History Alive! Features A.T. Packard, 1880s Editor Of The Bad Lands Cow Boy...

History Alive! Features A.T. Packard, 1880s Editor Of The Bad Lands Cow Boy, At The Chateau De Mores State Historic Site

Medora – A.T. Packard, the 1880s editor of the Bad Lands Cow Boy, will appear at the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site in Medora the weekend of July 4-5. Portrayed by Donald Ehli in the popular History Alive! program, A.T. Packard will discuss his life as the editor of the newspaper from 1884-86.

The July 4-5 performances of A.T. Packard will be on the veranda of the Chateau at 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. (MT).

The free History Alive! performances are part of the summer programs sponsored by the state’s history agency, the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

Ehli holds bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees in theatre arts from Dickinson State University, and has worked at the Chateau de Mores site since 2001. In 1999, he translated into English 26 letters written by Felix Golinick, a German immigrant who worked for the Marquis de Mores on his Medora-Deadwood Stage Line. The translation led to Ehli’s portrayal of Golinick in the Footsteps into Medora’s Past program, using portions of Golinick’s letters written in Little Missouri/Medora between December 1883 and December 1885. In The Murder Trial of the Marquis de Mores, a part of the Footsteps project, Ehli portrayed Frank B. Allen, the Marquis’s defense attorney. After three years, the script was rewritten to become Recollections of Murder and Mayhem in Medora, and Ehli took on the role of Arthur T. Packard, editor of the Bad Lands Cow Boy from 1884-86. Ehli is an abstractor with the Dickinson Guaranty and Title Company, and also an adjunct lecturer in communications at Dickinson State University. He has appeared in, and directed, numerous productions at Dickinson State and community theatre in Dickinson.

The State Historical Society of North Dakota sponsors the History Alive! program to explore the lives and times of decades gone by. Begun in 1988, the unique program combines the theater arts with history. The character monologues, about 20 minutes in length, are based on original letters, diaries and other documents, many from the archives of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

For more information, contact the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site at (701) 623-4355 or the State Historical Society of North Dakota at (701) 328-2666 or visit the agency’s web site at www.history.nd.gov.http://www.nd.gov/hist.

Dates: July 4-5, 2009.

Times: 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. (MT).