Where We Work
1/10/18 – Boise’s “Geothermal Gem”
Since the late 19th century, Boise’s geothermal energy has been an economic and cultural driver of the city’s development. A variety of entrepreneurs capitalized on the region’s active geologic inheritance to provide Boiseans with cheap and sustainable energy and, in doing so, pioneered the first geothermal heating district in the United States. Forty years later,… Read the Rest »
7/26/17 – Modern Day Research Trips and The Famed Golden Age of Travel
My job description at SHRA clearly outlines that travel is required. In fact, all historians with SHRA can expect to travel and work away from the office roughly 25% of the time. This is to be expected of a job where we are in search of rare documents that likely exist in only one repository… Read the Rest »
6/21/17 – The New Mexican Automobile Runway
While sifting through documents at the New Mexico State Archives on a recent research trip, I encountered references to “automobile runways,” a phrase I had never heard before. At first I ignored the term; it was not relevant to our immediate research topic. However, by the fifth or sixth mention of the runway I was… Read the Rest »
6/14/17 – SHRA Wins NCPH 2017 Excellence in Consulting Award
SHRA is pleased to announce that the National Council on Public History (NCPH) awarded its 2017 Excellence in Consulting Award to our firm for our research and consulting work in support of Idaho Power’s centenary commemoration. The NCPH grants this award to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of public history through consulting or contract… Read the Rest »
4/5/17 – Sacramento Dreaming
A recent research trip took the SHRA team to Sacramento, California. The project we were working on had us examining events during the very early days of California statehood, when San Francisco was by far the biggest and most influential city in the new state. As we sat at the State Library, looking out at… Read the Rest »
2/22/17 – “Let’s Go for a Drive”
During recent public history project research, I stumbled across an article and photographs by Otto M. Jones published in the Idaho Daily Statesman in 1919. The article described the “arduous task” of travelling “steep winding grades that are not inducive [sic] of much speed or tempered with any degree of safety or security.”[1] The accompanying… Read the Rest »
2/1/17 – History Of…and At The Huntington
As a research historian with SHRA, I have been fortunate to travel to some fascinating places for work. A recent research trip took me to The Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Unlike other repositories that I have visited, The Huntington Library is a privately held, non-profit institution that boasts not only myriad collections and… Read the Rest »
1/4/17 -The Legacy of Minidoka and the Work of Dr. Robert Sims
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Dr. Cheryl Oestreicher, Head, Special Collections, Boise State University. You can read Dr. Oestreicher’s previous guest blog for SHRA here. As an archivist, I have a social responsibility to collect records that document all aspects of history, particularly underrepresented people, events, and organizations. Archival records serve to… Read the Rest »
7/6/16 – Chronicling the Sinking of the Titanic
You’ve heard it screeched on playgrounds, bellowed at parties, and parodied all over the internet. “I’ll never let go, Jack!” It’s the iconic line Rose (played by Kate Winslet) calls out to her beloved Jack (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) in James Cameron’s 1997 movie Titanic. Almost 20 years on, the line — and the movie… Read the Rest »
5/11/16 – The Continuing Business of History
Long-time followers of this blog will recognize several recurring themes. In addition to a passion for history, our historians have a passion for the business of history. Many people outside the profession don’t know the full gamut of career opportunities outside of academia that are available to students of history – or the humanities in… Read the Rest »