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Virtual Exhibition

2020

American Land Rush: “A Lonely Homesteader” Searches for Security in the Montana Homestead Boom

Published
2021-03-09

Abstract

Swept up in the optimism of the 1910s, Lily Stearns settled with her four children on a promising homestead in northeastern Montana, where she found her fate conscribed by extreme weather and the limits of her endurance. This richly illustrated virtual exhibition tells the story of one participant in the largest homestead boom in US history, revealing the erratic fortunes of farm life reflected in the abundant economic, political, and personal uncertainties of the era.