What is Memorial Day? (Hint: it's not just a day for barbecuing)

On the fourth Monday in May we observe Memorial Day, a commemoration that originated in the years immediately following the Civil War. It was known in early years as Decoration Day because it provided an opportunity to visit and adorn the graves of soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. Gen. John A. Logan, leader of the Union veterans group Grand Army of the Republic, called for the first national day of recognition to be held on May 30^th, 1868. “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance,” Logan instructed, “Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

What began as a day devoted to the fallen servicemen of the Union and Confederate Armies became something more in the wake of World War I. America lost more than 100,000 military personnel during our two-year involvement, and by 1920 those fallen men and women were also being honored in Memorial Day ceremonies. The Great War left another mark on Memorial Day as well. The red poppy – warn on a lapel or handed out on the corner – is a symbol that can be traced back to the atrocities witnessed on the battlefields of WWI.

Many will be familiar with a 1915 poem penned by Canadian physician John McCrea, “In Flander’s Field,” which opens with the lines “In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row.” Less well known is the poem written in 1918 by a YMCA staffer named Moina Michael, titled “We Shall Keep the Faith,” in which the author promises to wear a poppy in honor of the dead. Michael is credited with creating the now-ubiquitous tradition of wearing a red poppy on Memorial Day. By 1922 the Veterans of Foreign Wars had adopted the sale of poppies a major fundraiser for disabled service men and women.

The American flag plays an important role in most Memorial Day commemorations. The traditional flag raising practice on the last Monday in May is unique. After being briskly hoisted to the top, the flag is solemnly returned to half-staff in memory of all those who have perished in service. At noon the flag is returned to the top of its staff, symbolizing that “their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all,” according to the VFW Auxiliary.

Please take a moment on Monday to remember the true meaning of Memorial Day, participate in a local program, or simply observe the National Moment of Remembrance at 3:00pm. If you’d like to learn more about how World War I impacted Latah County, please visit our exhibit in the McConnell Mansion. Museum hours and additional information can be found at www.latahcountyhistoricalsociety.org.

LCHS Photo 15-02-006. A parade through Troy to celebrate Armistice Day, November 1918. The procession of local enlisted men was led by members of the Grand Army of the Republic and veterans of the Civil War.

LCHS Photo Loomis.D.01. Dudley Loomis as a high school student in Moscow, before enrolling at Idaho State University. Loomis joined the Army in 1917 at the onset of American involvement in WWI. He was killed in a training accident and was the first local casualty of the war. The American Legion Post #6 is named in his honor.

LCHS Photo 01-08-056. Local residents participate in a Memorial Day ceremony at Ghormley Park in the 1960s, which included decorating the Ghormley memorial stone. Adorning monuments with flowers and flags is a tradition that goes back to the earliest commemorations of Decoration Day.   

#5WomenArtists: Latah County Edition

For the last three years, National Museum of Women in the Arts has been the driving force behind the #5WomenArtists campaign. The museum's mission is to "address gender imbalance in the art world" all year long. Did you know that among major permanent collections in U.S. galleries and museums, only 3-5% are works by women artists? Women's History Month creates a unique opportunity to capture the attention of a wide audience.

The DC-based museum is home to a truly amazing collection of artwork from women across the country and the world. It also encourages the celebration of women artists in every community in America. We've decided to take the #5WomenArtists Challenge and profile (in no particular order) just a handful of the amazing women who created stellar works of visual art in their lifetimes.

1. Mary Kirkwood - Painter

Mary Kirkwood came to the University of Idaho in 1930 as a professor of painting, composition, and history of painting. For four decades she inspired students to pursue excellence. Kirkwood's views on artistic style ring true today, years after her death in 1994. "Painting the human figure is to me more than satisfying. After some confusion in earlier years about keeping up with the changing movements, I came to realize that painting was more than a body of knowledge or even a way of thinking; it was a way of feeling, and feeling could not be altered casually by events outside of one's own nature or the final experience that had roots in one's youth." (Idaho's Women of Influence)

