Hello, I am currently writing a historical fiction novel and I can't find much info on trading between the white emigrants and the native Americans trading at Fort Hall ( My setting specifically in the 1850s)
- I know towards the civil war there was minor "Battles at the fort over treaties and the native Americans did trade with fur traders but other than that I cant find anything-
2.Can someone point me in the direction so I can properly show the Shoshone culture,
- Is there books, or websites, I can learn or talk to people on.
for example, I want my Native American character's name to be sunflower but when she says it I want it to be spelled how they would say/ spell that word.
- I believe the Shoshone tribe That lived around fort hall in 1853 would be current day Idiaho if that helps
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative project, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists and the like, based on past experience: some people working on creative projects have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.
For more general advice about doing research to inform a creative project, please check out our Monday Methods post on the subject.