This photo above is a “Fred Clubb” image. Fred Clubb found these photos in a dwelling in North Idaho of the Morning Mine. To see more like it, you can search “Fred Clubb” at idahohistory.cdmhost.com and see more dramatic images like that.

Working at the Idaho State Historical Society has been really interesting because of the digital program we began this year. In February, I inherited the project and the first thing I had to do was renegotiate our contract with OCLC for the ContentDM software. So we were delayed in putting up any objects digitally…. But to give you an example of our summer goal, here is a project from BYU: a collection of overland trail diaries called Trails of Hope! Really cool stuff that you can’t access regularly, available in one digital collection.

So the web site isn’t particularly ready yet, which is why I haven’t blogged about it at all yet. However, I have been managing a team of volunteers, and we have digitized photos, maps, archival materials, diaries, oral histories, and just started on the newspapers. We’ve gotten up more than 200 items in the months of April and May! So I’m celebrating by sharing.

Here is the earliest newspaper we digitized: Yankee Fork Herald from June 5, 1880. You’ll see right away how damaged the newspaper is: there are gaps and tears and holes. We no longer have the original newspapers, but we do have the microfilm of them, so our digitization is only going to be as good as the microfilm.

The article called, “Management” describes the early workings of a mine saying how overcrowded some are, how if mismanaged will result in loss or danger, and how easy it is to cause damage to the land. It’s a compound object, which means that there are four pages of this issue, and they are all there to read! As my volunteers said, “It’s so interesting to read the news from a hundred and thirty years ago!”

To look at all of the mining maps, photos, oral histories, and other documents, click here: idahohistory.cdmhost.com and have fun!!!