Margaret Kingsland Interview, April 24, 2025

Margaret Kingsland, a former director of the Montana Committee for the Humanities, discusses the creation of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West. She begins by explaining how her upbringing in the American South and in various poverty-stricken countries throughout the world sparked her passion for participating in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. After moving to Missoula in 1971, Kingsland became the Director of the Montana Committee for the Humanities. She explains how the committee supported the Montana History Conference and facilitated scholarly discussions which culminated in the creation of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West. Kingsland talks about the personal connections and overlapping intellectual partnerships in English and History that fostered a new regional consciousness. She also expounds upon her own understanding of regionalism which is routed deeply in the physical landscape and the creation of an "Other." Kingsland finishes the interview by discussing her limited involvement on the O'Connor Center's Advisory Board from 1998 to 2001.