Mary Kirkwood
Image source: Idaho's Women of Influence, a peer-reviewed journal of Idaho women's history

2. Kay Montgomery - Painter

A native of southwestern Idaho, watercolorist Kay Montgomery made her home on a small farm just outside of Moscow for many years. Montgomery enjoyed experimenting with materials and often augmented her watercolor work with other mediums. She was a charter member of the Palouse Watercolor Socius. In her self-authored profile she wrote, "She usually has an idea about the direction a work is to go and uses whatever means are necessary to achieve that end, including happy accidents and mistakes." (Palouse Watercolor Socius)

Fire Storm by Kay Montgomery
Image source: Palouse Watercolor Socius

3. Mary Norie Banks - Photographer

Mary Norie Banks had a lifelong interest in photography, but did not begin her work as an artist behind the lens until she was in her 60s. Prior to that, she spent many years teaching English and composition at Washington State University and sharing her love for the piano with countless children in Moscow. In her later years she exhibited photos around the Northwest of subjects including the Palouse, Nez Perce, and European peoples. (The Lewiston Tribune)

Mary Banks with a collection of her work
Image source: LCHS Photo Collection, Banks.M.01

4. Genevra Sloan - Painter

For half a century painter and print-maker Genevra Sloan worked to strengthen the art community in Moscow. Sloan received her degree in fine art from the University of Idaho, where Mary Kirkwood served as one of her instructors. She discovered abstract expressionism while living outside of New York City for a time. After returning to Moscow she rented a studio downtown and painted almost daily. (The Lewiston Tribune)

1966 photograph of Art and Architecture Arnold S. Westerlund and Genevra Sloan examining art.
Image source: University of Idaho Campus Photograph Collection

5. Irene Furniss - Quilter

Quilting is an often overlooked art form, however there are countless examples of beautiful works that please the eye and inspire the mind. Irene Furniss took up quilting after attending a folk life festival during the 1974 World's Fair in Spokane. She soon found a group of kindred spirits and helped to organize the Palouse Patchers. Separately and together the Palouse Patchers have contributed many amazing works to the community. (Latah Legacy)

Irene Furniss pictured with "Baltimore Beauties," her favorite piece
Image source: "Quilting Blossoms on the Palouse: Founding of the Palouse Patchers, 1976," Latah Legacy 42, no. 1 (2015). 

BONUS! One of our blog readers took us up on the challenge and submitted another artist for our list.

6. Sara Joyce - Painter, Fiber Artist, and more

Sara Joyce was a woman of many talents who adopted Idaho as her home and spent parts of the 1980s and '90s in Genesee. She worked in several mediums and you can view a number of wonderful pieces in her online portfolio. Joyce was quite humble about her work and it was not until later in her life that she exhibited in large venues, having been encouraged to do so by her family, friends, and fellow artists. (sarajoyceart.com)

Sara Joyce pictured with one of her paintings. 
Image Source: SARA. The Art of Sara Joyce, sarajoyceart.com 

We want to hear from you! Who would you include on your #5WomenArtists: Latah County Edition?

Learn more about the #5WomenArtists Challenge HERE. 

Farming Across Generations

In late January I had the opportunity to attend the Palouse-Clearwater Food Coalition's Food Summit and give a short presentation entitled “Farming Across Generations.” I was invited to speak by summit organizers and for at time I wondered what I could possibly share with a group of folks who are far more knowledgeable about our local food systems than I am. A simple retelling of agricultural advances didn’t seem an engaging option. In hopes of finding my way, I began searching the Latah County Oral History Collection. As has been the case so many times before, I was both inspired and humbled by the stories captured in the interviews. Three themes stood out to me in particular, which I shared with the summit attendees.

