Page Header: Special Collections and Archives at the University of Idaho Library

News of Special Collections and Archives

Digital Memories: Twin Falls Irrigation Letter, January 1999
Kyle Laughlin Photograph Collection, March 1999
Digital Memories: Packing Glass, April 1999
Digital Memories: Provisioning for train travel, June 1999
Digital Memories: Frosh bonfire, September 1999
Norma Dobler Papers, November 1999
Digital Memories: Ridenbaugh Hall, December 1999
More News Stories

Digital Memories: Twin Falls Irrigation Letter

January 1999

Special Collections and Archives at the University of Idaho Library announces a new installment in the Webpage "Digital Memories." Digital Memories focuses on historic artifacts, documents, photographs, and books from the holdings of Special Collections and Archives. This is a changing showcase of highlights from our collections.

The most recent addition to the series is "Twin Falls Irrigation Letter," a 1909 typewritten letter from G.B. Fraser, Boise, to Frank H. Buhl, Sharon, PA. Buhl, as president of the Twin Falls Land and Water Company and indirectly George Fraser's employer, was being asked to assist Fraser in promoting the company's massive irrigation project.

The Special Collections Department of the University of Idaho Library includes those materials that, because of subject coverage, rarity, source, condition, or form, are best handled separately from the General Collection. The several "collections" housed in this department include the Day-Northwest Collection of Western Americana, Rare Books, Idaho Documents, Sir Walter Scott Collection, Ezra Pound Collection, Caxton Collection, University of Idaho Theses, Historical Maps, Historical Photograph Collection, and Personal Papers and University Archives.

"Digital Memories" can be accessed through the URL <http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/>. Previous editions, on the University Library's waspish cube, Homer Pound and Idaho, and Kyle Laughlin's photograph of Indian Post Office on the Lolo Trail, are also available. Also at this site is information about Special Collections and its holdings, archival and manuscript descriptions and inventories, and a massive geographical guide to repositories of primary source materials. The latter now contains over 3100 entries from around the world.

+++

Kyle Laughlin Photograph Collection

March 1999

The Special Collections Department of the University of Idaho Library is pleased to announce that the Kyle Laughlin photograph collection is now available for use by researchers and students. This significant collection, spanning the years from 1931 to 1979, contains images of scenery and historical sites in Idaho and around the region, travel to other states and countries, local wildflowers, and the Laughlin family and friends. The collection holds 10,349 primarily black and white negatives and 3,819 color slides. Many of the more notable images were made into prints, which are also part of the collection. The majority of the negatives are represented in spiral-bound books of contact sheets for easy viewing. Also included in the collection are the notes of Kyle Laughlin and 21 reels of 16mm and 8mm motion picture films. To facilitate retrieval, all of the negatives and slides in the collection are cataloged in a computer database which is available for use in the repository. In addition, many of the images have been digitized and can be viewed as part of the database. A small exhibit of Laughlin landscapes is currently mounted in Special Collections, which is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Kyle Laughlin (1905-1984) was a Moscow resident and businessman for 56 years. He was born May 24, 1905 to Edward and Eva Laughlin in Ozark, Missouri. When Laughlin was about seven, the family moved to southeast Idaho where Kyle graduated from Ashton High School. He attended the University of Idaho and graduated in 1931 with a degree in teaching. In 1933, Kyle Laughlin married Marguerite Ward in Moscow; she was also a UI graduate and teacher.

In 1935 the Laughlins opened a photo studio in Moscow known as Kyle's Photo Shop. Here, Laughlin was able to turn his life-long interest in photography into a business.

In 1954, a partnership with Sam Haddock resulted in Haddock and Laughlin, a photography, television, appliance, and stereo shop. This business later started the Moscow TV Cable Company.

The Laughlins were dedicated supporters of both the Latah County Public Library and the University of Idaho Library. In 1950 the Laughlins donated Kyle Laughlin's private collection of over 700 books, including many rare Western Americana, to the university library. Marguerite continued their generous support of the library by donating her husband's photographs, shortly after his death in 1984. The Laughlin's many contributions to the library were recognized in 1994 when the reading room in the new Department of Special Collections was named the Kyle and Marguerite Laughlin Reading Room. The newly available photograph collection adds a valuable dimension to the archive's offerings of visual resources documenting local and regional natural history, as well as a photographic record of a local family's history over a period of almost 50 years.

+++

Digital Memories: Packing Glass

April 1999

The most recent addition to the series is "Librarians packing glass negatives, 1965," a black and white photograph of a behind-the-scenes view of the often immense labor involved in acquiring, processing, storing, and making available primary source materials. It shows two University of Idaho Librarians, Charles Webbert and Paul Conditt, preparing some of the 100,000 images made by the Barnard Studio, Wallace, Idaho for transfer to the library.

"Digital Memories" can be accessed through the URL <http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/>. Previous editions, on the Bannock Indian War, Frank B. Robinson and his mail-order religion, the 1921 Idaho Yell Squad, WWII married student housing, and the famous S-curve trestle snowslide, are also available. Also at this site is information about Special Collections and its holdings, archival and manuscript descriptions and inventories, and a massive geographical guide to repositories of primary source materials. The latter now contains over 3000 entries from around the world.

