Janelle M. Olberding is an independent historian, writer, avid reader, part-time educator, and lifelong learner. Her work on the 1918 influenza pandemic in Butte, Montana has appeared in the "Journal of the West," and her first book, "Butte and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic," was published in 2019. She's currently at work on her first piece of fiction - a novel loosely based on the 1917 Granite Mountain disaster in Butte.

Janelle holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Montana and a Master of Arts in History from Norwich University. She has worked in public education as a high school English teacher and in public health emergency preparedness, communicable disease prevention, and communications. Currently, Janelle is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations and an adjunct instructor for Dawson Community College.

Janelle is passionate about both public health and history, especially where they collide, devoting a lot of time to reading and studying about communicable disease's influences on culture and history. She lives in Boise, Idaho.