Distinctly Montana Magazine

97 w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m I N THE RENAISSANCE AND FOR CENTURIES THEREAFTER, LEARNED MEN KEPT THEIR OWN PRIVATE MUSEUMS, COLLECTIONS OF ART AND OBJECTS OF NATURAL OR HIS- TORICAL INTEREST THAT CAME TO BE CALLED WUNDERKAMMERN, OR CABINETS OF CURIOSITIES. These collections were more often than not displayed in beautiful cabinets with sundry small drawers and cupboards that, when opened, revealed small and wonder- ful scenes. For the viewer, the cabinets sparked wonder and encouraged learning. For the learned men who kept them, the wunderkammern symbolized the breadth of their knowl- edge and erudition. In Helena, another group of learned men are demonstrating their erudition in the construc- tion of a sort of modern—well, mostly modern—wunderkammern. For in the basement of a building on the Steamboat Block, they labor on a project as heroic as it is quixotic: nothing less than a model of the roads and tracks connecting the heart of Montana's railroad corri- dor, including Great Falls, Livingston, and Butte, with many smaller towns in between. by NICK MITCHELL photos by RICK SZCZECHOWSKI | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A World of Miniature Magic at the Western Montana Railroad Historical Assocation | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

• Cover