In Butte, Montana, the World Museum of Mining preserves part of the city’s mining landscape at the inactive Orphan Girl mine, a site associated with silver, zinc, and especially copper ore. Spread across about 22 acres with around 50 surviving buildings, it connects Butte’s mining history to the actual ground where that work took place rather than to exhibits alone. Chartered in 1964 as a nonprofit educational corporation and opened in July 1965, it serves both as a historical institution and a memorial, interpreting the hard-rock mining industry that shaped the city.