Keith Edgerton is professor emeritus at Montana State University-Billings, teaching in the Montana university system for 34 years, the final 29 of those at MSU-Billings. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Montana and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Washington State University.  Upon his retirement in 2023, he was recognized by MSU-Billings with the institution’s “Lifetime Achievement Award.” Over his career he has taught a range courses on early American history, American Environmental history, and Trans-Atlantic history. He has spoken on a variety of historical topics to diverse audiences and has joined a number of Smithsonian adventures, including on the Great Lakes, into the American Southwest, along the Columbia River, and through Vietnam.

Dr. Edgerton has written and published extensively on a range of subjects. He is the author of Montana Justice: Power, Punishment, and the Penitentiary published by the University of Washington Press in 2005.  Currently he is at work on a biography of William A. Clark (not to be confused with the William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame). This particular William A. Clark was one of Montana’s late 19th century copper barons and became a U.S. Senator in 1901 in an election tainted by, to put it mildly, scandal and corruption.  When he died in New York in 1925 he was one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. Keith splits his time between Billings and Missoula with his “amore” and wife, Lenette Kosovich. They love to cook, travel, make home brew, and in the summer canoe through the scenic White Cliffs region of the upper Missouri river in Montana.  Between them they have five sons in various states of adulthood.

Language spoken: English