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Author describes archival trips and location scouting in Texas to shape historical novel set in 1918
Summary
Jeanette said she used archival research, old newspapers and back-road photography in Texas to recreate setting and context for her historical novel Pictures, noting that some towns have changed and that local archives provide one-of-a-kind materials.
Jeanette told the Missoula audience she set her novel Pictures in Texas because of family ties and because older characters in the story were people she knew from that region.
She described visiting the Texas State Library and Archives, handling original postcards under gloves and using archival newspapers and insurance maps to verify historical details. "An archival library is an absolutely wonderful place," she said, noting that archives can include letters, postcards, old phone books and other one-of-a-kind materials not available elsewhere.
To find places that resembled small-town life in 1918, she said she rented a car and drove back roads to photograph towns that have not changed as much as bigger cities. She compared that process to location scouting used by film crews: when modern Missoula and nearby valleys had changed, she found towns across the mountains that better matched the historical setting she needed.
Jeanette also said photography was part of her research routine; she used pictures taken on scouting trips to pin down details and to create sensory material for scenes. She advised writers to consult contemporary newspapers and archival sources to get a period's voice and daily details, calling contemporary newspapers "the greatest way in the world to do some time traveling."
