{"id":{"repo_id":"montana","oai_identifier":"oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-1987"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/montana/oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-1987","repository":{"repo_id":"montana","name":"University of Montana","base_url":"https://scholarworks.umt.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"THE CENTER OF A HOMESTEADING COMMUNITY IN NORTHWEST MONTANA: ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THE POLEBRIDGE SCHOOLHOUSE","abstract":"In the summer of 2010, I excavated the remnants of a historic one-roomed schoolhouse near Polebridge, Montana, just outside of Glacier National Park. The schoolhouse’s recovered artifacts represent a lively community of homesteaders residing in the North Fork Valley of the Flathead River during the early 20th century. 3,704 individual artifacts in the form of metal, glass, ceramic and faunal remains, tell of life during this time period. The research goals of this thesis have three objectives: 1) the historical record often depicts schoolhouses as serving as public space for the community, the archaeological record can be used to corroborate it as well; 2) the artifacts recovered give insight into cultural attitudes and sentiments that reflect the entire North Fork Valley community, and 3) GIS facilitates a reconstruction of the how the schoolhouse was positioned on the landscape, providing another level of data to explore the role and significance of the schoolhouse, particularly its geographical position in the community. As schoolhouses are seldom investigated in the archaeological realm, I hope to build upon the platform of previous undertakings and contribute Montana’s only schoolhouse excavation to the growing study of the archaeology of institutions.","abstract_html":"In the summer of 2010, I excavated the remnants of a historic one-roomed schoolhouse near Polebridge, Montana, just outside of Glacier National Park. The schoolhouse’s recovered artifacts represent a lively community of homesteaders residing in the North Fork Valley of the Flathead River during the early 20th century. 3,704 individual artifacts in the form of metal, glass, ceramic and faunal remains, tell of life during this time period. The research goals of this thesis have three objectives: 1) the historical record often depicts schoolhouses as serving as public space for the community, the archaeological record can be used to corroborate it as well; 2) the artifacts recovered give insight into cultural attitudes and sentiments that reflect the entire North Fork Valley community, and 3) GIS facilitates a reconstruction of the how the schoolhouse was positioned on the landscape, providing another level of data to explore the role and significance of the schoolhouse, particularly its geographical position in the community. As schoolhouses are seldom investigated in the archaeological realm, I hope to build upon the platform of previous undertakings and contribute Montana’s only schoolhouse excavation to the growing study of the archaeology of institutions.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["KROLL, ALEXANDER J"],"institution":"University of Montana","degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:11:51Z","subjects":["GLACIER NATIONAL PARK","HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY","HOMESTEADING","NORTH FORK OF THE FLATHEAD","SCHOOLHOUSE ARCHAEOLOGY"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/968","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["KROLL, ALEXANDER J"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Montana"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["GLACIER NATIONAL PARK","HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY","HOMESTEADING","NORTH FORK OF THE FLATHEAD","SCHOOLHOUSE ARCHAEOLOGY"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/968"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In the summer of 2010, I excavated the remnants of a historic one-roomed schoolhouse near Polebridge, Montana, just outside of Glacier National Park. The schoolhouse’s recovered artifacts represent a lively community of homesteaders residing in the North Fork Valley of the Flathead River during the early 20th century. 3,704 individual artifacts in the form of metal, glass, ceramic and faunal remains, tell of life during this time period. The research goals of this thesis have three objectives: 1) the historical record often depicts schoolhouses as serving as public space for the community, the archaeological record can be used to corroborate it as well; 2) the artifacts recovered give insight into cultural attitudes and sentiments that reflect the entire North Fork Valley community, and 3) GIS facilitates a reconstruction of the how the schoolhouse was positioned on the landscape, providing another level of data to explore the role and significance of the schoolhouse, particularly its geographical position in the community. As schoolhouses are seldom investigated in the archaeological realm, I hope to build upon the platform of previous undertakings and contribute Montana’s only schoolhouse excavation to the growing study of the archaeology of institutions."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["THE CENTER OF A HOMESTEADING COMMUNITY IN NORTHWEST MONTANA: ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THE POLEBRIDGE SCHOOLHOUSE"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["KROLL, ALEXANDER J"],"dc:description.abstract":["In the summer of 2010, I excavated the remnants of a historic one-roomed schoolhouse near Polebridge, Montana, just outside of Glacier National Park. The schoolhouse’s recovered artifacts represent a lively community of homesteaders residing in the North Fork Valley of the Flathead River during the early 20th century. 3,704 individual artifacts in the form of metal, glass, ceramic and faunal remains, tell of life during this time period. The research goals of this thesis have three objectives: 1) the historical record often depicts schoolhouses as serving as public space for the community, the archaeological record can be used to corroborate it as well; 2) the artifacts recovered give insight into cultural attitudes and sentiments that reflect the entire North Fork Valley community, and 3) GIS facilitates a reconstruction of the how the schoolhouse was positioned on the landscape, providing another level of data to explore the role and significance of the schoolhouse, particularly its geographical position in the community. As schoolhouses are seldom investigated in the archaeological realm, I hope to build upon the platform of previous undertakings and contribute Montana’s only schoolhouse excavation to the growing study of the archaeology of institutions."],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/968"],"dc:publisher":["University of Montana"],"dc:subject":["GLACIER NATIONAL PARK","HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY","HOMESTEADING","NORTH FORK OF THE FLATHEAD","SCHOOLHOUSE ARCHAEOLOGY"],"dc:title":["THE CENTER OF A HOMESTEADING COMMUNITY IN NORTHWEST MONTANA: ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THE POLEBRIDGE SCHOOLHOUSE"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:11:51Z"}