LCHS Photo: 25-02-043

First, our agricultural heritage demonstrates to us the importance of teamwork, camaraderie, and collaboration. In the early days of farming on the Palouse, it took massive amounts of human power to harvest grains and cut hay. No farmer could possibly manage his field without help, hired or otherwise. Several oral history interviewees suggested that labor was traded to keep costs down between neighbors. Edward Ramsdale recalled “back then, we used to trade work too you know, quite a bit in them days. Like during thrashing, one guy helped the other one. They exchanged work back and forth to hold down the overhead of hiring out to have some that done…I helped my neighbor Nick too up here, I worked a forty for him and then he let me use some of his horses once in a while.” Other times, help was offered when a neighbor was in need. “You didn’t call on your neighbors for help,” Glen Gilder told the interviewer. “The neighbors knew you needed help and they volunteered it. One or two cases where in harvest if somebody would be hurt or sick, we’d just all get together, go and take care of a farm, get it out of the way so he would have his money to pay bills, if there were any.”

LCHS Photo: 25-02-481

Next, I was reminded that the Palouse is a tremendous incubator of innovation. Our unique topography and climate have required farmers, engineers, and scientists to think creatively. One such example of ingenuity was the development of the Idaho National Harvester combine, often called the Little Idaho, which was lighter and more agile than horse-pulled combines produced in other regions of the country. Traditional combines had to be pulled by as many as forty horses, which meant a sizable amount of grain was lost simply to being trampled. The Little Idaho, by comparison, could be pushed through the field by as few as two horses. With a weight of just over one ton, it could also be righted more easily if it tipped over on a steep hillside. Although the combine was only produced for about ten years, it was an important piece of transitional technology. The introduction of seed peas to the Palouse by Willes Crites in the 1930s was another example of innovative thinking that has significantly altered the landscape of the region. Before Crites convinced a handful of forward-thinking farmers to plant a test plot of peas, the Palouse was known only for its grains.

LCHS Photo: 25-02-078

Lastly, a survey of our farming history illuminates that change is inevitable. If we can take the time to consider past experiences, we may be able to build resiliency into our communities. The people of our region have fallen on hard times before, so how did they make it through to the other side? One wisdom that rose to the top of many oral history interviews was that the Great Depression was a time of monetary scarcity, but those closest to food production rarely went hungry and in fact were among the most generous members of our community. Lola Clyde, for example, recounted how she and her husband provided for a number of seasonal workers well after harvest had wrapped up. “In those days, really the hired men, you just had ‘em in the summer and after harvest they went to the woods or they went someplace else to work…But goodness with winter coming on and these young boys no place to go, we couldn’t do it. And I said, ‘Well, we have a cellar full of food, we have pigs we can butcher, and these men helped us get it. They can stay and eat with us.’ They did. And one of them stayed with us twent years afterward and worked for us all those years and he’s like our own boy. But that was how bad times were.” Economic challenges are not the only changes that farmers on the Palouse have faced. Revolutionary advances in technology certainly changed the face of employment as fewer men were needed to operate machinery, implement production was outsourced to faraway factories, and professions like harness makers became nearly obsolete. Changes to our environment were also of concern. Indeed in the middle of the 20^th century, Latah County was identified as the second worst site of erosion in the entire United States. Farming practices had to adapt to new best practices. What can we glean from these experiences as our community collectively faces new realities, like a changing climate and decline aquifer?

LCHS Photo: 25-02-053

The most valuable application of history is not found in memorizing dates, but in studying the experiences of those that came before us. History is essential to creating vital places to live and work because it brings us together and allows us to share stories that are relevant to our contemporary lives. 

LCHS Photo: 25-02-168

Women's History Month 2017: Grace Wicks, Woman of Action

LCHS Photo Collection

With a personality and force of character that go unrivaled among Moscow’s matriarchs, Grace Wicks was a well-known community member for nearly forty years.  The staunch Republican was one of the first women elected to the Latah County Board of Commissioners.  Beginning in 1975, Wicks wrote a weekly column in the local newspaper, missing only two deadlines until she put down her pen just weeks prior to her passing in 1997. 

Grace was also heavily involved in the creation of the Latah Care Center, which replaced the County Farm (or Poor Farm) located north of Moscow. Below you can read Grace's own account of how that project began, which was published in a 1993 volume of the Latah Legacy. She was truly a woman of action.

To read more about the Latah Care Center, see Latah Legacy 22, no. 1. 

