Belle Fourche High School Historiography class presents...

Photo by Jesse Kracht, 1996

The river of civilization flows through the centuries, linking our lives to the past and the future. Clustered on the banks are people who live hardworking, family oriented lives. History is the story of what happens on the banks. BJ

Historiography (literally "history writing"): to write, draw, describe and record the stories and experiences of the people whose lives form a culture, a region, a nation or an era.

Historic Fiction

Historic fiction are pieces based on the experiences people have shared with the students during interviews. In writing historic ficiton, every attempt is made to keep the stories historically accurate while capturing the unique attitudes of the area and of the era.

Feature Stories

Places, faces, businesses and events that give character to the Belle Fourche region

Oral Histories

First person narratives, which began as dialogues, preserve the personality of a people and an era.

Yesterdays. . .

Portions of interviews with local and regional people who remember the good old days, blizzards, pranks, wars....

Photo Essays

Photos of people and places of the area

Written, edited, and published by the Belle Fourche High School Historiography Class, 1996, this site is sponsored in part by a grant from South Dakota State University`s Rural Schools and Community Renewal Project.

This site designed and maintained by Bev Banks

westernweb@rushmore.com

STAFF

Danielle Davis

Abigail (Abby) DeJong

Stella Estrada

Kelly Geraci

Jesse Kracht

Mitch Mauer

Coral Rohlf

Angela Jane Wall

Nina Ellsworth, student editor

Bev Crabill Banks, supervisor

Jean Helmer, supervisor

Meet the Staff

PREFACE

In December of 1987, the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities and students from Belle Fourche High School joined together in a centennial history project. This project was designed to increase the students` awareness of the diverseness and richness of their heritage. In a class called Historiography these students endeavored to document and to record some of the events, traditions and legends of the people in the Belle Fourche region. The success of this project led Belle Fourche High School to make Historiography a regular part of the curriculum. Historiography Class is an interdisciplinary course involving the English, History and Business Departments. For eighteen weeks the Historiography 1996 students conducted interviews of area residents, visited local museums and collectors, and consulted microfilm archives of old newspaper files. These students then transcribed interviews, wrote feature stories, edited oral histories and created historic fiction pieces. On The Banks is a compilation of their efforts.