+++

Digital Memories: Provisioning for train travel

June 1999

The most recent addition to the series is " Provisioning for train travel," an 1877 letter describing the provisioning needs for a transcontinental trip. The letter also demonstrates how the placement of materials in repositories often requires serendipitous research techniques.

+++

Digital Memories: Frosh bonfire

September 1999

The most recent addition to the series is "Frosh bonfire," featuring a 1931 photograph of bonfire preparations, part of the rally before the big game. Also included is a description of the pyre from a novel of 1920s university life.

+++

Norma Dobler Papers

November 1999

The University of Idaho Library announces the availability on the World Wide Web of inventories of newly processed gifts of personal papers. Recently added are the professional papers of prominent Moscow activist and state senator, Norma Dobler. They can be found at <http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Manuscripts/>.

Norma Dobler was born Norma Woodhouse on May 2, 1917 to Lester and Bessie Woodhouse in Haines, Oregon. The family moved to a farm in southern Idaho's Canyon County during the fall of 1917. Norma graduated from Caldwell High School in 1934. She then attended Links Business College in Boise for a year, the University of Cincinnati for two years and graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in Business in 1939. Upon graduation, she worked in the University of Idaho registrar's office for two years.

Norma married Clifford Dobler on June 14, 1941. That year Clifford joined the faculty of the University of Idaho as an associate professor of political science where he taught business law courses for the next 36 years. After her marriage, Norma devoted herself to raising their three children and became very active in volunteer work. She served for 12 years as Sunday school superintendent for the Methodist Church, 12 years as a 4-H youth leader, and worked with the Campfire group for two years. She also worked as a county fair judge and election judge. Dobler spent six years on the Moscow School Board and three years as president of the Idaho League of Women Voters before her legislative stint and served nine years on the Idaho Tax Board of Appeals afterwards. She took up her career again and became the secretary to the State Extension Forester. She was awarded life membership in the PTA, American Association of University Women, United Methodist Women, and Delta Kappa Gamma Education Honorary and received the "Citizen of the Year" award from the National Association of Social Workers. She is listed in several "Who's Who" books, and "Two Thousand Women of Achievement" and the "Dictionary of International Biographies".

A staunch democrat, Dobler was long active in politics through her work with the League of Women Voters. In 1973 she won a seat in the state House of Represenatives. During her four years as a representative, she served on the Education, Health and Welfare and Resource and Conservation committees. In 1977 she was elected to the state senate, serving for five terms until her retirement in 1986. Her committees included Health, Education and Welfare, Resources and Environment, Judiciary and Rules, and State Affairs.

Dobler was a passionate crusader for the rights of women, senior citizens and children, education and the environment. Legislation that she sponsored, or was particularly involved with, concerned displaced homemakers, Idaho's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, day care licensing, reapportionment of the legislative districts, abortion, divorce, drinking age, driving under the influence of alcohol, harassment (hate crimes), higher education, liquor revenue, and the state liquor dispensary system. She was also active on the Development Disabilities Council, the State Employment and Training Adivsory Council, and the Idaho Cancer Coordinating Committee. On a national level, Dobler served on the Education Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures, the advisory board for the National Education Data Library, the American Association of Retired Persons' legislative committee, and a national commission to prevent telemarketing fraud of senior citizens.

Norma Dobler passed away on June 1, 1998 from head injuries she suffered in a fall at her Moscow home. Her husband; her children, Sharon Vega, Terry Dobler and Carol Harris; a brother, Clyde Woodhouse; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren survived her. Upon her death, Senator Marguerite McLaughlin commented, "She probably was the most fair legislator I ever knew. She listened to both sides and tried to make decisions based on that."

The records of Norma Dobler span the years 1962 to 1995, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1976 to 1987.

Included are correspondence, notes, transcripts of speeches, newspaper clippings, photocopies of legislation, and publications concerning her career as a politician, a member of the League of Women Voters, and a delegate to the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston.

The historical manuscripts at the University of Idaho Library are supplemented by the 16,000 volumes of Idaho and Pacific Northwest history in the Day-Northwest Collection, the Idaho state documents collection of over 10,000 items, over 100,000 images in the Historical Photograph Collection, and other records of mining, lumbering, and insurance companies; banks, and hospitals; personal papers of judges, doctors, lawyers, and journalists; and the University Archives. All are located in Special Collections and Archives which is open from Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, except university holidays. Summer hours may vary. For more information about Special Collections at the University of Idaho Library see <http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/>.

+++

Digital Memories: Ridenbaugh Hall

December 1999

The most recent addition to the series is "Ridenbaugh Hall," featuring a 1902 photograph of the recently constructed women's dormitory. Mrs. Ridenbaugh's contributions to the young university and its women students are also described. The photograph was selected and the text written by University of Idaho student, Kerry Brent.

+++