Friday Photo: Thanksgiving Turkey

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, 950-354

Are you ready for Thanksgiving dinner? I'd say this young man isn't. I hope your feast is filled with joy and free of regret.

P.S. The photo was taken by Evelyn Cameron.

Friday Photo: What's the Joke?

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.NB075A

Bill Fought (left) and Cap Barker pose with their horses circa 1914 near Terry, Montana. One wonders what he said or did to make her laugh. Evelyn Cameron, photographer.

Friday Photo: Pet Cat

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.N041

Alma and Esther McMurray pose with their pet cat circa 1900-1910. But look past the cuteness in the foreground. The background captures wonderful details of life in a homestead cabin. Evelyn Cameron, photographer.

Friday Photo: Threshing Crew

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87 4-3

Mabel Williams brings water to the threshing crew on her family's farm near Terry in September 1909. Her friend and neighbor Evelyn Cameron took the photo.

Friday Photo: Pet Wolves

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87 NB035B

Ewen Cameron, husband of photographer Evelyn Cameron, posed with the couple's pet wolves, Weecharpee and Tussa, circa 1908.

P.S. Remember Netty Archdale's pet antelope?

Friday Photo: Pet Antelope

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87 200

Netty Archdale feeds her pet antelope on her ranch in eastern Montana. The photo was taken by Evelyn Cameron on June 9, 1908.

P.S. Remember this strange pet?

Friday Photo: Homestead Wedding

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87 G065-002

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's a romantic photo: John and Christina Krenzler married on February 22, 1912, on this homestead. In traditional Russian-German style, schnapps and beer flowed liberally. Photo by Evelyn Cameron.

Friday Photo: Inside a Homestead Cabin

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.34-8

Evelyn Cameron snapped this rare photo of the interior of a homestead cabin circa 1900. Bread is rising in the pan by the oven.

P.S. Remember this cramped homestead cabin?
P.P.S. Have you seen the beautiful postcards in Evelyn Cameron's Montana?

Happy Mother's Day

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87 21 D

Moms have a tough job, but with a hand on her hip and determination in her eye, this homestead mom looks up to the task. Happy Mother's Day to all Montana moms!

P.S. The photo was taken by Evelyn Cameron in 1913 near Fallon, Montana.

Friday Photo: Turning Sod

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87-65.6

Evelyn Cameron snapped this photo of Rosie Roesler on a sulky plow in Prairie County in 1912.

P.S. Here's another iconic Cameron photo of homesteaders.
P.P.S This website showcases wonderful stories for Women's History Month.

Friday Photo: Pet Wolf

Wolves have been in the news a lot lately, what with the debate over wolf policy. Here's a photo to raise your eyebrows, no matter which side of the debate you're on.


Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives

Eunice Gipson posed with photographer Evelyn Cameron's pet wolf circa 1910-1920.

P.S. More lovely photos by Cameron here, here, here, and here.
P.P.S. Remember when Cameron scandalized Miles City?

Friday Photo: Boxing

Happy Friday!

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.3-13

This boxing match within a hand-held rope ring entertained the men of state senator Kenneth McLean's sheep camp. Evelyn Cameron snapped the photo in 1905.

P.S. Remember the time Cameron scandalized Miles City?

Friday Photo: Terry's First Bicycle

Happy Friday, history buffs. Summer is winding down, but this weekend promises beautiful weather. Are you going to cram in as much play time as you can?



Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.G034-006

Lucille and Paul Burt owned the first bicycle in Terry, and they showed it off in this 1902 photo by Evelyn Cameron. Their father was a sheep rancher.

P.S. Cameron photographed kids in a one-room school, too.

Evelyn Cameron

Today's post remembers Evelyn Cameron. She was born on August 26, 1868.

