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History project in need of old photos
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
 | | Chris Scott's pictorial history of Highland County will have pictures like this one of Monterey High School girls' athletic group of 1905. Pictured are Mrs. Cliff Matheny, Sue Hansel, Lona Fox, Bess Bishop, Kate Gibson, Janet Stephenson, Daisy Slaven, Elsie Slaven, Martha Jones, Sally Campbell, Blanche Wagner, Louie Seybert, Rachel Ogilvie, Elsie Hiner and Jessie Campbell. (Recorder file photo) |
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McDOWELL - Chris Scott of McDowell is compiling a pictorial history book of Highland County after he had submitted a proposal to Arcadia Publishing, which was accepted.
"This will be a book chronicling a wide cross-cut of Highland history," said Scott. "I want everyone in and of the county to be involved so this will be a community history."
Contributors will get photo credit and would have the chance to influence the book with their memories, said Scott.
The 1911 "History of Highland County" by Oren F. Morton and the 1983 "The New History of Highland County" published by the Highland County Historical Society, are two sources of Highland history. Morton's has few pictures; The New History has many small photographs of families and buildings in Highland County, and its focus is on the text that accompanied them.
"My book will be mainly pictures, mainly a pictorial history of Highland," said Scott. "I think people learn visually through pictures. I envision people picking up the book and leafing through the pages and learning about Highland history."
Scott's book will be organized thematically. "I envision five or six different chapters," he said. "It's not certain yet, but maybe there will be one chapter on maple syrup processing, one on churches and schools, maybe a chapter on the fair, Highland goes to war, and one on the people of Highland County."
The book will have around 250 pictures. Arcadia's goal is to have it published by Maple Festival, 2008.
"My deadline is the end of September," said Scott.
"The Highland Historical Society fully supports Chris' project," said society executive director Crysta Stanton. "Chris has been a member of our board of directors for more than a year now. He approached the board about his project a few months ago and received their blessing. He has combed through the museum collection for acceptable photographs for this book. While we have many interesting photographs of the county's past, many of the people in our photos are unidentified, or the images are too poor for quality reproduction.
"This project is one that is long overdue in Highland County," she added. "We all know there are fabulous photographs out there in Highland's homes. For Chris, it is just a matter of finding them. We encourage everyone who is interested to get in contact with him. This is a positive project that we believe the entire community can get behind."
Once the book is published, Stanton hopes to have it for sale in the Highland County Museum store.
All photographs submitted to the project will be returned and remain the property of the contributor, Scott said. Photos will be stored at the museum in McDowell.
"People can call or e-mail me with any old pictures they have of Highland," he said. "I would love to include them. That way this belongs to all of us."
For more information, e-mail Scott at Chris@HighlandLogos.com, or call (540) 396-3460.
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