Taking Stock: a morphology

field documentation in the Gallitin Valley Montana - October 27, 2011 - January 28, 2012

This exhibit represents a work in progress.  Approximately 80 buildings were recorded for this project between 2004 and 2009 with hundreds of hours of fieldwork and studio work. They are  poduced by hand in ink on mylar in the format of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) at ¼inch scale. 

The drawings are the basis for the development of a chronology of early agricultural building construction in the Gallatin Valley, MT.  The evolving building practices of livestock producers and farmers settling the inter-mountain west reflect a wide range of influences over time.  

A cross-section of building types, uses, and construction types are represented.  The following is a brief chronology which highlights four distinct eras of agricultural building, and the building types and methods associated with them.