Learning from Historical Documents
Letters, diary entries, census records, newspapers, and photographs are all examples of "primary sources," material created at a particular moment in the past that has survived into the present. Primary sources can provide clues to the past. They are our windows into an earlier time. The Montana Historical Society contains thousands of primary sources. In the 1970s, archivists collected just a few snippets into a book, which they called Not in Precious Metals Alone: A Manuscript History of Montana. That book is now on the web in its entirety. Most of the material listed below was taken from Not in Precious Metals Alone. All relate directly to topics discussed in Montana: Stories of the Land, a textbook published by the Montana Historical Society. The material is organized by textbook chapter. You can read the chapters, and to find other teaching resources created for the textbook, at the Montana: Stories of the Land Companion Website.
Primary Sources by Chapter
Chapter 1: Montana: Where the Land Writes History
Chapter 4: Newcomers Explore the Region, 1742 - 1827
Chapter 5: Beaver, Bison, and Black Robes: Montana's Fur Trade, 1800: 1860
Chapter 6: Montana's Gold and Silver Boom
- Letter from Emily Meredith to "Father," from Bannack, 1863 See historic photos while listening to someone read the excerpt.
- Letter from Cornelius Hedges to "Parents," from Helena, 1865 See historic photos while listening to someone read the excerpt.
- Letter from E.W. Knight to U.S. Attorney General, 1882, about Segregated Schools
Chapter 7: Two Worlds Collide
- Letter from Chief Victor to Territorial Gov. Sidney Edgerton, 1865, Asking Edgerton to Enforce the 1855 Treaty
- Letter from Frank Elliott to "Father," from the Madison Valley, 1865, Advocating War against the Indians
Chapter 8: Livestock and the Open Range
- "Cow tales," by Georgia Reichert as told by H. J. Rutter, Poplar, 1931
- Letter from Albert Ronne to James Fergus, from Chinook, November 1892 See historic photos while listening to someone read the excerpt.
Chapter 9: Railroads Link Montana to the Nation
- Alma Coffin Reminiscence, Describing Travel by Stage See historic photos while listening to someone read the excerpt.
- Letter from William Sellew to "Mother," from Great Falls, 1888, Regarding the Railroad
Chapter 10: Politics and the Copper Kings
- Letter from Andrew Hammond to Samuel Hauser Regarding the Capital Fight, 1894.
- Letter from William Read to "Messrs. Walker Brothers" Regarding the Formation of the Workingmen's Union, 1878
Chapter 11: The Early Reservation Years
- Letter from George Browning to James Brisbin, 1878, Regarding Conditions on the Crow Indian Reservation
- Letter from Charles Broadwater to Martin Maginnis, 1881, Lobbying to Acquire More Tribal Land
Chapter 12: Logging in the "High Lonesome
- "Pioneer Lumbering in Montana," by Anton Holter
- Letter from F. D. Becker to Gov. S. V. Stewart, 1917, Regarding the IWW See historic photos while listening to someone read the excerpt.
- Letter from Wade Parks to Gov. S. V. Stewart, 1917, Regarding the IWW See historic photos while listening to someone read the excerpt.
Chapter 13: Homesteading This Dry Land
- "Boyhood Recollections: A Narrative of Homestead Days in North Eastern Montana," by Otto Jorgensen
- Letter from W. M. Black to Gov. Joseph Dixon, from Shelby, 1921, Requesting Aid for Drought Victims
- Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Montana Homesteading Brochure
Chapter 14: Towns Have Lives, Too
Chapter 15: Progressive Montana
- Letter from Jeannette Rankin to Anna Shaw, Quoted in the Montana Good Government State Central Committee records.
- Testimony from Hum Fay concerning the Boycott of Chinese and Japanese Businesses in Butte.
Chapter 16: Montana and World War I
- Letter to Charles Greenfield, State Defense Committee, from Terry, MT. 1918, Reporting an Illegal Speech
- Letter from Samuel McKennan to T. C. Power, Regarding the Purchase of Artillery Horses by France, Britain, and Italy, 1915
- Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine Disaster Telegrams
Chapter 17: Montanans on the Move
- Seattle to Boston - 1916: Diary of the Trip," by Margaret Rumsey
- "Cat Creek Oil Discovery," by Curley Meek
Chapter 18: The Great Depression Transforms Montana
- Letter from Margaret Loughrin to Gov. Frank Cooney, from Butte, 1934, Regarding the Strike
- Letter from J. E. Finch to Gov. John Erickson, from Sumatra, MT, 1931, Describing the Agricultural Depression
- Letters from Residents of Drought-Stricken Areas to Governor John Erickson
Chapter 19: World War II in Montana
- Letter from Gov. Sam Ford to Gen. Jay Benedict, 1942, Regarding the State Preparedness Program
- Letter from Howard Toole to Gov. Sam Ford, from Missoula, 1942, Regarding Japanese Students Attending University of Montana
Chapter 20: Building a New Montana
- Journalists' Reminiscence about Working on Anaconda Company-owned Newspapers
- Letter from Sam Chase, Vice President of the Montana Power Company, to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Regarding the Knowles Dam
- Letter from S. R. Logan, Board Member of Committee for Paradise Dam, to Clifford Davis, Regarding the Knowles Dam
Chapter 21: A People's Constitution
Chapter 22: Living in a New Montana
- Terry Murphy, Montana Farmers Union board member, Testifying to the Legislature about Energy Development, 1973, and Dolph Harris, President of the Economic Development Association of Eastern Montana, Testifying to the Legislature about Energy Development, 1971
- Hank Deschenes, of Missoula, Testifying to the Legislature against a Moratorium on Subdividing Agricultural Land, 1975, and Charles Bradley of Bozeman, Testifying to the Legislature in Favor of a Moratorium on Subdividing Agricultural Land, 1974
