A dream I've had since my senior year of college is finally coming true. I just accepted a job teaching 7th through 12th grade English at a charter school. I start the day after Labor Day, so there's some time for preparation--a real luxury in the world of education. Among other related pursuits, I'm now reading a lot of juvenile novels and classic literature. Having a husband who sells used books is a wonderful blessing. He's always handing me great books that would otherwise be recycled. I hope to build my classroom library before school starts. If you're interested in helping, visit iloveschools.com and enter my teacher number, 04-88408.
A few months ago I finished my first novel. It came to 45,000 words--a seemingly unreachable goal, but with the help and encouragement of some awesome family and friends, I got to type "The end." The book is set in 1909 Soldier, Idaho and the surrounding Camas Prairie. Thanks to everyone who critiqued, prayed, encouraged, informed and otherwise helped me. I also received some exceptional critiques from contest judges. The book was recently rejected for publication, but what an experience!
My favorite blog is ZipZip's Vintage Sewing. The author describes her cool vintage sewing projects like Victorian skirts and Gibson Girl blouses. It also contains helpful research links on fashion history and vintage sewing.
Visit my blog for my latest writing/publishing news . Subscribing will help you keep up with changes to this site. Just click on the link at the bottom of the blog page.
Thanks for visiting! Don't forget to sign the guestbook.
amy@amyballard.com
Camas County, Idaho history links:
Being on the Camas County Historical Society Board, I get a lot of e-mails from people looking for information about the Camas Prairie because their ancestors lived here. If you think I can help you, please contact me. I'm interested in all areas of Camas Prairie history.
Have family heirlooms to donate to the historical museum? Here's the mailing address: Camas County Historical Society, P.O. Box 571, Fairfield, ID 83327. Their Web site is under construction.
Here are some links that have helped me. If you know of other sites related to Camas Prairie, Idaho history, please drop me a line. These links will navigate you away from amyballard.com, so click your "back" button to return.Enjoy!
http://www.kindredtrails.com/ID_Camas.html
KindredTrails has lots of helpful research links on one page.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~idcamas/
Camas County Idaho Gen Web is probably most comprehensive site for general historical information and genealogy research on Camas County. Includes obituaries, newspaper articles, etc.
http://www.topix.com/county/camas-id
Topix synthesizes many news sources on one page tailored to your search. For my search, articles were drawn from the Times-News of Twin Falls and several other area newspapers.
http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0312.pdf
The Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series has many papers related to Camas County History. Here’s the one on the Camas Prairie in Camas County.
http://www.rivda.org/COUNTIES/Camas.htm
Addresses of Camas County officials on one clean page.
http://www.fairfieldidaho.us/history.htm
Historical page of the Chamber of Commerce’s site on Fairfield, Idaho
The Camas County Public Library’s collection is searchable on their site.
Muffley family history
Image: A stagecoach in the Sagebrush Days Parade July 4th in Buhl, Idaho. Copyright Amy Ballard, 2008.
