Idaho State Historical Society requests spending authority, staff and moving funds to consolidate archives and advance America250 commemoration

The Idaho State Historical Society told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Wednesday it needs reappropriation and spending authority to manage funds the agency raises and to support several initiatives including archives consolidation, staffing at the Old Idaho Penitentiary and the state’s America250 commemoration.

Janet Gallimore, director of the Historical Society, told the committee the agency’s responsibilities are set out in state law (Chapter 41, Title 67 of Idaho Code) and that the society’s budget combines general fund support with non‑state revenue from admissions, grants, contracts and private fundraising. Gallimore said the agency often needs legislative spending authority to accept and spend large federal or foundation grants that require audited accounting.

What the agency requested

- Personnel and operations: Fiscal‑year 2026 requests include an ongoing 1.0 FTP archivist technician ($62,900 ongoing), and ongoing personnel funded by the Old Idaho Penitentiary miscellaneous revenue fund (about 1.0 FTP and ongoing costs for staff who support educational programming and earned‑revenue operations).

- Consolidation and moving costs: a $450,000 one‑time request for moving and consolidation of off‑site collections into the State Archives building. Director Gallimore said the archives consolidation will move approximately 30,000 boxes of records and tens of thousands of three‑dimensional artifacts into a single facility. “The main storage facilities were built in the sixties and they are no longer really able to take care of these artifacts the way that you all would want us to,” Gallimore said.

- America250 commemoration: the agency has a $1,650,000 general‑fund appropriation for the America250 commemoration; Gallimore told the committee about $1.4 million of that is obligated to projects including documentary and curriculum work and grants to partners. She described a multi‑agency advisory council and task force coordinating the commemoration and said funds were moved to partners through memoranda of understanding and contracts.

Lawmakers’ questions and requested follow‑up

Senators asked how successful prior fundraising initiatives had been and requested fund balances and campaign results. Gallimore said the society raises roughly $250,000 per year in earned and private support for programming and that campaign‑level fundraising (for projects such as the old penitentiary exhibit) runs separately; she offered to provide specific fundraising totals for the period in question. Senator Cook asked for updated metrics showing student participation and earned‑revenue changes tied to recently added Old Pen staff; Gallimore said she will provide data and that the agency’s business plan sets goals to raise student visits from roughly 6,000 to 12,000.

Public access and collections

The society noted it already provides many resources online — including digitized newspapers through Chronicling America and collection inventories in ArchivesSpace — and that the requested archivist technician will create more online finding aids and catalog records for territorial and gubernatorial records to make materials easier to locate.

Actions and status

Budget items presented included: $62,900 ongoing and 1.0 FTP for an archivist technician; $450,000 one‑time for moving/consolidation of collections; $103,200 ongoing and 1.0 FTP for Old Idaho Penitentiary staff (funded from miscellaneous revenue); and reappropriation/spending authority tied to a $1,650,000 America250 line that the director said is largely obligated. The committee did not record a vote during the hearing; the governor’s budget recommended the enhancements.

Ending

Gallimore invited legislators to view the artifacts and exhibits; the society also presented two ceremonial ship service pieces related to vessels named USS Idaho. She said the archives consolidation and America250 activities will continue with the advisory council, the task force and partner organizations.