Historical accuracy, Frontier House

Submitted by BrightEyEz703 t3_zwxy8a in history

I recently found the PBS series Frontier House. I’ve only watched some of it, but I’m already interested in how historically accurate it would be considered today versus when it was made (in the 2000s). One of the opening lines said something along the lines of “[some number] of American families moved to the western frontier to settle virgin land…”

“Virgin” land? I’ve only read a small portion of the book “Why You Can’t Teach United States History without American Indians,” but I’ve read enough to find that statement concerning. So far there’s basically been no mention of Native Americans in the series.

So here’s my question, given the changes in how history is addressed today versus the 2000s, what was left out in terms of historical accuracy in this series? Clearly homesteaders did not wander west to find a completely uninhabited expanse.

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hutnykmc t1_j1yxftz wrote

"Virgin" land (specifically in this context) typically doesn't translate to "uninhabited" but rather "unworked", meaning all of the resources used for agriculture and construction haven't been tapped, altered, or processed in any measurable way for the advancement of whatever Western civilization influence comes into contact with it first. It's more of a matter of semantic accuracy, not necessarily historic accuracy.

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BrightEyEz703 OP t1_j27485a wrote

Ok that makes sense.

But! The series also made no mention of even the possibility that homesteaders might encounter Native Americans. Is this accurate as well? Could ALL of the Natives in Montana really been removed by 1883?

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hutnykmc t1_j275fts wrote

The Reservation Era ran from 1850-1887. So, without being an expert on too many of the finer details and with the heavy push of Manifest Destiny and the frontier expansionist incentive programs that stemmed from it, it’s likely to at least some degree that at least most natives were already relocated by that time specifically to make way for settlers.

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akodo1 t1_j20cwc9 wrote

Not even unworked, it means untiled land. Land that has never felt the plow. So it's entirely accurate.

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ThatGIRLkimT t1_j26pv1z wrote

I'm interested in Virgin land. I would like to know more about this.

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