Caroline M. McGill

Although later living on a hardscrabble farm on the Missouri Ozarks, Caroline's parents were strong supporters of higher education for all their children[4] and Caroline received her Teaching Certificate from Lebanon Normal School in 1901.

In 1909, Caroline was honored as the first recipient of the Sarah Berliner Research Fellowship,[5] an endowment that paid for a year of study in Europe, with the opportunity to meet and study with authoritative persons in her field of Zoological science.

In 1955, McGill was awarded an honorary doctorate by Montana State College for her “accomplishments in the medical field and in historic and wilderness preservation.”[6] The Butte Business and Professional Women’s Club awarded McGill as “Woman of the Year” in 1955.

[6] While traveling in Europe on the Sarah Berliner Fellowship, she was asked to come to Montana to become a pathologist there; after returning from her studies in Europe, Caroline moved to Butte, Montana to become the state's first pathologist (1911–13), working extensively as an advocate for tuberculosis patient and community health initiatives.

In her diary, she wrote, “never was any older woman more differently or more kindly treated...the relaxation of this outdoor life made it possible for me to carry on my heavy practice in Butte.” [8] After retiring from her medical practice in 1956, she started working with Dr. Merrill G. Burlingame in 1957, donating to the people of Montana the remarkable gift of her large collection of artifacts, collectible antiques, her personal and professional papers, and her time to catalog all the materials; the two became co-founders of the Museum of the Rockies.