Gravestones as Archives: Chinese and Japanese Memory in Mountview Cemetery

This interpretive walking tour of Billings’ Mountview Cemetery explores Chinese and Japanese headstones as powerful historical records of Montana’s diverse past. While much of the material culture of early Asian communities has disappeared, these markers preserve stories of migration, cultural identity, regional origins, and enduring ties across the Pacific. Drawing on original research, translation, and cultural interpretation, participants will learn how these gravestones reveal both the continuance of tradition and adaptation to life in the American West. By reading the cemetery as a cultural archive, the tour highlights overlooked histories and honors the lives of those who helped shape Montana despite exclusion and marginalization.