An Open Letter to our Congressmen Regarding Funding of Humanities and Arts Agencies

March 16, 2017

Dear Senators Crapo and Risch and Congressman Labrador,

            This morning I learned that President Trump’s budget blueprint does not provide for continued funding of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, or the National Endowment for the Arts. I am deeply concerned about the long-term impacts that such cuts would have on museums like the one I lead here in Idaho. The work undertaken by our country’s museums is essential to the cultivation of our national heritage and civic culture. At the Latah County Historical Society, grants from these agencies are investments in our vision of building good citizens, strong communities, and satisfying lives. 

            Just two months ago our small historical society was able to bring a traveling exhibit, curated by the Smithsonian Institution, to Latah County because of financial support from NEH administered through the Idaho Humanities Council. Several thousand people had a chance to learn through the exhibit, and for many it was their first interaction with the Smithsonian. In 2016 we were also the co-recipients of a $10,000 grant, along with the University of Idaho Library, which allowed us to purchase equipment and software. With that new technology we are traveling throughout Latah County to assist local residents in digitizing and preserving their prized family photos and documents. 

These awards are quite small in terms of dollars spent, and yet their impact is incredible. According to a 2012 study by Americans for the Arts, museums and cultural institutions return $5 in tax revenue for every $1 received in funding from all levels of federal government. Museums are also an important part of our economy. More than 400,000 people are employed in museums, and the sector contributes $21 billion to the economy each year.

Thank you, Senators Crapo and Risch, for your support of these organizations. When the IMLS came up for reauthorization in 2010, you and your colleagues passed the bill with unanimous consent. I hope that you will consider the dramatic and detrimental effects that defunding these federal agencies would have on the museums which serve your constituents in Idaho. As you pursue prudent public spending policies through your work on the Senate Committee on the Budget, know that investments in the humanities and arts are good for the economy, good for communities, and good for the future of our country.

Sincerely,

Dulce Kersting

Latah County Historical Society

Executive Director

Women's History Month 2017: Jennie Hughes, UI Pioneer

Just three years after the University of Idaho produced its inaugural class of graduates, the first African American to earn a bachelor’s degree in Idaho accepted her diploma in 1899.  

Jennie Eva Hughes was born in Washington, DC to Louisa and Alexander Hughes in 1879. While still a young child Jennie's mother married Lewis Crisemon and they began moving westward. For a time the family, which now included two more daughters, lived in Indian Territory. By the early 1890s the Hughes were living in Idaho. During this period the African American population in Idaho was quite small, and the Hugheses were likely Moscow's first black family. 

Jennie graduated from Moscow High School in April of 1895 and enrolled in college the following fall.  During her four years at the university, Jennie won the Watkins Medal for Oratory and earned enough credits to receive a Bachelor of Science degree, just one of seven students to matriculate in 1899.  While not much is known about Jennie’s parents, Lewis and Louisa, they must have been quite proud of their daughter, who had weathered several moves across the country before the family’s arrival in Moscow.  At the turn of the twentieth century, only about one percent of all Americans earned a bachelor’s degree, a fact that makes Jennie Hughes’ accomplishment all the more remarkable.   

A short time after her graduation from the university, Jennie married a miner named George Smith and moved to Idaho’s Silver Valley.  Following the birth of their fourth child, the couple moved to Spokane, Washington where Jennie believed her children would benefit from a more established public school system.  Her commitment to education was a trait she passed on to her children.  Her son Berthol became the second African American to enroll at the university, although he passed away before his graduation.  Another son would earn a degree in Electrical Engineering from Washington State College, and a third became a lawyer in the Spokane area. 

Most of what we know about Jennie Hughes Smith comes to us from school records, Argonaut articles, and recollections from grandchildren. Jennie's own words were never captured in a diary or oral history interview. Her life experiences were surely shaped by race and gender. As we commemorate the women's suffrage and equal rights movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is important to remember that women of color were largely excluded from participating. The particular needs of non-white women, among the most marginalized individuals even today, were not acknowledged. For an excellent overview on the historic intersections of race and gender equality, see "Feminism and Race in the United States." 

