“So, do you have any more information about the house’s history?” “Who were the people who lived here and what were they like? “ “What is the history of this house?"
Visitors to the McConnell Mansion often asked these questions when I am the docent. My curiosity was aroused, and it became my quest to answer those questions in the form of a tri-fold pamphlet that we could hand out when people expressed an interest in knowing more than the docent’s talk and their time-limited visits could give.
After diving into the archives at the Centennial Annex, followed by time on the computers doing more research, looking through Legacies of the past, and finally, going to the University of Idaho and spending afternoons with Dr. Church by reading his diaries, much more than a tri-fold came to be.
Reading letters to and from the residents of the McConnell house, looking at photos of the families at work and at play, seeing the news articles, and even some legal documents made the people of the house come alive.
While Mrs. McConnell had “at homes” and teas in the formal parlor for the ladies of Moscow, “Poker Bill” McConnell had card parties in there too. Margery Adair sang recitals for her family and others in this room. Weddings were held there. The grill work in the two parlors was created by J.J. Anthony to compensate for the red velvet which wasn't quite long enough to cover the windows adequately. And one of the sections of grill work is installed upside down!
The McConnell Mansion, 1890. LCHS Image # 01-05-027.
The cedar shutters throughout the house are custom made and numbered, as are the windows frames so that the correct shutter is with the correct window. They don't open and close correctly if they are on the wrong windows!
Stories and stories and stories. They are available in the archive boxes, on the computers, in the old editions of the Latah Legacy, on tapes of oral histories, in files of photos...so many places to spend an hour, a day, a month researching and learning.
The LCHS archives are open for all of us Tuesday through Friday from 8am-4pm. Join me in finding about the past—Latah County's, the pioneers of our area, and your own!
As the editor of Preservation Moscow, the annual newsletter for
the Moscow Historic Preservation Commission, I certainly know the value of the
archives at the Latah County Historical Society. After the Commission members
select a local historical theme as its focus,I get to do the research for the annual newspaper insert released each
fall. Automatically the quest for photos and content leads me to the LCHS
collection, with curator Zach Wnek often serving as the tour guide. Knowledge
of the collection is paramount, because LCHS houses a huge array of personal
journals, oral histories, photos and other pieces of the area’s history. It is
easy to get side-tracked while delving into one particular theme.
A view of Princeton, Idaho in 1912. 13-01-001.
Just to illustrate the value of the LCHS collections,
award-winning New York Times author Timothy Egan dug up a lot of his
information for his book The Big Burn from the very same archives I use. His
blockbuster best seller on the famous 1910 fire mined much background
information from local oral histories and journals. A favorite topic in Egan’s
book was the riveting story of Ione “Pinkie” Adair, the spunky young woman who
homesteaded near Avery and barely escaped the raging fire. Adair and her family
once lived in the McConnell Mansion. Other writers, authors and researchers,
not to mention dozens of family historians, also comb LCHS resources for their
own treasures. And school kids routinely get field trips to learn more about
the history of Latah County.
Living in Latah County for 34 years, I’ve learned the unique
history of the company town of Potlatch, and the huge array of country western
greats like Johnny Cash, George Jones and Dolly Parton who performed at the
area dance hall known as Riverside. Serving for years on the Latah County
Historic Preservation Commission and writing community news introduced me to
history from other outlying towns, as well. The infamous bank robbery at Troy,
the rich mining history of the HooDoos, the English royalty that settled
Bovill, the wild and woolly times in Potlatch Lumber Company’s logging camps,
the castle at Juliaetta...the list is endless. Such snippets of history are
documented at the LCHS archives through newspaper articles, photos and
journals.
The country seat of Moscow has its share of good stories. Known
in its early days as Paradise and Hog Heaven, Moscow saw the footprints of area
tribes, miners, ambitious business people and politicians, along with
university founders. If you ever read Caddy Woodlawn to your children, then
maybe you knew that author Carol Ryrie Brink was from Moscow. Her tragic
background is chronicled in the archives, as well as Moscow’s curious mail
order religion known as Psychiana. These are just a few of the treasures that I
find at the LCHS archives.
