SCHS participates in history project

by Lorri Renard

The Sanders County Historical Society (SCHS) became a contributor to the Montana History Portal with their first contribution going live on Monday, May 6, 2024. The project began in late October 2023 with a virtual meeting with the director of the Montana History Portal Jennifer Birnel, SCHS President Sherry Hagerman-Benton, Old Jail Museum Director Vonn Briggs, and Lorri Renard providing SCHS technical support for the project.

The Montana History Portal is part of the Montana State Library online system and provides open access to digital materials from across the state, but there was no content for Sanders County until recently. It was decided that the SCHS would begin providing content for the area with low hanging fruit (documents that were already in a digital format). The initial contribution was a research collection written by Ann (Sloan) Miller of Pioneers and Early Settlers in Sanders County, listed alphabetically by last name in nine geographically defined locations within Sanders County. Information about these early pioneers now can be easily accessed for those doing genealogy research or wanting to learn what life was like during the mid-1800 to mid-1900 in northwestern Montana.

The process of gathering and identifying future contributions from the SCHS for the History Portal is being undertaken and will consist of various historic photographs and documents. In the meantime, the SCHS is proud to announce its commitment to the community with this year’s exhibit at the Old Jail Museum featuring Early Business of Sanders County. The Old Jail Museum is open noon - 4 p.m. daily.