Women's History Month 2017: The Bovill Women, Thriving on the Frontier

The Bovills - LCHS Photo Archive

In 1890, the superintendent of the Census declared that the country’s frontier had closed. Settlement of the American West had been so prolific in the latter-half of the 19^th century that there no longer existed a distinct region in which the population was below two persons per square mile. Indeed the West was changing. Between 1870 and 1890, the population of Denver grew from 4,759 to 106,713. Railroads proliferated, bringing people and industry to the once isolated region. Even the ubiquitous open range of western lore, inhabited by rugged cowboys and longhorn cattle, was under pressure from homesteaders and land developers.

It was during this period of immense change that Charlotte Emily Robinson moved to America. Charlotte was born in England to a genteel family that claimed direct decent from King Edward III. She was one of nine Robinson children, all of whom were provided an education in the classic subjects. According to biographical notes provided by her daughter, Charlotte’s father “believed in education for women and pioneered to that end. All of his nine children were given the best education available.”

Although the Robinson family had connections and some land in England, dreams of limitless opportunity and prosperity called several of the children to America. The youngest son Fred, along with the two oldest daughters Gertie and Emmie, were the first to take on the adventure. Emmie would eventually return to England, while Gertie married another British ex-pat and accompanied him into the gold fields of Idaho in the 1880s. Charlotte, or Lottie as she was known to her family, set out to visit her sister in Colorado in 1887, thus changing the course of her life.

“Her sister’s baby was born shortly after her arrival,” reads Charlotte’s biographical sketch, “and this event convinced her she had to learn to be more practical and useful if she were to remain in the West.” While in Denver, Charlotte took courses in nursing that would serve her and her family well. Next she moved to Nebraska to assist her brother with a cattle ranch he had just begun. She showed a remarkable willingness to “rough it,” choosing to live in the sod house nearly 100 miles from any town, rather than return to England. In 1891 she became a naturalized American citizen. On the ranch she met another Englishman, Hugh Bovill, and they married in 1894. 

Like many of Latah County’s settlers, Hugh and Charlotte Bovill arrived in the area looking for unadulterated open spaces. Their homestead in Sand Hill, Nebraska, which had once provided enough space to graze cattle and make a living, was ringed by competing settlers by the late 1890s, and they were feeling suffocated. In 1900 the Bovill family, which now included daughters Dorothy and Gwendolyn, arrived in Moscow by train and then made their way to Warren Meadows, some forty miles north and east.

The Bovills - Hugh, Charlotte, Dorothy and Gwendolyn - along with family friend at their home in Bovill, ID
LCHS Photo Archive

Gwendolyn Bovill recalled this new home with great fondest in her memoir, Knight or Knave?

“In later years I, Gwen, remember it well; ponies, horses galore, farm animals, milk, venison, fish, pheasant, bear, huckleberries, fields of hay and grain. It was a paradise for growing girls to roam…The only fly in the ointment as far as I can recall was Mother’s persistence in importing teachers, ‘tutors’ as she called them.”

In the early days of Bovill, as the community would come to be known, you would have been hard pressed to assert that the American frontier was closed. Conditions were primitive and every person had to contribute to the physical settlement of the town. In an article published by the Daily Idahonian in 1954 about the development of Bovill, Charlotte was characterized in this way: “Though she was raised in the city, Mrs. Bovill was a real pioneer when faced with the wilds of Idaho. She did a lot of hunting and bagged her share of elk, deer, bears, and wild cats.” She was also a caretaker to all. Following a tragic dynamite explosion at the WI&M Railroad’s Camp Eight that claimed two lives, Charlotte treated the survivors whose next nearest treatment would have been found in Troy or Moscow.

Charlotte Bovill - LCHS Photo Archive

Charlotte’s daughters inherited their mother’s adventurous spirit and commitment to service. Gwendolyn spent her formative years enjoying all the splendors that the forests and meadows had to offer. There was fishing and horseback riding and conversing with the interesting people who would visit her parent’s hotel and general outfitting store.

