PC Museum holding silent auction on historic books

From now until the middle of September, lovers of vintage, Montana history books can lay claim to some hard to find, out of print, books can be won as the Phillips County Museum is holding a silent auction on many titles from its library.

“These are books that people have donated and we just don’t have enough room to store them,” said Phillips County Museum Curator Sharon Emond.

Books up for auction include Pioneer Cattleman in Montana by Walt Coburn which tells the story of the Circle C Ranch in the Little Rockies.

“That is a historic book that is really good,” said Emond.

Also up for auction are a bevy of Ivan Doig novels.

Some of the books, such as Thunderstorms and Tumbleweeds, are out of print, hard to find and fetch a pretty penny at online bookstores (this title, for instance, is selling for $130 on one such site.)

“It’s a book about Blaine County,” said Emond. “It’s kind of like our Yesteryears. It talks about some of the communities, like Savoy, which are no longer there. This is a beautiful book.”

Another book about Blaine County up for auction is The Unyielding Prairie: Stories of Homesteaders in Northwest Blaine County, published by the Milk River Genealogical Society in 2008. This two-volume historic piece includes names of homesteaders, maps of the lands they worked and stories on each homesteader they could find.

“That is a lot of research and a really good resource,” said Emond.

The silent auction has set prices for the minimum bids excepted, ranging from $20 up to $125. The auction started last Wednesday and will conclude on Sunday, September 14 at 3:30 p.m. at the Phillips County Museum.

Besides the books in the silent auction, the Phillips County Museum also has two tables of books for sale, first come first served, at $5 and $10.

The day the auction ends is in conjunction with the dedication of the Modes of Transportation Museum which will house an old stage coach and an old model Roadster. There are more projects in the works for dedication day at the Modes of Transportation, so stay tuned to the PCN, and for more information on the Silent Auction call the PC Museum at 654-1037 or stop by and place a bid when the museum is open, Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. or Sunday, 12:30 p.m. until 5 p.m.