Jill
2/9/15 – Wolf Reintroduction
While not a find in the archives, we’ve just reached the 20th anniversary of a landmark event in environmental history: the reintroduction of wolves to Idaho and Yellowstone. In what a recent Idaho Statesman article called “one of the most controversial wildlife projects of the century,” in 1995 and 1996, 66 wolves were live-trapped in… Read the Rest »
2/4/15 – Visiting History: Yuma, AZ
Editor’s Note: Today’s blog is courtesy of SHRA researcher HannaLore Hein. All photo credits are hers. In December 2014, I was fortunate enough to visit Yuma, Arizona. To some people’s surprise, the city is actually known for many things and has a lot to offer both tourists and locals alike. Located in the southwest corner of… Read the Rest »
2/2/15 – Earthquakes
I am sure many of our western readers have experienced at least one earthquake in their lives. And today, with geologists’ ability to monitor and interpret seismological waves and almost instantly identify quakes around the world, you have all no doubt observed devastating earthquake scenes on television. The amount of damage and death that can… Read the Rest »
1/28/15 – The Art of Flood Control
When you spend as much time reading through archival documents as we do at SHRA, sometimes there’s nothing as nice as flipping the page to find not a letter or report, but a drawing. Recently, Army Corps of Engineers papers from the early 1970s yielded just such a find. The sketches – each offering a… Read the Rest »
1/26/15 – Fighting Over Water
‘“I believe I hit him first,”’ the farmer reported. ‘“Then he picked up a chair and hit me over the head.’” Two men fighting in the American West in the late 1920s might not seem related to SHRA’s research. But in this case, the farmer was furious that he was not receiving enough irrigation water… Read the Rest »
1/21/15 – Little Leather Library Corporation
This past holiday season, one of SHRA’s researchers received a gift with a historical twist. Tucked under the tree were copies of Abe Lincoln’s Speeches and Addresses and Edgar Allen Poe’s The Gold Bug. However, what made these publications unique was their small stature. Rising a mere three and a quarter inches and stretching four… Read the Rest »
1/19/15 – USS Boise
A couple of weeks ago while carefully perusing archival documents, SHRA researchers stumbled upon a March 16, 1943 Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper article. The article touched upon the heroic efforts of the USS Boise’s crew. While in the archive, knowledge of simple geography made it difficult to reconcile how a 9,700-ton sea faring vessel could be… Read the Rest »
1/16/15 – Favorite Reading Rooms: Hornig Library
Editor’s Note: This week’s blog is by Naomi Heindel as part of our ongoing series on our favorite reading rooms. From the spacious reading room at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, we travel to a tiny library embedded deep within Dartmouth College’s physical science building. Many thanks to Kim Wind, Program Administrator, Environmental… Read the Rest »
1/14/15 – The Great River of the West
Right before the holidays, SHRA researchers found themselves swimming in sources relating to the development of the Columbia River. Like so many other rivers, the Columbia faced a plethora of competing interests, such as hydroelectric power, fish, navigation, irrigation, and recreation. Documentation on the subject was vast but one source in particular intrigued us. Around… Read the Rest »
1/12/15 – Coeur d’Alene Mining Pollution
We recently came upon an unexpected Idaho Daily Statesman headline – “Nelson Attacks River Pollution” – while doing research on the early 1930s.[i] The headline appeared more than 30 years before pollution and sewage caused Ohio’s Cuyahoga River to catch fire and help spur the environmental movement to address water pollution nationwide. But, in northern… Read the Rest »