Terry, Montana, on the state’s eastern edge, was home to Evelyn Cameron, a talented woman who documented the homesteading era and Montana outdoors with shutter, lens, and expert eye. Cameron’s photographs capture the spirit of the West just as surely as Charlie Russell’s famous paintings define Montana cowboys. Cameron came to Montana from England with her husband to raise polo ponies to ship back to the British Isles. Although that idea failed, Cameron learned the art of photography and set about capturing life on the eastern plains. She died in 1928, but years later in the late 1970s, Time-Life books editor Donna Lucey stumbled upon 1,800 photo negatives and 2,700 original prints, stored for half a century in the Terry basement of Janet Williams, Cameron’s best friend. Lucey studied Cameron’s meticulous diaries and photographs to research her book, Photographing Montana 1894–1928: The Life and Works of Evelyn Cameron. Published in 2000, it revealed many of Cameron’s photos for the first time. If you visit Terry, be sure to stop at the Prairie County Museum and visit the Cameron ranch site.


Cameron snapped this photo of her brother Alec Flower with a magnificent cabbage harvest in 1898.
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives PAc 90-87




Dick Brown poses next to a pile of wolf hides in this Cameron photo.
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives PAc 90-87.24-5

Cameron kneads dough in this 1904 self-portrait.
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives PAc 90-87.35-5

From Montana Moments: History on the Go
P.S. Remember the scandal Cameron created when she rode into Miles City wearing this skirt?

Friday Photo: One-Room Schoolhouse

For the students and teachers who are finishing up the school year...


Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.63-3

The five students of Marsh in Prairie County, Montana, posed with their teacher on January 20, 1914. The photo was taken by Evelyn Cameron.

P.S. Remember the drama at Paris Gibson Junior High?

Evelyn Cameron Scandalizes Miles City

Photographer Evelyn Cameron is a recent inductee into the Gallery of Outstanding Montanans in the state’s Capitol. Evelyn was born in England and raised to be a proper English lady. But once she created a real scandal. Evelyn’s husband was a noted ornithologist and naturalist, but he didn’t care much for their ranch. That was all right with Evelyn who enjoyed the physical work. Chores and most everything from making bread to milking cows and working the horses fell to her. She took to wearing a divided riding skirt that allowed her to ride astride rather than sidesaddle. The long skirt was much like modern culottes. Victorian women, however, did not wear pants. And when Evelyn first rode into Miles City in the dark blue divided skirt she had ordered from California, oh, the scandal it caused. Although the skirt was so full it looked like an ordinary dress when she was on foot, on horseback the division was obvious. Law enforcement warned her not to ride on the streets in town or she might be arrested. But town was forty-eight miles from her ranch, and riding sidesaddle could only be done on a very slow and gentle horse. Evelyn would not ride what she called old “dead heads.” She became convinced that riding in a man’s saddle stride-legged was the only safe way for a woman to ride. Before long, other women took to the divided skirt and it became an accepted way of dressing not only for women on the streets of Miles City, but also on homesteads, farms, and ranches across Montana.


Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.80-2

One of the Buckley sisters of eastern Montana dismounting, wearing an Evelyn Cameron–designed split skirt, 1914. Click the photo for a bigger version.

P.S. Remember Dillon's fashion scandal?

Friday Photo: Evelyn Cameron

In celebration of Women's History Month, here's a famous photo of a famous Montanan.


From Montana Views. Original in Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.273


Evelyn Cameron posed on her horse, Jim, for this self portrait. Cameron is known for the wonderful photos she took documenting ranch and homestead life in eastern Montana around the turn of the century. I'm hoping to follow her lead and spend some time on horseback this weekend. I intend to stay seated, though.

P.S. Check out Cameron's album of personal photos, including pictures of herself as a young lady in England and on her honeymoon in Montana with her husband Ewen.
P.P.S. Remember these daring riders?

Friday Photo

Happy Friday the 13th! Any misfortunes so far today? If so, look on the bright side and remember that Montana has weathered some pretty tough circumstances, as today's photo goes to show...

From Montana Views. Original in Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87 42-7. Used by permission.

Olga Wold and her stepfather, Norman Wold, stand outside her homestead shack at Marsh, Montana, on December 28, 1912. Photo by Evelyn J. Cameron.