A Major Milestone

In November of 1934 the Museum Committee held its first meeting with the following committee members: Chair Charlton Laird, linguistics professor, Marie Hopkins, paleontologist, Ina Stout, librarian, Edward F. Rhodenbaugh, chemistry, Victor E. Jones, zoology, AM Newton, public health, and EO Leonard, dean of the College of Pharmacy.

Marie Hopkins, Idaho’s first female paleontologist, was a pioneer in American science. Marie discovered countless fossils and was a devoted mentor for a generation of scientists. She helped uncover Idaho’s fascinating natural history and her legacy lives on through her founding of the IMNH.

Union Pacific Railroad Locomotive Number 947 was kept on open-air exhibit in front of the Pharmacy building, until it was turned over to the U.S. Government in 1942 during the scrap-iron drive of World War II. Many members of the community and AL Lillibridge himself tried to discourage the donation of this locomotive but with no luck. In a last bid attempt Lillibridge detached its whistle which he hid away until the storm had blown over. The whistle was later attached to the top of the school's heating plant to be blown whenever the Bengals scored a touchdown at Davis Field.

Dr. Edson Fichter, Curator of Mammalogy, was a founding biologist of wildlife conservation. His lasting legacy was securing the Museum’s permanent home in the basement of the new library building in 1954. Prof. William Kitaj, Prof. Merrill D. Beal, and Dr. Fichter scraped heavy accumulations of dried mud from the concrete floor, the remaining dust was removed with a vacuum sweeper, and the floor was mopped by a crew of students.

Dr. Swanson’s networking and advocacy for the museum was able to expand the museums collections throughout the 1960s and 70s. His dedication to the field and the museum helped create the lasting legacy of the recognition of the Museum and federal repository for archaeological and paleontological materials.

The Museum has always been on the cutting edge of scientific research. Don Crabtree secured National Science Foundation funding to conduct experimental archaeological field schools at Dierkes Lake in Twin Falls, Idaho. The NSF funds were used to film and publish the experiments for others to use in their research. These videos are invaluable and are accessed weekly on our YouTube by experimental archaeologists worldwide.

On May 5, 1977 with a stroke of a pen Idaho Governor John Evans designates us as the state’s natural history museum. In 1986 the State Legister codified us as the official museum of natural history for the State of Idaho.

Who can forget the craze of DINOMANIA of the 1980s? We hosted the state of the art animatronic dinosaur exhibit multiple times in the 1980s. Life-like, moving, roaring scale-model dinosaurs were centra to the exhibit. To this day we have visitors who tell us about visiting this exhibit and the impression it made.

On September 2, 1990 an equipment operating exposed one of the largest known mammoth graveyards in the United States. Days later Dr. William Akersten, Curator of Paleontology, was beginning the excavations with graduate students to recovery the fossils. These fossils are housed at the Museum and research continues on this astounding discovery.

Under the direction Rebecca Thorne-Ferral the Museum has been at the forefront of STEM education in Idaho. For 30 years Science Trek allowed 3rd-5th graders to explore STEM  careers with Idaho State University faculty and students and have a sleepover in the gallery.

The Idaho Virtualization Lab was started by Ralph Chapman in 2002, an innovative idea that Ralph foresaw as the future of Museum research. Today, the IVL is the top in the nation and 3D capture of Museum specimens.

Every decade brings new research and field opportunities for ISU Anthropology and Geology students. Under the direction of Dr. Mary Thompson, ISU students excavated a Bison latifrons, affectionally known as Jasmine, from American Falls Reservoir’s shore.

In our 9th decade as a Museum we continue the legacy of our founders with research expanding our understanding of our shared natural history. We recently opened the first of its kind exhibit displaying all of Idaho’s dinosaurs, Dinosaurs from the Mountain will showcase cutting-edge science, hands-on exhibits, and fossils that have never been seen by the general public before. We take you back 100 million years ago to the lush forests of the Wayan Formation where armored plant-eaters, tiny mammals, fox crocodiles, Idaho's state dinosaur Oryctodromeus, and Gigantoraptor roamed.