…[E]ach and every article owned by me, which is or may be considered in any way a souvenir of my late husband, General George Armstrong Custer… I give to my Executor with instructions to deliver the same over to a Public Museum or Memorial which may be erected on the battlefield of the Little Big Horn in Montana…”. 
Elizabeth Bacon Custer’s Last Will and Testament, Fourth Codicil

                My people the Crow Indians call me High Bird, but my tribal enrollment name is Joseph Medicine Crow.  I probably have more connection with this Custer Battlefield than anybody else.  I [personally] have known three of the Crow Indian Scouts who fought here:  White Man Runs Him was my grand uncle, I knew Curley, and I knew Hairy Moccasin.

This has been a good location for a long time. This place here, Garryowen, Montana, is probably the most historically important place in this part of the northwest.  Mrs. Custer’s collection of manuscripts is quite an addition to its importance. It’s all here. Now its time has come. We hope we will find one person who is interested in the history of this part of the west to carry on, to enlarge this place with a new building.  It will be quite a place here, I think a very important place. It is a gateway to the Big Sky Country, and to Indian Country.
Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, Crow Tribal Historian, age 94

At Garryowen, the legacies of Custer and of the American Indians who locked in deadly conflict with him are now joined.

The combination of the profound historical significance of the site and its monuments; of the presence of a rich, virtually untouched manuscript collection which truly belongs here; and of the facilities and infrastructure ripe for a substantial enterprise – all these factors together beg for the touch of a visionary who will continue this remarkable historical legacy and who has the resources to develop a world-class facility. 

Included in the sale of the town of Garryowen are elegant elevation drawings for a proposed new museum and research facility anchored by the Elizabeth Bacon Custer Manuscript Collection. As stated in her will, it was Libbie Custer’s final wish, now fulfilled, that her property make its way to the Little Big Horn.

Garryowen is a dream location.  It occupies ground sacred to the American historical consciousness; it houses a tomb of national importance; and its sale includes the largest collection of Custer-related documents in existence anywhere in the world.  It has a dedicated exit from a stretch of interstate highway between the two most popular tourist destinations in the country – Yellowstone Park and Mount Rushmore.  Every year, 3.8 million vehicles blaze down this stretch of I-90, and four hundred thousand visitors climb Last Stand Hill.

Garryowen’s new caretaker may choose to work from the current graceful and impeccably maintained structures; to construct a stunning new facility; or to bring fresh enterprise to this location:  whatever the choice, a streamlined facility and an unparalleled opportunity await a person of passion and imagination.