Idaho State Historical Society seeks spending authority for exhibits, preservation and America 250 commemoration

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee reviewed Idaho State Historical Society budget requests that would fund staffing for the Old Idaho Penitentiary, digitization work, collection consolidation, and America 250 commemorations.

Brooke Dupree, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, summarized the society’s budget book entries and noted the agency’s statutory responsibilities under Chapter 41, Title 67 of Idaho Code to identify, preserve and provide access to state historical materials. Dupree walked the committee through recent capital and one‑time appropriations, fundraising authority and the current fiscal‑year requests.

Janet Gallimore, director of the Idaho State Historical Society, described the society’s blend of general fund and non‑state revenue and explained why spending authority is needed when the agency raises private or federal funds. Gallimore said fundraising and foundation work supports programs and exhibits that supplement the state budget; the legislature must authorize spending authority for some donations and grants before the agency can expend them.

Key FY26 requests included: two FTP and $133,200 ongoing to staff the Old Idaho Penitentiary (funded from the penitentiary’s miscellaneous revenue fund), a $62,900 ongoing archivist/technician position to digitize records, a $450,000 one‑time request to cover moving costs as the agency consolidates collections into the State Archives, and a reappropriation/release of $1,650,000 from the general fund for America 250 commemoration activities. The agency said the $450,000 move will proceed in stages and that moving the collections will require specialized movers and roughly 10 months of work. Gallimore told the committee the move will consolidate materials now scattered across three off‑site facilities into an expanded archives space, and that estimates included moving about 30,000 boxes of records and about 50,000 three‑dimensional artifacts.

Gallimore and board and foundation representatives described a recent $1,000,000 fundraising initiative and said much of that money is earmarked for capital and campaign projects such as the Old Idaho Penitentiary exhibit work; the foundation president said typical annual private revenue for ongoing programs is about $250,000 and campaign‑specific fundraising occurs for discrete projects. Committee members asked for detail on fundraising results and the society said it would provide a breakdown of recent receipts and obligations.

Gallimore closed by noting several exhibits and a partnership with the USS Idaho Commission: the society displayed two historical ship service items on the floor for committee members to view and described plans to curate artifacts that will travel with the future USS Idaho and return to the state collections. The governor recommended the enhancements; committee members asked for additional financial detail and operational metrics for the penitentiary site and the America 250 work.