After over two years of painstaking cataloging of thousands of images, the Yellowstone Gateway Museum now houses a permanent collection of digitally archived photographs originally compiled by Bill and Doris Whithorn. The Whithorns—Bill as the photographer or photo archivist, and Doris as the chronicler—wrote and published over 20 books on area history, placing them among Livingston’s most unique creative artists, and presented here is a picture of their work looking back at “educational” shots of the area’s past.
The Whithorn’s photographic records—along with oral and written histories, negatives and video—were donated to the Yellowstone Gateway Museum by the Whithorn’s daughters Alta and Carol in the fall of 2006. The consequential archiving of the Whithorn photos at the Museum has been no easy task. The Museum acquired grants to help fund the manpower necessary for the job and along with the trained technicians working to individually scan, catalog, and file each photo in the collection, over 25 volunteers also donated their time and energy to the project, all in the name of preserving Park County history.
By continuing to print selections from the Whithorn collection during the archival process over the past two years, the Current hopes to enlighten locals and visitors alike to the phenomenal heritage of this area. In the case of this issue, the selection of images chronicles area education over the years, from student bands to one-room schoolrooms. We do hope that these visions from the past give readers a perspective on the beginnings of this community and inspire an interest in the historical culture of Livingston as well as an interest in the world-class exhibits maintained by the Yellowstone Gateway Museum.
Currently, the Museum is seeking funds to help make the Whithorn collection more accessible to the public through the Doris Whithorn Outreach Program, an effort that includes a fully searchable online database of the images. For more information about the program, or the 10,000-plus images of the Whithorn collection, contact Jon Watson at the Museum at 222-4184 or see Watson’s note on the online collection at the end of this feature.
We invite our readers take a trip back through time to the days of the area’s beginnings, and enjoy a perspective on the past. The following notable shots picked by the museum staff are only a hint of what will be preserved for future generations.
On the Cover: Print, photographic, Shown here is A.W.T. Anderson and the Chico school on April 13, 1897 , An Enterprise item on December 25, 1897, (yes, the local paper did publish on Christmas Day) read: ”Chico School will open again with Mrs. Vesta P. Walker as teacher.” Anderson taught only one year. He became storekeeper and postmaster in Emigrant, a job he held until 1941. August Anderson was always called A.W.T.
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