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Idaho State Historical Society seeks funds for archives consolidation, Old Pen staff and America250 projects
Summary
The Idaho State Historical Society described requests for staff, moving and exhibition costs, fundraising spending authority and the agency's America250 commemoration work, and displayed artifacts from ships named USS Idaho.
BOISE — The Idaho State Historical Society told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Oct. 23 it needs one-time and ongoing funding to consolidate archives, expand staff at the Old Idaho Penitentiary site, and support the state's America250 commemoration.
Legislative analyst Brooke Dupree summarized the agency budget book entries, calling attention to fund timing issues in records-management services and to a $1.65 million general-fund appropriation for America250 commemoration activities authorized in fiscal year 2025. The society requested an archivist/technician position ($62,900, one ongoing FTP) for digitizing archival collections; a $450,000 one-time request to cover moving costs as the agency consolidates three off-site storage facilities into the state archives; and ongoing staff allocations for the Old Idaho Penitentiary drawn from the penitentiary’s miscellaneous revenue fund.
Why it matters: The agency manages the state’s permanent archives and museum collections, including constitutional records and hundreds of thousands of photographs and manuscripts. Committee members asked how much the fundraising initiative produced, whether the agency has authority to spend funds it raises, and for data on education-program and revenue impacts at the Old Pen.
Director Janet Gallimore said the historical society’s budget is roughly half general fund and half non-state revenues (admissions, fees, grants, contracts and private donations). She said the $1 million fundraising appropriation previously authorized was spending authority to allow the agency to expend donated or grant funds and to accept federal grants that require government accounting and audits.
Old Pen operations and archives move: Gallimore described a business plan for the Old Idaho Penitentiary that led to hiring education and revenue-focused staff to expand visitor programs and earned income; the agency aims to increase student visits (the goal cited in the hearing was to double a prior baseline to roughly 12,000 students) and to expand earned-revenue activities. Regarding consolidation of storage, Gallimore’s staff estimated moving roughly 30,000 boxes of records and about 50,000 three-dimensional artifacts into an expanded archives footprint. The society requested a phased moving budget across two fiscal years to support professional packing, climate-sensitive transport, and cataloging.
America250 and exhibits: Gallimore described the agency’s America250 task force and said about $1.4 million of the $1.65 million appropriation is already obligated to projects including Boise State partnerships, public television documentaries and grant support for community programming. The society also presented two artifacts from ships that bore the name USS Idaho: a silver cake tray and an engraved fruit tray, which the agency described as items with both state and naval historical significance and part of a plan to curate items that may travel on the future USS Idaho submarine.
Follow-up: Committee members asked for fund-level details on fundraising income and for outcome data showing how the Old Pen staff additions have affected student visits and earned revenue. The society agreed to provide updated financials and program metrics to the committee.
