What We Carry

Our predecessors, and even ourselves, carried or kept some mementos to help them move forward during hard times. A soldier or warrior might carry a Bible or cross, an amulet or power shirt, maybe a photo of loved ones, a lock of hair. Pioneers carried what they could, sometimes having to jettison possessions along the way. There are stories of abandoned pianos and other furnishings littering the plains as the struggle toward a new land proved harder than was imagined. Pared down to the essence, still we humans hold on to that one most important “thing”—photo, amulet, book, lock of hair—kept secret, kept close to bide one through the darkness.

I muse on this, as this morning I put on earrings, gifts from good friends, and my mom, to shore me up on another day, working remotely, in isolation. I am fortunate to have my dogs, my friends and birth family, to work at a job I love, with passionate and dedicated people. We are not so much different from our predecessors living in remote homesteads, or camps, looking forward to spring and gathering together again in community.

Journey through collections on our home page MHS.mt.gov to see what has been carried, saved, treasured. Journey through your own life to find what carries you.

Immigrant's Trunk,  MHS 2013.76.01