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Inventing Idaho
MRIC 2012/13

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Inventing Idaho

Keith Petersen
Idaho State Historical Society

March 19- 12:30 p.m.
Gold Room, 2nd floor, Student Union Building

Abstract: Did you attend Idaho public schools?  Do you pay county taxes?  Do you use Idaho water?  Have you ever found yourself wondering why the University of Idaho is in Moscow, or why Idaho leans so heavily Republican?  If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you are living with the results of decisions made during Idaho’s territorial era of 1863-1890, perhaps the most significant quarter-century in Idaho history.  On March 4, 2013, Idaho launched its commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Idaho territory, recognizing the day that President Abraham Lincoln created Idaho territory. This is the first of three MRIC presentations dealing with Idaho in the territorial era.
 

Biography
 
Keith Petersen is the Associate Director of the Idaho State Historical Society and Idaho’s State Historian.  Petersen is the author of numerous articles and books on Idaho and the Northwest, including This Crested Hill:  An Illustrated History of the University of Idaho; River of Life, Channel of Death:  Fish and Dams on the Lower Snake; and Company Town:  Potlatch, Idaho, and the Potlatch Lumber Company.   The first-ever recipient of the Idaho Humanities Council’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities, he is also the only author to have twice received the Idaho Book Award for the Outstanding Book on Idaho.  Petersen is currently writing a biography of Northwest road-builder John Mullan, who hoped to become Idaho’s first territorial governor.  His research into Mullan and Idaho’s territorial history has taken him to repositories from coast to coast.
Original url: http://www.uidaho.edu/class/mric/archives/2012-2013/inventing-idaho