunch: John Conlan - Butte Gaelic Leagues

Name: Brown Bag Lunch: John Conlan - Butte Gaelic Leagues
Start: 2025-08-13T12:00:00-06:00
End: 2025-08-13T13:00:00-06:00
Location: 17 W QUARTZ ST, Butte, MT, United States, Montana 59701

Schedule

Wed Aug 13 2025 at 12:00 pm to 01:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

17 W QUARTZ ST, Butte, MT, United States, Montana 59701 | Butte, MT

The Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives’ Brown Bag Lunch Series welcomes John Conlan to present about the Ireland and Butte Gaelic Leagues from 1893 to 1916.
John Conlan is a retired Montana educator currently serving on the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives Board of Directors. He also hosts a Celtic/Folk Music Program and Butte Irish History series on Butte Community Radio Station KBMF. He has traveled extensively in Ireland, holds dual citizenship with Ireland, and is an independent researcher of Butte Irish organizations during the early 1900s and their ties to Ireland.
This presentation will explore the founding of Ireland's Gaelic League by Douglas Hyde and Eoin MacNeill in 1893, which was an organization committed to reestablishing an Irish identity by teaching traditional Irish culture, arts, sports and Irish industries; a necessary first step in obtaining Irish independence from England. The presentation will also include an overview of the Irish Gaelic League's evolution, accomplishments, challenges and its need to establish branches in America, specifically Butte, Montana. The program will highlight Gaelic League Founder Douglas Hyde's 1906 visit to and reception in Butte, Montana, the establishment of the Butte Gaelic League (First American Branch) and Butte’s role in aiding the Irish Gaelic League and the Irish independence movement.
The Brown Bag presentation will begin at noon on Wednesday, August 13th, 2025, and will last about an hour. The presentation will be held in the auditorium at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives located at 17 W. Quartz Street. Guests are encouraged to bring a sack lunch. Coffee and water will be provided.
Brown Bag Lunches are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month. Upcoming lectures will focus on topics of local interest. For more information, contact the Archives at (406)782-3280.