Because the collection at LCHS always adds new chapters to its
holdings, this place will remain a destination and prime source for my research
and writing. The ride through the decades in the well-cared-for “time machine”
is never dull!
October 1st marked the beginning of Archives Month, a month-long celebration of archives! The Latah County Historical Society is celebrating by sharing our collections with the world via our social media outlets: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. To see as much of the collection as possible, be sure to follow along all month long.
To begin archives month, I thought it would be helpful to write about what we hold at the Latah County Historical Society (LCHS) archives. LCHS preserves three main types of collections: documents, photographs, and objects. Let’s dive into each category a bit more in-depth.
Documents. This is the category that is traditionally considered ‘Archives.’ Although this category only gets a one-word name, it is incredibly diverse. In this category, LCHS collects the written history of Latah County. This category contains diaries, journals, business records, maps, deeds, menus, church directories, correspondence, and much more. These documents tell the story of Latah County’s residents primarily through their pens. It is incredible to dive through these records to tell the story of Latah County through this lens.
The Latah County Historical Society Document Archives in the Centennial Annex. Notice the rolling shelving!
Objects. When you think about going to a museum (like the McConnell Mansion), most likely, you think of the objects on display in a particular exhibition. Objects (three-dimensional material culture) are the most memorable part of the Latah County Historical Society collection. Objects allow us to take the description in a journal and give it a bit of life. Let’s say that we have an excellent history of early logging techniques using crosscut saws. A written historical description will allow people to understand the theory of using a crosscut saw. However, it can be extremely beneficial to have an example of such a saw on display right next to this description. Our object collection is vast and encompasses the basement of our archives facility.
Object storage in the LCHS collections.
Photographs. This is by far the most used category in the LCHS collections. The LCHS photograph archive is used nearly daily by researchers and staff alike. The old adage goes that ‘a photograph is worth 1,000 words.’ The photograph archive allows users to understand the differences in how people lived over time quickly. Since these records get used a lot, LCHS has undertaken steps to make sure that these records can be seen and used by a much wider audience through digitization.
Part of the city of Moscow Photograph Collection storage.
Photograph collection including communities - Harvard, Halmer, Juliaetta, Kendrick, Onaway are part of Potlatch. These records are currently away being digitized. :)
In 2016 the Latah County Historical Society became a partner with Google Arts & Culture. As a partner in this project, LCHS can have all of our scanned material available online through this portal for free. This is an exhilarating opportunity to share our collections. In 2019 the Latah County Historical Society applied for and received a grant from the Idaho State Historical Records Advisory Board. This grant provides matching funds for LCHS to digitize over 3,400 images in the LCHS photograph collection. These images were transported to our scanning partner in Boise and will return soon. Upon their return, they will be preserved digitally in our digital archive, posted on the Google Arts & Culture site, and shared with the community.
In conclusion, we are incredibly proud of our collections that tell the history of Latah County. We work hard to maintain these collections for future generations to learn about the rich history of Latah County, Idaho.
The Water In Brewing exhibit opened at the Brews & BBQ event earlier this year. However I thought I would take a few moments to explain the exhibit globally and how it was made.
This exhibit was born out of a brainstorming meeting that was held with community members at the 1912 Center in order to focus the LCHS programming for the Water|Ways exhibit in December and January. This exhibit looks at the differences in water in Latah County as they pertain to brewing beer.
The first step in creating this exhibit was collecting samples from across Latah County. I collected samples from the following lotions:
After collecting the samples in clean canning jars I analyzed them using a home chemical identification kit. The samples were analyzed for Calcium, Alkalinity, Sulfate, Chloride and Kolback Residual Alkalinity. Using these five factors I was able to determine the best types of beer that could be made with this particular water sample.
The samples and information were presented at the Brews and BBQ event earlier this year and will be on display around the county in various places later this summer.
