Edith R. Furman Photographs and Scrapbook, circa 1924-1954

The images in this series are for the most part undated; those that are dated span the date range from circa 1924 to 1952. The first Crow Fair sponsored at the Crow Agency occurred in 1904, and by 1909 a sham battle reenactment depicting the Battle of the Little Bighorn was incorporated into the festivities. Edith Furman likely attended the 1924 Crow Fair and perhaps others in the following years where she took photographs. To the south of Furman's home at Kirby was the site of the Battle of the Rosebud, then incorporating part of a ranch owned by Thomas Penson. On June 17, 1934, the Billings, Montana Shining Mountain Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented a monument to Big Horn County to commemorate the soldiers killed and wounded at the Battle of Rosebud Creek. Furman attended the event and took some of the photographs in these series. After donating the photographs, early library personnel erroneously wrote the date of 1910 on images 10-14, 19-19, and 22. The correct date should be 1924 or later. Photograph titles adapted from information Furman wrote on the verso have been indicated with quotation marks. Those titles without quotation marks were either by the processor.

This scrapbook chiefly pertains chiefly to the Battle of Little Big Horn, Battle of Rosebud Creek, Custer and his widow, Native American Indians, and other individuals pertinent to battles of 1876. Many of the articles appear to retell the information for a semi-centennial commemoration of the battles. Other information the scrapbook touches on includes Theodore Roosevelt's trip to Montana in the æeighties' and the Hay Corral Fight. Additional topics range from the Vigilantes, the Pony Express, French explorers, fur traders and trappers, and Irish Montana schools in private homes.