Gwendolyn Bovill - LCHS Photo Archive

Sadly, her childhood in the idyllic forests of northern Latah County came to an end when the Weyerhaeuser timber company forced its way into the town site.  Gwendolyn completed her schooling in Coeur d’Alene and then moved with her parents and sister to western Montana. Hugh and Lottie bought a piece of property from which their daughters could explore the Bitterroot Mountains and the Missoula River. As Gwen recalled, “The fact that there was only a partially built shack to live in was of little concern.”

Gwen quickly passed the state’s teaching exams and was given a small schoolhouse about ten miles from her parent’s home. Her accounts of that first harrowing year are too good not to share.

“Blizzards had a habit of hitting when I was on my way home, in which case I let my horse loose and waited in the sleigh for Dad to rescue me. The horse always went home, and soon as Dad saw him he would ride his big stock horse, Red Dog, to find me. A strong arm and my foot in his stirrup pulled me up behind his saddle, and away we went leaving the sleigh to sit until I could redeem it. Not even a wolf would be out in such blizzards. My eyelashes would freeze together until I was unable to see anything, and I still wonder how my horse always got home. If the weather prevented my horse from traveling, I had to snowshoe past the nearest farm in order to get any pay. No tracks, no pay, and I got $50 a month so I made tracks.” - Knight or Knave?

The Bovill’s adventures next took them to Newport, Oregon. During the waning years of World War I, Gwendolyn enrolled in the Army Physical Training course. She was one of 12 to pass the course in Portland and she was transferred to San Francisco. Before she could deploy oversees, the Armistice was signed. As a trained “physiotherapist” she soon found employment at the University of California Hospital. In that position she gained respect among the doctors as an innovative therapist with a proven track record of healing patients.

“Around this time [1922], a large medical building was under construction on the corner of Post and Powell. The top specialist in San Francisco were leasing space for their offices and they wanted a physiotherapist in the building. I had a co-worker, Hazel, with a fine record, but we had no money and I told Dr. Moffett that. With his help we got a group of the specialist together and offered to work for them exclusively for one year if they could keep us busy and if they would pay our rent and loan us the money for our equipment. Hazel and I were jubilant when they agreed. Weeks before we could move into the building, they learned I had an automobile and began using me for house calls down the Peninsula and around the Bay Area. Hazel carried on at the hospital during which time we started a joint business account. I loved driving, and my house calls consisted largely of dealing with children in their homes. After morning appointments, I was frequently invited to stay for lunch and in time I made many friends among the famous and wealthy people who had been or still were my patients. Our business flourished and we both were happy in spite of long hours and demanding work. What a happy day it was when we moved into our very own suite in the Fitzhugh Building and could work with all the best doctors.” - Knight or Knave?

It was through her work that she met her first husband, Major Louis Cassel. Eventually she would move to Hong Kong with Louis and spend many years overseas. Upon his unexpected death, Gwendolyn returned to the states. After marrying and being widowed a second time, she moved in with her sister and brother-in-law’s home. She remained an active woman and spent a great deal of time as a family historian. Before passing away in 1980 she wrote three books related to her family many travels. Although short, her obituary alludes to her penitent for exploration and her love of people. It concludes by noting “She will be remembered by her many friends in Europe, Asia, California and Idaho for her graciousness and generosity and so will be greatly missed.”   

Gwendolyn Bovill - LCHS Photo Archive

When considered as individuals, Charlotte and Gwendolyn Bovill were undeniably vivacious and interesting. The pictures of Gwen as a proud outdoorswoman are what first caught my eye. Truly they are some of my favorite images in our photo archives. The more I read about the remarkable Bovill women, however, the more I was reminded that they were just two among many who had little regard for the societal expectations of women during their lifetimes. Men dominate our popular images of the American West. Yet there was a sisterhood of fierce, self-reliant, smart, and compassionate women who built communities across the mountains and plains. Yes, they carried out important domestic tasks like cooking and child rearing. But they also provided in less traditional ways – Charlotte hunted for her family’s dinner and Gwendolyn opened her own medical practice. Women blazed trails, saved lives, and added to the fabric of America.