Water In Brewing installed at the Latah County Historical Society Brews and BBQ event April 9, 2016.
Zachary Wnek
Museum Curator
Latah County Historical Society
To begin our tale I would like to thank everyone who came to the McConnell Mansion last week to support the Latah County Historical Society's Victorian Christmas party. The party was a huge success, thank you.
To fully comprehend the curious case of the curator and the Christmas tree I am here to take you on a journey back in time. The journey takes you all the way back to November 30, 2015. While most people were staying at home (or at their office) working on Cyber Monday shopping the Curator went out in search of a Christmas tree.
The morning of the 30th found our curator traveling to Tri-State Outfitters to purchase two Christmas tree permits from the National Forest Service. As our hero purchased the permits he was expecting some form of a map in which to find the best Christmas trees in the St. Joe National Forest, however finding none he packed up his hand saw and gloves and set his plan in motion.
The curator called his friend Luke Sprague of HistoryMint.com to ask to borrow his truck for the adventure. Luke Sprague graciously donated the use of his pickup which allowed the curator to get lost in the woods searching for his Christmas Tree. Driving out from Moscow, Idaho the curator stopped for provisions and fuel for the trip.
On the way to the National Forest the curator stopped in at the Potlatch Ranger Station for a map. Now that the curator was armed with a map he was still lacking any direction as to where might be a good place to find said Christmas trees. After examining the map the curator drove off into the National Forest looking for the best Christmas tree that the St. Joe National Forest had to offer.
As the curator navigated the roads winding int the forest he found that all of the side roads (where the curator had planned to look for a Christmas tree) were closed for the season. Finally after investigating three different areas the curator got out of the truck and began to walk into the woods to find the LCHS Christmas Trees.
The curator left the comfort of the truck with a wool coat, map, measuring tape and gloves. The curator began by following the roads the he had so recently planned on driving. As the curator walked down the road he realized that the best trees were probably 30-50 feet high. The curator decided, as he often does, that more research would be required before selecting a tree so he continued walking.
The road to find the tree.
As the curator continued walking down the road he found plenty of potential trees to chose from but none were just right. Until he found it, the one. The curator knew this would be the perfect tree for LCHS, the tree stood about 15 feet tall and was located on a slope which went down to the road. The curator was excited. He got out his trusty hand saw and began to liberate the tree from the forest.
The epic battle between the tree and the handsaw.
The curator knew he had truly found the right tree when it was a royal pain in the butt to alter the tree from vertical to horizontal. As the curator worked up a sweat the tree finally fell.
Timber!
Once the tree had been chopped down the curator was faced with a new set of challenges. First of all the curator had to get the tree off of the hill, then get the tree back to the truck.
The tree is on the hill to the left.
As the curator began to carefully drag the tree into position he finally got it placed on the road and began to head back to the truck. While dragging the tree the curator began to realize how far away from the truck he had wandered looking for the tree. The curator walked down the road with his new friend the tree for about half a mile before finally arriving at the truck. Once the tree met the truck the curator then had to find a way to insert the tree into the truck for transport back to the McConnell Mansion.
Tree, meet truck.
Tree in truck.
Once the first tree was loaded into the truck the curator went back up the road to find another, much smaller tree for upstairs in the Mansion. The curator then packed the second tree into the truck and began driving back to the McConnell Mansion.
Once the trees were unloaded at the Mansion the curator asked the executive director of LCHS for assistance in getting the tree in the stand. Once the tree was properly aligned in the stand the tree was ready to be decorated. This year the University of Idaho Interior Design group volunteered to spend an evening decorating the McConnell Mansion. After an evening of hard work the Christmas tree was ready for display.
The decorated Christmas Tree in the McConnell Mansion.
The curator would like to personally thank everyone who helped make this year's Christmas tree a reality including Luke Sprague, Dulce Kersting and the University of Idaho Interior Design group. The curator would also like to thank everyone who attended this year's Victorian Christmas party.
