As Idaho experiences unprecedented growth and change, Boise State is inviting Idahoans to help preserve the stories, memories and historical materials that explain how some of the state’s most iconic landscapes came to be protected.
On Nov. 6-7, 2026, Boise State will host “Andrus for Idaho: History Harvest,” a community history project focused on the people, institutions, places and issues that shaped Idaho’s environmental landscape during the late 20th century. Think “Antiques Roadshow” as a method of inviting the public to come forward with their stories and artifacts to share.
The project centers on the era associated with Cecil D. Andrus, Idaho’s only four-term governor, whose career spanned state and national environmental policy. A lifelong hunter and fisherman who worked as a logger, Andrus brought experience with both resource-based livelihoods and conservation to his public service. As governor and later as U.S. secretary of the interior under President Jimmy Carter, he was involved in debates and decisions concerning some of the most consequential environmental issues and landscapes in Idaho and the American West.
The project will explore the history behind places including the White Clouds, Sawtooth Mountains, Hells Canyon, the River of No Return Wilderness and the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, as well as broader issues involving salmon, water, tribal relationships, energy, nuclear waste, education and public lands.
“Many people who are new to the state are drawn by the landscapes and quality of life that Idaho offers,” said Emily Wakild, Cecil D. Andrus Endowed Chair for the Environment and Public Lands at Boise State. “Understanding how these places came to be protected — and the people, institutions and communities that made those decisions — is an important part of understanding Idaho itself.”
Preserving memories and historical materials
The History Harvest on Saturday, Nov. 7 will invite members of the public to bring photographs, documents, letters, newspaper clippings, maps, memorabilia and other objects connected to Idaho’s environmental history.
The event will provide an opportunity for participants to share the stories behind their materials. Boise State students and volunteers will help digitize and catalogue selected materials and conduct recorded oral-history interviews.
The goal is not simply to collect materials about Andrus, but to capture the broader range of experiences and perspectives surrounding the environmental changes of the era.
“Historical records often tell us what governments and institutions decided,” Wakild said. “Oral histories and family collections can help us understand how those decisions were experienced by people in communities across Idaho.”
Materials gathered through the History Harvest will help augment existing collections in Boise State University Special Collections and Archives, creating resources for researchers, students, educators and future generations.
From community history to a book
The History Harvest is part of a larger project to produce a community-engaged, public-facing book about the institutions and individuals who shaped Idaho’s landscape between 1960 and 2018. Authors have already been invited and will present on Nov. 6, the first day of the festival. The volume will include 14 narrative chapters organized around people, places and issues. Authors will draw upon historical documents, newspapers, reports, letters, photographs, interviews and oral histories to tell accessible stories for readers with little prior knowledge of Idaho’s environmental history.
The project will also incorporate interviews and reminiscences with journalists, panel conversations with women in the Andrus family, legislators, staff members and professionals, public “Cece Stories,” historical timelines and displays of materials from Boise State’s Special Collections.
Together, these elements will provide multiple perspectives on an era when Idahoans debated how to balance economic opportunity, resource use, conservation and the long-term future of the state’s landscapes.
A story bigger than one person
Although Cecil D. Andrus provides a central thread for the project, the History Harvest will examine the broader network of people and institutions that shaped Idaho’s environmental history.
The project asks how communities made decisions, how individuals and organizations worked together, how competing interests were negotiated, and how ideas about conservation and public lands changed over time.
It also recognizes that people remember the past differently. Stories about Andrus and his era can reveal not only his public legacy, but also the experiences of the people who worked with him, opposed him, learned from him or encountered the consequences of decisions made during his career.
“We want to capture the complexity of this history,” Wakild said. “The most valuable stories may come from people who have never thought of themselves as historians. A photograph in a family album, a letter in a desk drawer or a memory of a particular meeting or place can help us understand Idaho’s past in ways that official records cannot.”
Join the History Harvest
The Story Workshop on Friday, Nov. 6 will bring together authors and invited participants to discuss emerging chapters for the book project. The workshop will feature presentations, feedback and conversations about the people, places and issues that defined this period of Idaho history.
The History Harvest on Saturday, Nov. 7 will be open to the public. Participants are encouraged to bring historical materials and stories related to Idaho’s environment, public lands, communities and the Andrus era.
Story Workshop: Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
History Harvest: Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Location: The SPACE, Albertsons Library, second floor
The project is a collaboration among Boise State faculty, students, Special Collections and Archives, community partners and members of the public.
For more information about participating in the History Harvest or contributing materials and memories to the project, visit boi.st/history-harvest or contact andrus@boisestate.edu.