ISU College of Business class to share contents of new Pocatello history book on Dec. 4 at Juniper Hills

The event is free to the public and includes light hors d'oeuvres.

This semester, the ISU College of Business’s Management 4499/5599 honors class, "Collaborative Creativity," has been writing a book with photos and stories from Pocatello's history as depicted through the lens of the Idaho State Journal and its predecessor, the Pocatello Tribune. The book will be published next year by Arcadia Publishing.

Members of the audience at the Dec. 4 event will rotate between three stations in 20-minute increments, listening to the stories and seeing photos from the book. The students will talk about stories of famous people who lived and worked in Pocatello, from the author of “Tarzan,” to the driving force behind bringing a Carnegie-grant library to Pocatello to the personal costume designer of Lucille Ball.            

The book also features vintage photos of early Pocatello buildings, institutions, and recreational facilities (e.g., theatres and ballparks), as well as advertisements going back to the turn of the century.

“The book also includes heart-wrenching stories of the costs of war as they were felt by people connected to Pocatello,” said Alex Bolinger, ISU associate professor in the College of Business, who taught the class. “It will be an enjoyable night and I guarantee that you will leave with a greater appreciation for the unique history of this community that we call home.”

This project is a unique collaboration between the College of Business and University Honors Program at ISU and the Idaho State Journal.

Bolinger offered special thanks to Trent Clegg at Marshall Public Library, Lynn Murdoch at the Bannock County Historical Society, Jenny Hopkins and Ian Fennell at the Idaho State Journal, Sherri Dienstfrey-Swanson and Jamie Romine-Gabardi of ISU University Honors Program, Cindy Hill of the Student Success Center and Dean Tom Ottaway of the College of Business.

Chapter topics focus on the history of the Idaho State Journal, the evolution of Pocatello’s businesses, stories of notable people who lived in or travelled through Pocatello, entertainment and recreation, newspaper advertisements from as far back as the turn of the century, wartime and its effect on Pocatello and Pocatello buildings then and now.

In order to collect the photos, students gathered photos from the Journal’s archives, which were spread throughout the city at Marshall Public Library, the Bannock County Historical Society and Special Collections at Eli M. Oboler Library. Students searched through original copies of the newspaper, digital archives of photos donated to the paper, and microfilm to find those that they felt captured the spirit of Pocatello.

"One of the things that excites me most about this class is seeing our students' creativity as they take ownership of the project and make this book their own," Bolinger said.

The class the is producing the book includes a mix of students from different programs. Students in the class include Thad Curtis (MBA), Shelby Fitzgerald (management and marketing double major), Daniel Heithoff (management and marketing double major), Mary Hill (social work), Kimberly Jeffery (management) and Rebekah Punt (public relations).

The class is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between ISU's College of Business and University Honors Program. Students in the class were selected through a competitive application process. This is the third book published through the course with the previous books focusing on Garrett Freightlines and Idaho State University.