Creating Fiction From History: 3/9/2022

“What can you tell us about the handsome young man in this old photograph?”

As a professional researcher, Robert Lawton had gotten used to being accosted by random passersby with questions such as this. Robert would usually ask them to leave the photograph, their name, and number with him.

“I’ll get back to you within a week; two at the very most,” he would say. Under normal circumstances, the new client would receive a call within a week, give or take, upon which they would often be introduced to a long lost relative or acquaintance. On this particular day though, Mr. Lawton was on his way to the train station, which he would be taking to meet the newest “Silver Bird,” headed for warmer climes. Therefore, the answer his new client received that day was a terse, “I’ll get back to you.” After collecting the photograph and other necessities, Robert was off and heading for the bright blue yonder!

At the end of a long, bumpy flight on an updated version of the Wright Brother’s invention, Robert Lawton reached his tropical destination & after he settled, he opened his trusty ProBook and started his latest research project.

Having grown up in nearby Caledonia, Minnesota, almost directly north of Waukon, Iowa, Robert was fairly familiar with Huffman & Barnard’s studios there. Starting with a websearch for ‘Huffman and Barnard, Waukon Iowa, he soon found that the gentleman in question was a third-generation Swede who had tried to escape a dismal fate in the late 20s Mid-West and found an even more dismal fate in the Windy City, at the wrong end of a Tommy gun!

If you would like to create fiction from history with one of the museum’s photos, please contact the Ledger at (406) 287-5301 or email whledger@gmail.com.