Michael Umphrey was founding director of the Montana Heritage Project, a joint initiative of the Library of Congress and the Montana Historical Society. Over 30 high schools participated in community study projects in which students served their community through scholarly work, documenting key stories in the past and present of their home towns.𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺-𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 was published by Rowman & Littlefied. It offers an in-depth exploration of that project. Umphrey has also published two books of poetry: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘵 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸 (CSU Poetry Center) and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘌𝘥𝘨𝘦 (UM).