Submit your family history

Carter County Museum recently announced that a "Shifting Scenes Vol. V" is in the works.

Museum staff are asking residents and "everyone who has set foot in Carter County and been a part of its history" to send in updated family history and anything pertaining to Carter County.

Things considered for publication in the fifth installment of written history for the county could also include stories, photos or poems. Families and individuals who were not in previous volumes of the series are especially encouraged to submit information.

The first "Shifting Scenes" was published in 1978 and was the result of a large community effort. The book was dedicated to "the robust and individualistic pioneers who lived close to and enjoyed nature and to whom we are indebted for a marvelous heritage." The planning committee for the first volume included Erma Albert, Ida Brewer, Vivian Castleberry, Marshall Lambert, H.B. Albert, Anna LaBree, Nona Kirkwood and Edna Asbury.

In a foreword in volume I, Albert wrote in part, " As you read these pages and witness the 'shifting scenes' that characterize the Carter County Area it is the hope of the Carter County Geological Society that this book will capture something of the history of the area. An area at one time dominated by the dinosaurs whose habitat was swamp land which was later designated in the geography books as the Great American Desert; the Happy Hunting Grounds of the Indians and the home of the buffalo; the region bearing the foot prints of Verendrye and La Roque in the 18th and 19th centuries; the area that lured the trappers, traders and buffalo hunters; the region that enticed the cattlemen who brought their huge trail herds from Texas to graze upon its lush grasses and who were replaced by the early pioneers followed by the homesteaders and their confining fences with every half section being filed upon and finally, the exodus of the homesteaders and the shifting to the development of the larger ranches of today, each engulfing many of the early homesteads."

Ten years have passed since the last edition of Carter County's history compilation, "Shifting Scenes Vol. IV." The book was prepared to help Ekalaka celebrate its Quasquicentennial (125-year anniversary) in 2010.

The geological society asks that all who submit information for "Shifting Scenes Vol. V" include the following information.

• Full name including maiden name, if applicable

• Place of birth

• Names of parents and siblings

• Schools attended

• Marriage - to whom? When" Where?

• Names of children and their spouses, if applicable

• Military history, if applicable

• Community organizations membership

• Vocation and location of business, farm, ranch or profession

• Connection to Carter County

Names of individuals and locations should be included with any photos, if possible.

Stories and photos should be submitted by email to Carter County Museum Director Sabre Moore at outreach@cartercountymuseum.org. Submit histories as a word document (.docx) or as a PDF (.pdf). All pictures should be scanned in .jpg format at 300 dpi or greater.

Email is preferred, but if not possible, submissions can be dropped off at the museum or mailed to PO Box 445, Ekalaka MT 59324. Mailed photos will be scanned and returned.

The deadline for submitted items is June 1, 2021 but all are encouraged to send in stories as soon as they are ready.