History Students Search Idaho State Archives

Published: April 23, 2021

Students from College of Western Idaho (CWI) recently visited the Idaho State Archives to do historical research as part of their History Capstone (HIST 290) class.

Research of the day included looking through documents from the USS Boise Collection, a World War II light cruiser; reading firsthand accounts of the Northern Shoshone tribe recorded by early pioneer, John E. Rees; and searching through the personal papers of World War I soldier, Sergeant Ralph Atherton, of Eden, Idaho.

"Many times History majors are not introduced to archival research until graduate school,” said History faculty and Dean of Arts and Humanities, Justin Vance. “At CWI, we try to get students into a physical archive which puts them ahead of their peers when they transfer onward or gives them that skill set even if they don't go on to study more history."

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