Former Staff
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 »
3/7/16 – The History of the U.S. Botanic Garden
It’s been mighty cold here in Boise and in an attempt to warm up I swiped through cell phone pictures from spring and summer. While doing so, I stumbled upon photographs I’d taken while at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington D.C. My sister, mother, and I vacationed in our nation’s capital over Memorial Day… Read the Rest »
2/17/16 – Comets
For thousands of years the night sky has elicited awe and inspiration. Cultures from around the world have drawn spiritual connections to the twinkling stars and the various shapes of the moon, but perhaps nothing has captivated the human population as much as comets. Last month I came across 19th-century sketches of comets while conducting… Read the Rest »
2/10/16 – A History of Valentine’s Day
My husband refuses to celebrate Valentine’s Day. He spits proclamations of it being a manufactured holiday and for years has eschewed the red roses, sparkling jewelry, and rich chocolate. While Valentine’s Day certainly isn’t my favorite holiday, February 14th falls into this lull where the end-of-the-year holidays are over and spring hasn’t quite sprung. So… Read the Rest »
1/27/16 – Up in Smoke
We conduct a lot of research in historic trade journals here at SHRA. While some might find the task of going through a 400-page bound volume rather tedious, as historians, we have great fun from the moment the weary spine of a volume squeaks back to life until we close the massive book and plumes… Read the Rest »
11/25/15 – Meatless Monday
“Meatless, Wheatless, and Sweetless!” It sounds more like a modern fad diet than something you would see in the archives. But alas, that is precisely where SHRA stumbled upon this intriguing statement. We found the phrase so compelling we had to dig deeper. As history would have it, the origins of the phrase can be… Read the Rest »
10/14/15 – Starvation Heights
I’ve never been a fan of Halloween. As a child I didn’t enjoy dressing up, so I gladly took my parents’ offer to buy one candy bar of my choosing to enjoy every October 31st instead of going trick-or-treating in Washington’s infamous drizzle. Growing up in the small, idyllic town of Port Orchard, Washington, the… Read the Rest »
9/30/15 – Defining the Waters of the United States
This past summer the state of our country’s water resources came to a boiling point. As drought pervaded and fires scorched much of the American West, conflict also simmered in Washington D.C. over the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) redefining of the phrase “waters of the United States” under… Read the Rest »
9/16/15 – A Quick Look at the Gas Tax
This summer I traveled extensively for work, and as a result I found myself shuttling to and from the airport at odd hours of the day (and night). And while each trip was somewhat of a blur, whether it was because of catching a 6:30am flight or arriving back home well past nightfall, there was… Read the Rest »
6/24/15 – Big History on the Snake River
A few weekends ago, I paddled the Snake River from Swan Falls Dam to Celebration Park. The outing was recreational, but it also served as a fantastic history lesson. And not just any history lesson; this was a place-based, riverine version of Big History. In this new history curriculum, geared for high school students but… Read the Rest »